John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

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.