data

Ron Moen Webcast: Prediction is the Problem

By John Hunter / September 9, 2013 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Prediction is the Problem, Ron Moen’s presentation at the 2012 Annual Deming Conference. “Planning requires prediction. Prediction requires a theory.” In the video Ron Moen talks about the Associates for Process Improvement model for improvement. The enhanced PDSA cycle includes an explicit focus on prediction in the planing phase […]

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Unknown and Unknowable Data

By John Hunter / August 30, 2013 / 0 Comments

Guest post by John Hunter, founder of the CuriousCat.com. From Out of the Crisis, page 121: the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable (Lloyd S. Nelson, director of statistical methods for the Nashua corporation), but successful management must nevertheless take account of them. We need to manage systems even […]

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Improving Problem Solving

By John Hunter / June 27, 2013 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. I suggest reading this excellent paper on Improving Problem Solving by Ian Bradbury and Gipsie Ranney. As they note, problem solving is not a substitute for innovation and improvement as solving a problem solving only returns you to the status quo. The paper also considers the relationship between problem […]

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Enumerative and Analytic Studies

By John Hunter / May 29, 2013 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). An enumerative study is focused on judgment of results. These studies are meant to enumerate (explain, evaluate, describe) the condition that exists with the existing population. On the other hand, an analytic study is focused on improvement of the process which created […]

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Distorting the System, Distorting the Data or Improving the System

By John Hunter / May 13, 2013 / 0 Comments

Guest post by John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. In Fourth Generation Management (I highly recommend this book, by the way), Brian Joiner provided an excellent summary of the options to get better “results” (as measured by the data used). The options are to: distort the system distort the data improve the system Obviously we hope […]

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Where There is Fear You Do Not Get Honest Figures

By John Hunter / February 28, 2013 / 3 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Fear invites wrong figures. Bearers of bad news fare badly. To keep his job, anyone may present to his boss only good news. W. Edwards Deming, page 94, The New Economics Using data to make decisions is important to effective management. But using data […]

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The Improvement Guide

By John Hunter / February 18, 2013 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). The Improvement Guide is a fantastic book on using the PDSA cycle well. The 2nd edition was published in 2009. The power of applying the PDSA cycle properly is huge. It leads to successful improvements which is important. Using the PDSA cycle […]

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The Essential Deming – New Book on Dr. Deming’s Work

By John Hunter / December 6, 2012 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality is filled with articles, papers, lectures, and notes touching on a wide range of topics, but which focus on Deming’s overriding message: quality and operations are all about systems, not individual performance; the system has […]

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Shortage of Implementation Details

By John Hunter / November 7, 2012 / 0 Comments

Guest post by John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). From Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones (page 126): the management of Wiremold was soon enrolled in the Deming seminars. As Orrie Fiume notes, “Deming’s Fourteen Points were a perfect fit with our values and we loved the […]

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Knowledge of Variation

By John Hunter / October 25, 2012 / 1 Comment

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The System Of Profound Knowledge® (SoPK) is the culmination of W. Edwards Deming’s work on management. The four areas of the system are: appreciation for a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. This post explores knowledge of variation in the context of Dr. Deming’s management philosophy. […]

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