By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Using data to understand the system and validate our theories and successful improvements is an important part managing well. In some cases it is fairly easy to understand and collect data that provides a clear and accurate measure of what we care about. But […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) has announced the 2016 Deming Prize winners. Three companies were awarded the Deming Prize this year: Ashok Leyland, Pantnagar Plant (India) Toyota Motor Kyushu (Japan) Maruwa Electronic & Chemical (Japan) Here is a blog post on a 2006 visit to the […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). A recent Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation article on the finding that: 90 Cents of Every “Pay-for-Performance” Dollar are Paid for Luck. I agree that mainly we award senior executives huge pay based on luck and the […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. This is a very interesting interview with W. Edwards Deming by Bill Scherkenbach (recording in February 1984, during this time Bill Scherkenbach worked at Ford and Deming was consulting with Ford). In this post I continue to explore this powerful video; it is part two of: Bill Scherkenbach’s Interview […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. The Deming Dimension by Henry Neave provides good historical background and then a well presented explanation of Deming’s ideas on management. It is one of the best books to read to learn about Deming’s ideas. The book includes a forward by W. Edwards Deming: […]

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. Real benefits come when managers begin to understand the profound difference between “cost cutting” and “eliminating the causes of costs.” Brian Joiner in Fourth Generation Management Cutting costs by fiat via executive orders reduces the capability of the organization. Those costs are often born by […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. 2011 ASA Deming Lecture (edit: ASA broke the link, so it was removed) by Roger Hoerl, GE Global Research: The World Is Calling; Should We Answer? Roger starts by discussing some areas of Deming’s work that are not getting the focus they deserve. I’d […]

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. Meetings are often frustrating for those spending time sitting through them. The solutions proposed for this issue often seem not very well thought out to me. The various traits (frequency, length, detailed agendas or not etc.) of meetings are useful or harmful depending on the […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Readers of this blog are aware of the problems created by using quotas: Achieved the goal by not the aim (2013) – The Futility of a Numerical Goal (2014), Distorting the System, Distorting the Data or Improving the System (2013), Dr. Deming on the […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Presentation by Michael King and Jane Kovacs at the 2015 Deming in Education conference – Finding Joy In Learning: Applying Deming’s Theory to Schools. The speakers work for Quality Learning Australasia (QLA). QLA’s website has quite a bit of useful information. One of the tools they used in the […]