John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

Who Inspires Your Management Thinking and Action?

Wed, 6 May 2026

My largest influence by far is my father, William Hunter. Here is a good example of why: Managing Our Way to Economic Success, Two Untapped Resources: potential information and employee creativity. In another post I also wrote about my early influences related to quality management as I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.

From an early age I learned to experiment, appreciate and understand data, respect people and continually improve.

The Road Not Taken

Tue, 5 May 2026

Robert Frost was poking fun at his friend who would obsess over what fork to take in the path as they walked when in reality the choice made no difference.

And “that has made all the difference” is poking fun at self justifications of our actions; congratulating ourselves for doing something not really worthy of accolades.

Still the top three lines do seem like insightful advice. Of course what is really needed is insight into when choosing the road less traveled is wise (or at least a sensible gamble) and when it is less traveled for very good reasons.

Businesses Need to Capture Potential Information and Use the Creativity of Employees

Mon, 4 May 2026

My father wrote an article a long time ago on how to use ~"two resources, largely untapped in American organizations: potential information and employee creativity."

I think it provides worthwhile ideas.

A College Degree Isn't an Acceptable Hiring Screen

Sun, 3 May 2026

Our company had just hired a new HR person that started "showing their worth" with new rules such as the dictate that all hires must have a college degree. Thankfully our team agreed to hiring him was wise and the CIO decided that dictate was nonsense and we hired the applicant.

Quality Comes to City Hall

Sat, 2 May 2026

Changing to a culture that has a Deming perspective on customer focus is not easy. When you succeed though the way people think is profoundly changed. The City of Madison police department even did customer surveys for those they arrested and used the results to improve the process in ways that make sense. Obviously there are restrictions on what you can do to please those being arrested but this is really always the case – you can’t give all your products and services away for free even if that would make customers happy.

How to Start Applying Deming’s Ideas on Management

Fri, 1 May 2026

There are many different ways to start applying W. Edwards Deming’s ideas on management. There isn’t a cookbook on what should be done first. This is helpful in that you can avoid trying things that would be very difficult given the current state of your management system. However, it is also very challenging in that you have to decide what to do yourself instead of just following a recipe.

Root Cause - Addressing Systemic Causes Not Symptoms

Thu, 30 Apr 2026

It isn't that there is this "true root cause" that created the current problem. There is a way to look at the issue and find a deeper cause that will allow you to address it and improve the future performance of the system.

Depending on how you look at the problem there can be many different "root causes" that are sensible from their different perspectives. The important thing is by aiming to fix root/systemic problems you will not just treat the current symptom you are dealing with today but eliminate future problems from occurring.

Utopia (Dreamland in the USA) is an Amazing TV Program

Wed, 29 Apr 2026

Utopia is an amazing, biting, satirical look at modern office life at the Nation Building Authority of Australia.

Human Proof Design

Wed, 29 Apr 2026

Human proof design is design that prevents people from successful using the item.

It is similar to mistake proofing except instead of prevent mistakes it prevents people from using it.

When you see human proof design you will often see signs to tell people how to use the device that has been human proofed. Common instances of this are hotels that have shower designs so opaque they need instructions on how to use a device most people have no problem using if they are not human proofed.

Don’t Ignore Customer Complaints

Tue, 28 Apr 2026

If the complaint is not something that should be addressed or explored fine. But that has nothing to do with the category of the person (“complainer” or not); it has to do with the merit of the complaint.

Agile Software Development and Deming's Ideas

Mon, 27 Apr 2026

It's one of the reasons for "people over process" and all that; they believe that a software developer should be respected. Yes, they should. Factory workers should be respected, too. Everyone should be respected. That's what Deming was talking about. So then the idea that Deming was trying to impose on software developers some rigid controls that they shouldn't be subject to is not so. And not only wasn't he doing that, he wasn't doing that to factory workers either.

Strategy Based on Capability and Integrated with Execution

Sun, 26 Apr 2026

“Strategy” without a thorough understanding of the organization as a system or an understanding of the capabilities of the organization is little more than dreams. Planning and strategy without the capability in the organization or a process to turn strategy into action are not much use.

Take Advantage of the Strengths Each Person Brings to Work

Sat, 25 Apr 2026

Managers should be setting up the organization to take maximum advantage of the strengths of the people in the organization while minimizing the impact of weaknesses.

Children are Amazingly Creative At Solving Problems

Fri, 24 Apr 2026

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.” Daniel Boorstin

Children are Amazingly Creative At Solving Problems

Fri, 24 Apr 2026

Understanding the limits of our knowledge and our tendency to become rigid in our thinking can help us avoid blinding ourselves to options. Our brains overrule options without us consciously even knowing that is happening; it takes effort to overcome this tendency.

Root Cause, Interactions, Robustness and Design of Experiments

Thu, 23 Apr 2026

A single root cause is rare. Normally you can look at the question a bit differently see the scope a bit differently and get a different “root cause.” In my opinion “root cause” is more a decision about what is an effective way to improve the system right now rather than finding a scientifically valid “root cause.”

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 22 Apr 2026

There is great value in creating iterative processes with fast feedback to those attempting to design and improve. Box and Deming (with rapid turns of the PDSA cycle) and others promoted this 20, 30 and 40 years ago and now we get the same ideas tweaked for startups. The lean startup stuff is as closely related to Box’s ideas of experimentation as an iterative process as it is to anything else.

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 22 Apr 2026

With experimentation we are looking to find clues for what to experiment with next. Experimentation is an iterative process. This is very much the mindset of fast iteration and minimal viable product (say minimal viable experimentation as voiced in 1987).

There is great value in creating iterative processes with fast feedback to those attempting to design and improve.

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 22 Apr 2026

Practicing Mistake-Promoting Instead of Mistake-Proofing at Apple

Tue, 21 Apr 2026

Mistake proofing is a wonderful management concept. Design systems not just to be effective when everything goes right but designing them so mistakes are prevented.

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But guess what, the unnecessary steps Apple decided to force me through are broken so I can’t just waste my time to make them happy. No. They have created a failure point where they never should have forced the customer in the first place.

How to Build a Great Software Development Team

Mon, 20 Apr 2026

"Without confidence, honest debate about ideas is suppressed as people are constantly taking things personally instead of trying to find the best ideas (and if doing so means my idea is criticized that is ok).

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This is also one of many areas where the culture within the team was self reinforcing. As new people came on they understood this practice. They saw it in practice. They could see it was about finding good ideas and if their idea was attacked they didn’t take it nearly as personally as most people do in most places."

Why are We So Slow to Change?

Sun, 19 Apr 2026

In management we often seek the new new thing. So while great ideas take a long time to become common practice we stop looking at them fairly quickly because we decide they are old outdated ideas. Not a very effective strategy :-(

Risks Should be Taken Wisely

Sat, 18 Apr 2026

Accepting risk doesn't mean failure is good. And it doesn't mean the results of experiments are all blameless. You can do a poor job of taking risks. If that is done, we should learn from it and improve how we take risks going forward.

Lean v Innovation is a False Dichotomy

Fri, 17 Apr 2026

The whole idea that process improvement efforts are harmful to innovation frustrates me. It is due to misunderstanding what is labeled as process improvement. Lean isn't about just making whatever process exists less wasteful. Lean focuses on value added to customers but people forget that.

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Yes a think tank or research lab would not be served well by the same types of processes as a fast food restaurant. And a fast food restaurant wouldn't be served by the type of process improvement that would benefits a research lab.

Pilot on a Small Scale First - Good Advice We Often Ignore

Thu, 16 Apr 2026

Piloting on a small scale is best. It is what I recommend and encourage. I just think seeing the failure to pilot as a cause of the widespread problem is too simplistic. Why did we fail to pilot needs to be the next question - don't stop at the failure to pilot as the root cause. From there you will nearly always discover, unless maybe you are Toyota or the Kaizen Institute or something :-) that your organization consistently fails to pilot before adopting on a wide scale. Then you need to dive into that issue...

Early "Lean" Thinking

Wed, 15 Apr 2026

Here are some early reports (so early it preceded the lean terms widespread use). It also means the focus hasn't already been set by the Machine that Changed the World but it is the same stuff that those that studied in 1980, 1990, 2000 or 2013 saw - it is more about respect for people and using everyone's brain than any specific tool. And these articles have a bit more focus on using statistics and data than much of lean literature today (partially because George Box and Dad were statisticians and partially, in my opinion, because current lean literature is light on using data).

Mistake Proofing and Mistake Making Less Easy

Tue, 14 Apr 2026

Making it harder to make mistakes and making them more visible is good. Preventing them is even better.

Setting Goals Can Easily Backfire

Mon, 13 Apr 2026

I achieved my goal by not my aim. That happens a lot, we honestly translate aims to goals. And then we do stupid things in the name of the goal get it the way of the aim. We forget the aim sometimes and put the goal in its place.

Mike Tveite

Apply Management Improvement Principles to Your Situation

Sun, 12 Apr 2026

take principles first (and then tools) that are helpful and apply them to your situation/system. The business type will affect decisions (likely software businesses or hospitals will be more similar to those in their industry than others due to some features of that that of business) as will your specific organization.

If you design a system to have much more cross training of people then it will allow you to take advantage of that compared to another organization that instead focused more on specialization.

Give People Enough Rope (and the Right Rope) to Succeed

Sat, 11 Apr 2026

You want systems that let people take on challenges without too many restrictions but with enough support and training that you don't leave them hanging.

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the ropes should suit their situation. A tightrope over a chasm is fine for a trained acrobat with a balancing pole. It is foolish for someone without the right training or tools. They would be better served with something else - a rope bridge with railings.

But, That Won't Work Here

Fri, 10 Apr 2026

George Box, a good friend (and a close colleague to my father), put the problem of getting new ideas adopted this way (from Management Matters by John Hunter):

It won’t work
It won’t work here
I thought of it first

Change has to Start from the Top – Presentation by David Langford

Thu, 9 Apr 2026

You are the top of your system. Change your thinking, change your process – you change your system. As soon as you start to modify your system you are going to have an effect on the larger system: the way you organize, the way you manage what you do everyday, how you process the work that you are doing [will impact the larger system].

David Langford

Improving Problem Solving

Wed, 8 Apr 2026

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 solving and system improvement.

Knowing How to Manage People Is the Single Most Important Part of Management

Tue, 7 Apr 2026

The challenge with managing people is not that good sources on what is important don’t exist it is that far too often we make superficial application of management ideas and then give up and superficially try another management idea.

Learning from the gemba is important. But superficially visiting the gemba and doesn’t work. Without an understanding of how the components of a management system fit together and a long term commitment to create a management system that focuses on respect for people the organization fails to capture most of the gains possible with better management of people.

The Art of Discovery with George Box

Mon, 6 Apr 2026

Great video of George Box on the process improvement process.

94% Belongs to the System

Sun, 5 Apr 2026

I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special.

Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Resources for Using the PDSA Cycle to Improve Results

Sat, 4 Apr 2026

"Using the PDSA cycle (plan-do-study-act) well is critical to building a effective management system..."

Analysis Must be Implemented by People to Provide Value

Fri, 3 Apr 2026

"The greatest statistical analysis is nothing if it can’t be implemented by people. But people learn in different ways."

Deming and Software Development

Thu, 2 Apr 2026

"Dr. Deming’s ideas are about finding ways to improve the effectiveness and reliability of delivering value going forward. That idea is natural for many software developers. I find that software developers understand the value of designing the process to achieve repeatable success over the long term more than others (including managers)."

Kleptocrat CEOs and Their Apologists

Wed, 1 Apr 2026

"These CEOs act like kleptocrat dictators, taking what they can and challenging anyone to do anything about it. As with the kleptocrats they surround themselves with apologists and spread around the looting (from corporate treasuries for the CEO and the countries for the dictators) to those that support their kleptocrat ways.'

Kleptocrat CEOs and Their Apologists

Wed, 1 Apr 2026

CEOs, and their cronies, were well paid decades ago. As their greed about their pay got to be unethical Peter Drucker started to speak out against their ethical failures. As those abuses became more extreme he increased his objections.

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I want a CEO that is paid well and seeks their reward not by taking from the corporate treasury but by providing great jobs, customer happiness and an improved society.