John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

Culture Change Requires That Leaders Change Their Behavior

Mon, 11 May 2026

...Real gains can be made by applying a few tools and concepts effectively; without transformation. But changes to the culture come from significant changes in how people think...

Texas Civil Rights Project

Mon, 11 May 2026

I donated to the Texas Civil Rights Project.

It is a travesty what has been done for decades to suppress voting rights. We need those who have had their voting rights suppressed to help save the USA from the dangerous actions taken by those increasing their efforts to disenfranchise so many people.

Most Valuable Companies in the USA Compared to the Total Market Capitalization

Sun, 10 May 2026

In general investing in low cost index funds (like Vanguard’s index funds) is a very sensible strategy. I personally invest mostly in individual stocks. I see stocks such as Microsoft and Costco that are attractive businesses to invest in but the stocks are so costly I hesitate to invest. In addition, I already am over-invested in mega-cap companies (my largest holdings are Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, about 36% of portfolio). So avoiding other mega-caps makes some sense to me.

...

10 year returns: Apple (up 1,068%), Alphabet (up 424%), Amazon (up 693%) and Microsoft (up 1,090%). FYI, the total USA market index fund (VTI) was up 187% for the same 10 year period and the S&P 500 index fund (VTI) was up 204%.

The Current Republican Party is a Huge Risk to the Future of the USA

Sun, 10 May 2026

I am very concerned about the extremism that dominates the USA Republican Party. Far too many people are complacent...

...

The Republic Party has been on a long term effort to destroy the rule of law in the USA. The continued tolerance of those that openly tried to overturn the results of the election they lost is a critical issue that anyone that cares about the rule of law should not tolerate.

...

The long term efforts of the Republican Party to disenfranchise voters is another completely unacceptable behavior...

Remembering Brian Joiner

Sat, 9 May 2026

I knew Brian Joiner as a child growing up in Madison, Wisconsin. He and my father worked together and our families spent time together. As I grew I interacted with Brian in my professional life and that relationship made my life better.

...

His book, Fourth Generation Management, is one of the top handful of books I most recommend for those interested in improving the practice of management in their organization.

Warren Buffett’s 2005 Shareholder Letter

Sat, 9 May 2026

Too often, executive compensation in the U.S. is ridiculously out of line with performance. That won’t change, moreover, because the deck is stacked against investors when it comes to the CEO’s pay. The upshot is that a mediocre-or-worse CEO – aided by his handpicked VP of human relations and a consultant from the ever-accommodating firm of Ratchet, Ratchet and Bingo – all too often receives gobs of money from an ill-designed compensation arrangement.

Society fails to invest in long-term solutions to long-term problems

Fri, 8 May 2026

I respect John Green and his brother, Hank. Their Vlogbrothers YouTube Chanel is a regular, enjoyable and educational part of my online activity. I recommend watching a few of videos and seeing if they should also be part of your online activity. Here is a screenshot from when John liked one of my tweets :-)

Managing with Control Charts

Fri, 8 May 2026

...if managers mistakenly tamper with a stable process, believing an occurrence is exceptional, they introduce an external cause, which destabilises it. Targets do the same thing.

System Imposing Burden on Customers Driven by Pointy Haired Boss

Thu, 7 May 2026

The practice of telling your customer they must save you from horrible management is terrible. Managers designing a system that puts a burden on customers to rescue people from harsh treatment is about as lame as management can be. Definite Dilbert's pointy haired boss level idiocy.

Students as Customers

Thu, 7 May 2026

... I find that normally the "they are not customers" crowd (doctors, government, education) are not doing a decent job of understanding what they disparage.

It is true that it isn't appropriate for many providers of services to do whatever those who are paying want. That isn't what "customer focus" means.

...

The damage caused by "Management" by targets is much larger in dysfunctional organizations

Wed, 6 May 2026

The damage caused by "Management" by targets is much larger in dysfunctional organizations - they are also more likely to be given more importance by dysfunctional organizations, that is a bad combination. In a great organization with an strong understanding of systems, respect for people, no pay based on "performance," an understanding of data and variation... then damage managing by targets does is much smaller.

Ex-Toyota Manager Consulting with Porsche in 1994

Wed, 6 May 2026

While respect for people is an important part of the Toyota Production System, the practice of former Toyota managers were often the "tough love" variety. Today, many people are often too timid, in my opinion, to call out things that need to be improved for fear of making someone uncomfortable. Where that balance properly lies though is based on the culture of the organization (and what needs to be done - occasionally there is a need to "shake people up" in order to make change take place more effectively).

I Don't Take "Better Management" for Granted

Tue, 5 May 2026

It is true management at very valuable companies (and less valuable ones) needs a great deal of improvement. But it is mainly adopting good management practices people like Deming, Ackoff and Drucker talked about many decades ago.

Understanding Variation Doesn't Mean Crushing Any Variety

Tue, 5 May 2026

Dr. Deming understood the organization as a system and how understanding variation fit within that system. When variation within the system causes problems and reduces efficiency then reducing variation important. It is a mistake to attempt to take thinking that is part of a system and analyze it without understanding the context within which it has meaning.

A Programmers Take on Agile Software Development

Mon, 4 May 2026

I am also a strong proponent of agile software development. Information Technology projects have a poor success rate. The best method, I have found, to provide better software solutions is agile development (and I find a grounding in management improvement techniques is useful – customer focus, process improvement, systems thinking, understanding variation, data driven management…)...

Find Joy and Success in Business

Mon, 4 May 2026

...They are not concerned with becoming large. They focus on doing what they want to do – creating great software solutions (see: Systemic Workplace Experiments). And on making money to allow them to stay in business.

Some tidbits of advice: create great applications, charge people money, make a profit. Yes to those outside the web world this might seem obvious...

The Defect Black Market

Sun, 3 May 2026

...It is simple to blame employees for taking such action. But the management that setup such a system deserve more blame. This type of manipulation is what is encouraged by managers that think management means setting up such simplistic, senseless systems (Why Extrinsic Motivation Fails). This is one more example of forgetting the proxy nature of data (among other things).

Making a Difference

Sun, 3 May 2026

Kiva provides loans (lent by individuals) through partners to entrepreneurs. Those partners do charge the entrepreneurs interest (to fund the operations of the lending partner). Kiva pays the principle back to you but does not pay interest. And if the entrepreneur defaults then you do not get your capital paid back (in other words you lose the money you loaned).

They do an excellent job of using the internet to allow people like me to feel connected to people we can help. And in so doing, they do an excellent job of implementing their strategy (providing funds for micro-loans) to achieve their goal (to alleviate poverty)...

Seven Leadership Leverage Points

Sat, 2 May 2026

IHI has the courage to say one of the 3 sources for there hypothesis as “Hunches, Intuition, and Collective Experience.” While attempting to base plans on data and not hunches is good. Often you must make decisions without data. It is why Dr. Deming was so concerned with mobility of top management: that mobility means many managers don’t really understand what they are managing. Lean thinkers understand the value of having managers with deep knowledge of the areas they manage.

Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

Sat, 2 May 2026

I have previous written on my belief that excessive executive compensation had reached the level of a deadly disease of western management (building on the W. Edwards Deming’s list of 7 deadly diseases). I named excessive executive pay and a broken “intellectual property” system as new deadly diseases in 2007.

Twitter has given executives $2,000,000,000 in just stock based compensation from 2011 through 2015. Twitter’s revenue for those 4 years was only $4,709,000,000. So Twitter gave executives 42.5% of revenue. This is of revenue, not earnings, Twitter isn’t even profitable.

Thaipusam Festival, Johor Bahru

Fri, 1 May 2026

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Murugan (Kartikeya) celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February).

I Don't Take "Better Management" for Granted

Fri, 1 May 2026

I find very few companies show evidence of practicing what Deming, Drucker, Ackoff etc. talked about many decades ago. Better management is still a distant hope for most organizations in my opinion.

Sustaining Management Improvement Through Personnel Changes

Thu, 30 Apr 2026

Executives can't just have whims (usually driven by a desire to "make their mark") that throw out the principles used to manage the company if there is actually a strong management system.

Most organizations just float with whatever fads are going on, so in most they can flip flop as new executives come into place.

Managing the Organization as a System with Many Stakeholders

Thu, 30 Apr 2026

But even the companies that are doing some things very well (Google, Amazon, Apple...) have a very long way to go in learning about managing organizations. But those companies have some aspects of they are doing very well.

Why are We So Slow to Change?

Wed, 29 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 :-(

Replying to Tweets Usefully

Wed, 29 Apr 2026

Certainly responding could be done in a spamming way. And that should not be done. But you can respond by being helpful. And rely on some of those seeing that you provide useful information wanting to learn more.

A measure of if you are providing useful replies see how often it is retweeted.

Evolutionary v. Revolutionary Management Improvement

Tue, 28 Apr 2026

I do think both are needed. But I also think we exaggerate our revolutionary management changes - I just think it is really rare. We normally keep pretty much the same management system and tweak it will a couple new tools and maybe some new concepts.

"I Know"

Tue, 28 Apr 2026

My preferred countermeasure to the "I know" mentality is to ask a question. You can quickly learn you don't know as much as you thought you did when you try to explain what you know.

Create a Continually Improving Management System - not the Perfect Management Solution

Mon, 27 Apr 2026

In most instances I think a PDSA approach to the approach to use it best. Test out various options in parts of the company. See what works. Build and improve the process and spread it more widely.

The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology

Mon, 27 Apr 2026

Technology also is often seen as this wonderful simple quick fix by executives - letting them avoid the gemba and just put hope in a essentially magic bullet solution.

The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology

Mon, 27 Apr 2026

... I think biggest objection is how often and badly technology efforts fail. This makes a knee jerk reaction against jumping to technology fairly wise. I think the second reason is technology expertise is often not found in the same people that have lean expertise (it can be it just isn't super common)...

Email Isn't the Problem

Sun, 26 Apr 2026

I find there are plenty of times when email is a great tool (for example: providing background material in advance of discussions). Yes, often email is misused and there are plenty of bad processes around email. But it isn't very sensible to say we shouldn't use a hammer (email) because when we use it to cut paper it isn't very useful. We shouldn't misuse a tool; that doesn't mean we shouldn't use the tool properly.

Email Isn't the Problem

Sun, 26 Apr 2026

... I find there are plenty of times when email is a great tool (for example: providing background material in advance of discussions). Yes, often email is misused and there are plenty of bad processes around email. But it isn't very sensible to say we shouldn't use a hammer (email) because when we use it to cut paper it isn't very useful. We shouldn't misuse a tool; that doesn't mean we shouldn't use the tool properly.

What Works for One Business May Not Work For Others

Sun, 26 Apr 2026

The success of management practices is highly dependent on the rest of the management system of the organization.

Thoughts on the Risks of Violence while Traveling

Sat, 25 Apr 2026

Not getting drunk at bars likely proactively addresses a significant portion of issues.

Second, if you are coming from the USA or many other fairly high personal crime countries there are many places you are much safer while traveling. If you are coming from Japan, Singapore, Scandinavia you probably are much more likely to be the victim of crime than at home.

If you are not drunk the most likely crime is theft, while not good, it is much better than being attacked in my opinion...

The biggest concern in a new environment is that you don't pick up on the clues of danger that you would in your home environment.

TPP Transparency Confirms the Worst: USA Government Still Trying to Strip Away Rights of Citizens in USA and Elsewhere

Sat, 25 Apr 2026

The anti-liberty policies of those we elect continues. They continue to sell out basic rights to provide favors for those giving them lots of cash. The extent to which our elected officials go to hide their actions from public scrutiny is despicable. But the real damage is the consistent march to reduce liberty while providing favors for those providing politicians cash. The damage to society by this consistent pattern is enormous.

Software Testers Are Test Pilots

Sat, 25 Apr 2026

Software testers should be test pilots. Too many people think software testing is the pre-flight checklist an airline pilot uses.

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Checklists are extremely useful in software development. And using checklist-type automated tests is a valuable part of maintaining and developing software. But those pass-fail tests are equivalent to checklists - they provide a standardized way to check that planned checks pass. They are not equivalent to thoughtful testing by a software testing professional.

Customer Focus with a Deming Perspective

Sat, 25 Apr 2026

A Deming based organization uses evidence based management practices to understand the value customers receive and the variation in the delivery of that value. Internally the organization uses in process measures to monitor and improve (through experimentation – PDSA cycle) internal processes.

The focus goes beyond pleasing the customer you are faced with at any one time in the Deming context. The Deming management system is designed to learn all we can from every customer interaction to improve the process of delivering value to all future customers.

Disregard for the Rule of Law by Government

Fri, 24 Apr 2026

The USA has done many things wrong in spying on its citizens and others around the world. The main defense seems to be to

1) make people fearful (essentially they are copying what the house committee on "un-american activities" did)
2) lie
3) hide extremely bad policy (and most likely lots of illegal activity) behind claims of "national security"
4) say we are no worse at breaking laws than others are

Poor Web Site User Experience (Ux)

Fri, 24 Apr 2026

It is really lame that huge sites (Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, CNN, Marketwatch...) can't easily show what markets are closed. Instead they show changes (which imply changes today) that are often for the previous day. So half an hour before a market opens the display indicates it has returned whatever it returned yesterday. And if the market is closed that day, all day long the display acts as though it has the return it did that last day it was open.

Appreciating Health

Thu, 23 Apr 2026

Part of appreciating health to me, is valuing life. We don't have that long to take advantage of being healthy to do what we want. I have to make sure I am doing that, and not letting distractions sidetrack me.

Living Through Your Society Becoming a Police State

Thu, 23 Apr 2026

I don't like the USA government hiding its actions from the citizens of the USA. I don't believe claims that most of what is hidden is for national security reasons. It is hidden for the simple reason that it is politically unacceptable to admit what they are doing and so they seek to hide what they are doing.

I Can Spy on You, But You Can't Spy on Me

Wed, 22 Apr 2026

My guess is Germany does nothing, other than making a few harmless noises. Pretty much Europe has been limited to voicing a bit of displeasure occasionally but for anything that requires action acting like a vassal state and going along with the USA (which often means big USA campaign contributors). Maybe Germany, or others, will want to step out from the shadow they have been in basically since the end of World War II, but I doubt it.

Setting Goals Can Easily Backfire

Wed, 22 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

Blog Readers (for Reading RSS Feeds)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026

If you read blogs and are not using a RSS feed reader you really should try using a reader. It something I can't imagine doing without.

Improving Problem Solving

Wed, 22 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.

Theory of Knowledge: Can We Trust Our Memories?

Tue, 21 Apr 2026

people may well overestimate their ability to predict. They therefore may under-appreciate the problems due to poor prediction. They may also not see that their predictions are not very accurate and therefore should call into question the theories upon which those predictions are based.

Also this shows the importance of trying to cement the understanding of agreements. Sometimes people will think writing down what was decided in a meeting or in a discussion is not needed because we will remember. But memory is very malleable.

Effective Communication is Explicit

Tue, 21 Apr 2026

Making communication explicit creates a process that is less likely to result in problems that stem from communication failures...

Writing on a flip chart what was decided in a meeting along with all the action items (including who is responsible) is another example of a practice to make communication explicit.

Distorting the System, Distorting the Data or Improving the System

Mon, 20 Apr 2026

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

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

Mon, 20 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.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (Temple of Green Cloud), Melacca

Sun, 19 Apr 2026

The Cheng Hoon Teng temple (Temple of Green Cloud) is a Chinese temple practicing the three doctrinal systems of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. It is the oldest functioning temple in Malaysia; built in 1673.

The image shows a close up of artwork in the temple.

Photos of Little India in Singapore

Sun, 19 Apr 2026

The image shows Masjid Abdul Gaffoor.

Support of Top Management is Not Sufficient

Sun, 19 Apr 2026

Adopting a new management system can’t happen unless executives change their daily work and change how they manage.

Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore

Sat, 18 Apr 2026

The image shows: Uma Parameshwari, bronze statue, India

The Asian Civilisations Museum’s flagship at Empress Place opened in 2003. Occupying over 14,000 square metres at the newly-restored Empress Place Building, it houses 11 galleries which showcase over 1300 artefacts from the Museum’s growing collections on the civilisations of China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia/ Islamic.

Egytian Statue in Front of the The Temple of Dendur at the Met in NYC

Sat, 18 Apr 2026

Colossal Statue of Amenhotep III Reinscribed by Merneptah, 1390–1353 B.C.. The statue is from Thebes, Luxor, in the Temple of Amun.

The Temple of Dendur, in the background, was built during the reign of Augustus Caesar in the Roman period.

The room in the Metropolitan museum is quite excellent with a huge window looking into Central Park.

Better Health Through: Exercise, Not Smoking, Low Weight, Healthy Diet and Low Alcohol Intake

Fri, 17 Apr 2026

These 5 activities/state reduce the risk of chronic diseases: regular exercise, not smoking, healthy bodyweight, healthy diet and low alcohol intake. How these were defined: ...

Silicon Valley Shows the Power of Global Science and Technology Workforce

Fri, 17 Apr 2026

Even with the challenges created by the culture in Washington DC against non-European foreigners the last 15 years Silicon Valley continues to prosper due to the talents of a pool of global science and engineering talent. Other countries continue to fumble the opportunity provided by the USA’s policies (largely a combination of security theater thinking and a lack of scientific literacy); and the strength of Silicon Valley’s ecosystem has proven resilient.

Earnings by College Major – Engineers and Scientists at the Top

Thu, 16 Apr 2026

As we have posted about for years engineers do very well financially. This chart shows the median income by college major (the data includes those who went on to get advanced degrees) based on data for the USA.

Engineering holds 6 of the top spots in the graph shown above and 8 of the top spots for those that didn’t earn an advanced degree. Pharmacy-sciences-and-administration and Math-and-computer-sciences made the top 10 of both lists.

Outdoor Air Pollution Resulted in 223,000 Cancer Deaths in 2010

Thu, 16 Apr 2026

It is very difficult for individuals to cope with systemic failures (allowing excessive pollution that kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, for example); individual can wear masks to reduce negative impacts of air pollution. These types of risks should be dealt with at the government level. Those that argue that we don’t need nanny states protecting us from dangers that individuals have trouble coping with individually are not taking a very scientific approach to how societies can make life better.

Hyperloop – Fast Transportation Using a Better Engineering Solution Than We Do Now

Wed, 15 Apr 2026

Elon Musk (the engineer and entrepreneur behind Tesla electric cars and before that he helped create PayPal) has a very cool idea of how to provide fast long distance transportation (faster than a plane). Essentially it is a big version of pneumatic tubes that used to be used to send small packages around a building, as seen in the movie – Brazil