By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. One of the criticisms against process improvement is that it requires stifling innovation. That is not accurate. Process improvement is meant to be continual. Building structure around how change is tested and adopted aids innovation, it doesn’t stifle it. The justified criticism, I have seen, is against bad processes […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). The merit rating nourishes short-term performance, annihilates long-term planning, builds fear, demolishes teamwork, [and] nourishes rivalry and politics. It leaves people bitter, crushed, bruised, battered, desolate, despondent, dejected, feeling inferior, some even depressed, unfit for work for weeks after receipt of rating, […]

Guest post by Mike Stoecklein I had the good fortune to get to know Dr. Deming beginning in 1986. I call it a “correspondence relationship”. We wrote letters (these were the days before e-mail, and I doubt that Dr. Deming would ever send an e-mail even if it had existed). I played a small role […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Customer satisfaction is better than dissatisfaction but it is not enough. A satisfied customer will leave for another provider at the slightest provocation. They see a bit lower price – they leave. You make one minor slip up – they leave. They […]

Guest post by Dave Nave: I will lead one of the round table sessions at this year’s Deming Research Seminar (25th and 26th February 2013 in New York City). I thought I would share a little something of my topic. Two other roundtables will also be held: on Education led by Dr. Francis Petit and […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Deming’s First Theorem: Nobody gives a hoot about profit People spend a great deal of time worrying about profits and claiming credit or diverting blame for profit results. So why did Dr. Deming say “Nobody gives a hoot about profit?” He looked […]

Kelly Allan joins Joe Dager for his latest Business 901 podcast to discuss the work of Peter Scholtes, author of The Leader's Handbook.

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Joe Dager has posted, in his Business 901 podcast series, his discussion with Dr. Joyce Orsini, director of the Deming Scholars MBA program at Fordham University and president of The W. Edwards Deming Institute; and Kevin Cahill, the Executive Director of the […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Gemba is a Japanese term for “the real place” or in management terms “where the important action takes place.” The most common use of the term “gemba,” in a management context, is with respect to defining where the important work is done within an organization. Deming organizations, and lean […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Mt. Edgecumbe High School, in Sitka, Alaska was featured in the last 10 minutes of the three part series, Quality Or Else, aired on PBS (created by the same team that created the NBC White paper If Japan Can… Why Can’t We […]