Psychology

Deming Podcast with Fred Wambier and Kelly Allan On Applying Deming’s Ideas at Finishing Technology

By John Hunter / January 8, 2015 / 0 Comments

Fred and Kelly discuss the Deming journey of Finishing Technology, a leader and innovator in metal finishing services and technology.

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Minimal Viable Product

By John Hunter / November 17, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. Minimal Viable Product is an important concept. The idea is to learn from customers (users) using the product/service as soon as possible. Having customers direct experience available as soon as possible allows those designing and creating the product to learn as early as possible from […]

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To Copy is to Invite Disaster

By John Hunter / October 28, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Dr. Deming explained the dangers of copying from other organizations: “To copy is to invite disaster.” (page 10 of The New Economics). The proper course of action depends on the system. This, like so much of Deming’s advice, relates to understanding the […]

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Outdated Management Practices Don’t Die Off Easily

By John Hunter / October 2, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The following quote was provided by Eric Budd During the meeting, our division president asked Dr. Deming, “Is there hope for GM?” Dr. Deming’s reply: “Sometimes you have to wait for people to die. Eric Budd‘s comment In attempting to understand why he might say something like this, I […]

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Deming Podcast: The Deming Journey at New York Label & Box Works

By John Hunter / September 11, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. In this episode of the Deming Podcast (download), Steven Haedrich, President of New York Label & Box Works, talks about the Deming journey at the company. Steven also talks about the relevance of the Deming teachings today and the keys to long-term success using the Deming method. Steven Haedrich: […]

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People Take Time to Believe Claims of Changed Management Practices

By John Hunter / September 8, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). This post continues with some thoughts prompted by the Read Bed Experiment Lessons post. Another aspect the Red Bead Experiment can’t replicate is the long term impact of working in a system that frustrates your desire to do great work. The importance […]

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Deming Library Video with Dr. Deming Discussing the 14 Points

By John Hunter / May 8, 2014 / 2 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. The clip above begins with Dr. Deming discussing a facet of the Deming chain reaction: With better quality and lower costs you can capture the market with better quality and lower price. It will help you to stay in business, provide jobs, and more […]

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Using Deming’s Management Ideas to Reduce Violence in Prison

By John Hunter / April 22, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. In the last post we began to look at the efforts to improve the Maine State Prison. The efforts to adopt a management strategy and practices guided by an understanding of Dr. Deming’s management system are hampered by the overall management system. This is […]

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Standard Work Instructions are Continually Improved; They are not a Barrier to Improvement

By John Hunter / January 28, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. When people first learn of standard work within the Deming context (or lean manufacturing or the other flavors of management with some process focus) they often fear it means following outdated processes that are ineffective. I believe this is because, if they have experience with standards, that experience was […]

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Employee Involvement at Western Mountaineering

By John Hunter / January 13, 2014 / 0 Comments

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Randy Harward spoke at the 2013 Deming Institute annual conference on applying Deming management methods at Western Mountaineering and Patagonia. Western Mountaineering was facing a cash flow crisis when Randy Harward took over and he strongly considered closing down. Given the problems the “only […]

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