John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

Understanding Psychology: Slogans – Risky Tools

Sun, 31 May 2026

Slogans mainly are bad. But like most things they can be used in ways that help or hurt. The main problem is when they substitute for a method to achieve the aim (most of the time). If the slogan serves like a mission statement to focus people on something useful to focus on and it is one minor part of a system to achieve a result it can be fine and even useful.

Parfrey’s Glen, Wisconsin

Sun, 31 May 2026

These photos show Parfrey's Glen in Wisconsin. It really was amazingly beautiful - the pictures do not do it justice. The light and colors were great - filtered through the trees above. The park is about an hour outside of Madison.

Do What You Say You Will

Sat, 30 May 2026

There is the saying “It is better to be thought a fool than speak, and prove it.” Well it is better to be thought a pointy haired boss (PHB) than to ask for feedback, then ignore it, and prove you are a PHB.

Design Your Organization to Serve Customers Well

Sat, 30 May 2026

Around all these processes is potential information. And you can either use it or not use it. And in most places just waste it.
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There is valuable information just running down the drain. If you have everybody turned on and looking at process and saying how can we make them work better, you need to get some information, you need to get some data. That is the way you actually solve problems.

William Hunter in seminar, Quality is a Journey to Excellence

Thinking Required – Not Just a Recipe to Follow

Fri, 29 May 2026

One of the most powerful aspects of Deming’s management ideas also frustrates some people. Dr. Deming didn’t believe in simple guides telling managers what to do – his ideas are not prescriptive. The challenges of management don’t lend themselves to simple instructions spelling out exactly what steps managers need to take. What managers need to do depends on the organization and current state.

There are general principles such as respect for people and understanding variation...

Racism in the USA

Fri, 29 May 2026

... as a kid I read biographies of Reggie Jackson and I learned about how bad racism was very recently in the USA, from the few pages they included about what he had to endure. That left an enduring mark on my understanding of my society.

Here is a recent clip of him talking about some of his experience. It is extremely damaging that we have "leaders" today trying to erase history and deny current realities.

Drucker’s Ideas at Toyota

Thu, 28 May 2026

Encourage employees to voice their opinions even if they are contrary. The people in top management must be open to hearing critical comments from employees and listening to opposing views if they want to engender new ideas and new ways of doing things.

Short Term Investing Focus

Thu, 28 May 2026

Decades ago Dr. Deming said short term focus was one of the seven deadly diseases of western management. Unfortunately we have made very little progress on the deadly diseases.

Quality is a Journey to Excellence

Wed, 27 May 2026

I recently uncovered this 2 day management seminar that Bill Hunter (my father) recorded in 1985 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The embedded clip shows the first section of a the seminar.

The present system in the US has not provided for any meaningful contribution from the workers themselves to improve the methods of production and the quality of work life. They have no opportunity to exercise their judgement, imagination, creativity or versatility in ways that could contribute to their productivity and sense of dignity. It is no surprise that they undergo frustration and discouragement, feelings certainly not apt to contribute to their efficiency. The solution to our productivity problem is the necessity for management and labor to recognize the intrinsic value of the human being.

Russell Schrader

More Reasons to Avoid Layoffs

Wed, 27 May 2026

there is a growing body of academic research suggesting that firms incur big costs when they cut workers. Some of these costs are obvious, such as the direct costs of severance and outplacement, and some are intuitive, such as the toll on morale and productivity as anxiety (“Will I be next?”) infects remaining workers.

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research paints a fairly consistent picture: layoffs don’t work.

Circle of Influence

Tue, 26 May 2026

You should remember, that there is a temporal component to your circle of influence. On some current issue, I may have a very low chance of success for getting the organization to adopt an improvement I think is best. But certain actions can build the understanding that will allow me later to have more influence. This can even be completely separate from how people normally think of circle of influence. By building an organization that moves toward data based decision making and therefore reduces HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) decision making I increase my ability to influence decision making in the future.

Long term thinking is a very powerful, and much under-practiced, strategy. Your influence within an organization is limited today but has great potential to expand, if you act wisely.

Multitasking Decreases Productivity

Tue, 26 May 2026

The problems with multitasking are becoming more and more well know, thankfully. Here is another article on the lower productivity multitasking produces...

Keeping Good Employees

Mon, 25 May 2026

...What can we do to keep you? What do you enjoy about your job? What do you dislike? What can I do to increase your joy in work? What one thing would you most like to see changed? What do you want to see continue? Would you like help in some aspect of your career development? What can I do better? Am I providing too much oversight, not enough?

Give honest straight forward answers to questions. If someone wants to move ahead and needs to work harder to advance their career tell them that. If they need to be more cooperative, develop certain skills… tell them. The idea is not just to make the person happy in that meeting...

Outcome and In-Process Measures

Mon, 25 May 2026

An outcome measure is used to measure the success of a system. For example, the outcome measure could be the percentage of people who do not get polio (the result). An output measure, for example, would be the number of people vaccinated with the polio vaccine (the output). Often we measure inputs (amount of money spent) or outputs (number of people vaccinated). They are usually easy to measure but obviously less valuable proxies for what the objective of the system (reducing the incidence of polio).

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In-process measures can be valuable in providing actionable information sooner than the outcome measure would allow action...

“Pay for Performance” is a Bad Idea

Sun, 24 May 2026

The idea of a merit rating is alluring. The sound of the words captivates the imagination: pay for what you get; get what you pay for; motivate people to do their best, for their own good. The effect is exactly the opposite of what the words promise.

W. Edwards Deming

Not Exactly Lean Packaging

Sun, 24 May 2026

Sadly not. What the überbox did contain was 16 smaller boxes “which in turn [each] contained (wrapped in foam so they wouldn’t get broken) exactly two sheets of A4 paper”

It is hard to imagine what management system creates such solutions. But it is not hard to image Dilbert’s pointy haired boss fitting right in there. It also isn't surprising the incredibly poorly managed HP is responsible for this instance of idiocy.

Some Good IT Business Ideas

Sat, 23 May 2026

Outsourced IT. In most companies the IT department is an expensive bottleneck.

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Off the shelf security.

Verizon Provides Lousy Service = Dog Bites Man

Sat, 23 May 2026

It is obvious a few companies don’t have any ability to provide even just reasonably bad service (for them the goal of decent service is so far away as to not be reasonable). How often do Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, United… get blasted for horrible custom service?

Deming Auto Repair

Fri, 22 May 2026

"Clients often ask how we motivate our staff members. The answer is simple, we don’t. We feel good people are already motivated, what they need is removal of the things that de-motivate them..."

Businesses Tell the IRS They Are Not American but Executives Stay in USA

Fri, 22 May 2026

I have previously written about the ethically challenged companies that claim they are not American to avoid paying the taxes that they owe. For some reason the executives, often seem to stay in the USA though? They even continue to get huge USA government contracts (military and other). It is sad that such behavior is tolerated.

Innovative Thinking at Amazon: Paying Employees $5,000 to Quit

Thu, 21 May 2026

Amazon continues to be innovative not just in technology but with management thinking. Jeff Bezos has rejected the dictates espoused most vociferously by Wall Street mouthpieces and MBAs that encourage short term thinking and financial gimmicks which harm the long term success of companies.

Most CEOs and executives are too fearful or foolish to ignore what they are told they must do because Wall Street demands it.

Executives Again Treating Corporate Treasuries as Their Own Money

Thu, 21 May 2026

A huge problem with current practices at American companies is that senior executives believe they personally are due what the company earns. The repeated ethical lapses perpetrated by the senior executives and supported by their well paid board continue to undermine the economy of the country...

Better Meetings

Wed, 20 May 2026

Meetings are perennial problems. People sit through meetings and then complain about how big a waste of time it was. Here are a couple very simple tips to try and actually improve (instead of just agreeing that meetings are wasteful, but doing nothing to improve).

Have an agenda
Document decisions

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Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve in Ohio

Wed, 20 May 2026

The Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve in Ohio is quite a nice short hike.

I visited the preserve last year. Other sites from the trip include: Rocky Gap State Park, Maryland and Coopers Rock State Forest, West Virginia.

Paying New Employees to Quit

Tue, 19 May 2026

Training new employees and then paying them to quit, sounds pretty bizarre; Zappos is not afraid of doing things differently. Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit – And You Should Too...

Internships Increasing

Tue, 19 May 2026

The Deming Scholars MBA program at Fordham includes a heavy dose of internships (“Subject matter is delivered in five integrated learning cycles. Five eight-week sessions of classroom lectures, seminars and study are linked by seven-week internships at participating firms”). Sadly the Deming Scholars MBA program has closed.

Fed Funds Rate Changes Don’t Presage Mortgage Rate Changes

Mon, 18 May 2026

The recent drastic reductions again emphasize (once again) that changes in the federal funds rate are not correlated with changes in the 30 year fixed mortgage rate. In the last 4 months the discount rate has been reduced nearly 200 basis points, while 30 year fixed mortgage rates have fallen 18 basis points.

Engineering Innovation

Mon, 18 May 2026

I was giving a talk, while I was working for the Office of Secretary of Defense Quality Management Office, on Using Quality to Develop an Internet Resource (back before blogs, but after the web, in 1999). I was trimming things as I spoke and cut the tidbit about DARPA and the internet because I figured everyone already knew that (and I had to trim as I was speaking). In discussions afterwards I found many didn’t know DARPA’s involvement.

2023 William G. Hunter Award to Dr. James Cochran

Sun, 17 May 2026

...It is also meaningful because of the distinguished, accomplished, highly regarded recipients who previously received this award. Dr. Hunter continues to have profound impact on our discipline and on my career - in service, in teaching, and in research. Dr. Hunter has influenced me by example, primarily through his vision and efforts to improve the lives of others by applying our discipline to complex and consequential problems.

How to Safely Spend Savings in Retirement

Sun, 17 May 2026

There are no super simple answers in my opinion. But ideas like 4% (or 3.5% or …) do get you at least in the right ballpark for what has worked historically in the USA with specific portfolios

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No one blog post is going to provide an answer to the question... There are some very good posts, articles and studies on the topic, here are a few:

The Silliness of the Safe Withdrawal Rate Movement – “The correct answer to “what is a safe withdrawal rate?” is “something around 4%, probably in the 3%-6% range.” Not 3.59% or 4.21%.”
Bill Bengen: How to Monitor and Adjust Withdrawal Plans

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Continual Improvement

Sat, 16 May 2026

...the continual improvement process

must be never ending
must focus daily on how any process can be improved
must focus on adopting improvement systemically (not just locally, by one person or team)
must focus on discontinuous improvement which could include high energy kaizen events and dramatic innovation must include a study phase (PDSA) where the improvements are evaluated to determine whether they actually achieved the predicted results and
must include improvement of the improvement process itself

Department of Defense Lean Six Sigma

Sat, 16 May 2026

Gordon England, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, signed a directive establishing policy and assigning responsibilities to institutionalize the Lean Six Sigma effort throughout the USA Department of Defense.

China Outsourcing Manufacturing to USA

Fri, 15 May 2026

For decades foreigners have taken debt from Americans that promise to pay back later (to pay for what they consumed). Now many are deciding that these debts are not attractive investments and are looking to own productive assets in the USA (companies, factories…).

Well Managed Companies

Fri, 15 May 2026

Do your outstanding people think their importance is in getting through another day through hard work and individual expertise. While those qualities are good most important to the success of the organization is improving the system not getting through one day. If those seen as the stars are not improving the system and processes then get them to work doing so.

Toyota Execution Not Close to Being Copied

Thu, 14 May 2026

A company truly driven by a focus on continual improvement, respect for all employees and reasonable executive compensation might be a company serious about adopting Deming and Toyota management principles. It is hard for me to imagine such a situation that doesn’t truly seek, as the primary aim of the organization, to benefit many stakeholders (workers, owners, suppliers, customers…) not just executives (or just executives, board and owners…).

1,000th post on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog

Thu, 14 May 2026

Here are some highlights:

Post number 2: Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data – “We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system...

The Purpose of an Organization quoting Dr. Deming: “The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term.”

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What to do: Management is Prediction ... Using Design of Experiments ... Bring Me Problems Even if you Don’t have the Solutions ...

Lean and Theory of Constraints

Wed, 13 May 2026

I tend to believe the theory of constraints view is helpful but can be misleading since often the interdependencies within the system mean that it is not true that “optimizing non-bottlenecks will introduce waste” (that may be true but is not necessarily true – that is how I see it anyway)...

Manufacturing Outlook and History In the USA and Globally

Wed, 13 May 2026

The USA manufacturing base is growing and far from crumbling (job losses are deceiving as they are global and not an indication of a USA manufacturing decline). China’s manufacturing growth is incredible. China and the USA are far away the top 2 manufacturing countries.

John Simpson

Tue, 12 May 2026

This is the best I can do to create my Simpson self. Until I have a guest appearance on the show, I guess this will have to do.

The Value of a Management System Accommodating Remote Work

Tue, 12 May 2026

Working remotely creates a significantly different system than working all next to each other. There are big advantages to working right next to each other. There are also really bad office designs (which are very common) which detract from success of working next to each other (distractions etc. that cubical farms, "hoteling" create etc.).

There are challenges to managing a system of work with people not being right next to each other. There are also huge advantages of hiring people that are not within commuting distance of your location...

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.

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.