process thinking

Jobs to be Done

By John Hunter / January 19, 2017 / 0 Comments

“While many in the business world associate the word ‘theory’ with something purely academic or abstract, nothing could be further from the truth. Theories that explain causality are among the most important and practical tools business leaders can have.” – Clayton Christensen

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Using Checklists to Reduce Process Variation and Improve Results

By John Hunter / December 1, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is a wonderful book about how to create systems that work. At the core the Checklist Manifesto is about determining the critical process conditions and creating a system to assure that the those process items are properly handled. […]

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Industrial Statistics – Research vs Practice

By John Hunter / November 14, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). 2013 American Statistical Association (ASA) Deming Lecture: Industrial Statistics – Research vs Practice by Vijay Nair, University of Michigan. In his talk Dr. Nair referenced the article, W. Edwards Deming: The Story ofa Truly Remarkable Person, by Robert B. Austenfeld. He also […]

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Applying Understanding of Variation to Large Datasets

By John Hunter / November 10, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Understanding Variation by Thomas Nolan, Rocco J. Perla and Lloyd Provost. There have been large changes in the use of data since the publication of Understanding Variation, by Thomas Nolan and Lloyd Provost. The new article discusses how to use an understanding of variation when working with large datasets […]

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Deming Lecture by Dr. Jeff Wu on Quality Improvement from Autos to Nanotechnology

By John Hunter / October 24, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Deming Lecture at the 2012 ASA Joint – Quality Improvement: From Autos and Chips to Nano and Bio” by Jeff Wu, Georgia Institute of Technology. One of the points Dr. Wu mentioned is Shewhart called common causes, chance causes, and special causes, […]

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Improving the System to Reduce Costs Isn’t Equal to Cost Cutting

By John Hunter / September 19, 2016 / 0 Comments

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 […]

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Using Outdated Management Practices Can Be Very Costly

By John Hunter / September 8, 2016 / 0 Comments

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 […]

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Some Notes on Management in a Hospital by W. Edwards Deming

By John Hunter / July 28, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). We used to publish a newsletter. In the Fall 2006 Deming Interaction we published an excerpt from an article by Dr. Deming: Some Notes on Management in a Hospital [the link that we broke has been removed] (published in 1990 in the […]

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Dr. Deming’s Influence on One Elementary School Principal

By Matthew Moss / May 16, 2016 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Presentation by Jake Rodgers and Phyllis Tubbs: Dr. Deming’s Influence on One Elementary School Principal at the 1st annual Deming in Education Conference: Jake asks a good question (as he learned from David Langford who learned it from W. Edwards Deming). What’s your theory? […]

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Applying Deming Principles at Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

By Guest Post / February 11, 2016 / 0 Comments

SMED your SME journey applying Deming principles – guest post by Luciana Paulise How to build succesful business right the first time For more than 10 years now I have been helping people to develop their own Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). As a graduate with a degree in business, at first, I helped students […]

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