History

Posts selected fromManagement Blog - Engineering Blog - Investing Blog and other blogs

• Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You

  It is important to understand how our brains work and the ways in which we can easily be led astray if we are not careful.

  continue reading: Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You
• A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

  "A good management system doesn’t rely on heroic efforts to save the day. The organization is designed to success. It is robust. It will succeed with all the variation thrown at it by the outside world."

  continue reading: A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving
• A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

  A good management system doesn’t rely on heroic efforts to save the day. The organization is designed to succeed. It is robust. It will succeed with all the variation thrown at it by the outside world. A good management system takes advantage of the contributions people offer, but it will not perform poorly when others are relied on.

  continue reading: A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving
• The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology

  ... 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)...

  continue reading: The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology
• The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology

  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.

  continue reading: The Tendency for Lean Experts to Distrust Technology
• Interview on PDSA, Deming, Strategy and More

  A really big key between people that use PDSA successfully and those who don’t is that the ones that do it successfully turn the cycle quickly.

  continue reading: Interview on PDSA, Deming, Strategy and More
• Leadership While Viewing the Organization as a System

  Over time, I have become more and more focused on the overall system and figuring out how to look at whatever problem we're having within a larger context. And I find that usually leads me to a better solution. There are a couple of ways to see this in respect to leadership.

  The first one is when you have one of Deming's deadly diseases (or his 14 points), like the mobility of top management...

   

  continue reading: Leadership While Viewing the Organization as a System
• Agile Software Development and Deming's Ideas

  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.

  continue reading: Agile Software Development and Deming's Ideas
• More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay

  As I have said before I wouldn’t think of having people that demand kleptocrat level wages lead my company. If that is how much they demand to accept the job they are not the person hold a leadership position in the company. I will be happy for them to pass by the chance to lead our organization.

  continue reading: More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay
• More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay

  Today I see many CEO’s are acting as kleptocrats do – taking food out of others mouths to build their castles. The damage done to everyone else involved is of no concern. Both groups love bankers that flood them with cash for new and larger castles at the expense of the futures of their company (or country).

  continue reading: More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay
• How Healthy Is Squid for Us?

  I try to eat healthfully, especially when I can tweak what I eat to gain a health advantage. I know fish have good qualities. I live in Malaysia now and squid (called sotong here) is often available. I often prefer squid to fish here as the fish use here are often fairly small with bones to deal and not much meat for the effort (it is great sometimes but I am often lazy).

  This is what I found out about squid...

  continue reading: How Healthy Is Squid for Us?
• Innovative Thinking at Amazon: Paying Employees $5,000 to Quit

  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.

  continue reading: Innovative Thinking at Amazon: Paying Employees $5,000 to Quit
• Using Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies in Roadless Areas

  This is an awesome use of technology to tackle important problems. Engineers are great.

  continue reading: Using Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies in Roadless Areas
• Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide

  Toyota has always seen robotics as a way to enhance what staff can do. Many USA executives think of robotics as a way to reduce personnel. Toyota wants to use the brainpower of employees to continually improve the organization. Toyota wants to free people for monotonous or dangerous work to let them use their minds.

  continue reading: Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide
• Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide

  Toyota has always seen robotics as a way to enhance what staff can do. Many USA executives think of robotics as a way to reduce personnel. Toyota wants to use the brainpower of employees to continually improve the organization.

  continue reading: Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide