Content by Matthew Barsalou
5S With Dubious ExtrasMarie Kondo’s decluttering breakthrough sounds very familiar
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 16:23
A recent Business Insider article discussed Marie Kondo’s wildly popular book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Ten Speed Press, 2014). The book is intended for decluttering homes, but the same principles can be applied in the workplace.
For… Customer Problem ResolutionA shared journey of discovery
Mon, 07/06/2015 - 13:26
I know that the customer should be involved when performing a root cause analysis (RCA) as the result of a complaint. However, in a meeting, the manager of problem resolution and statistical methods told our team that we should view customer-… Presenting Information to ManagementMaximize the effect of your message with these simple hints
Mon, 06/15/2015 - 13:39
One seldom mentioned yet critical skill is the ability to bring well-presented information to management. I almost typed “data,” but that would probably be incorrect. Chances are you are not holding a presentation to show top management data; you… A Simplified Management ModelEven a child’s lemonade stand can use a sound business plan
Mon, 04/13/2015 - 15:31
I see a weakness in management models. It’s not the models themselves that are the problem, but rather their application in smaller organizations. Those of us with either business experience or a business-related degree can be expected to have an… Guided by GurusNew names from around the world are joining the original ‘greats’
Tue, 02/24/2015 - 11:28
A list of quality gurus can range from just a few individuals to 50 or more. Several people make it onto most lists: W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Armand Feigenbaum, Phil Crosby, and Walter Shewhart, all from the United States; and Japanese… Exploring Tukey’s Exploratory Data AnalysisEDA for weather and widgets
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 10:42
There are many tools available for investigating quality problems. One useful and easy-to-use set of statistical tools is John W. Tukey’s exploratory data analysis (EDA), which quality engineers can use for generating hypotheses. Tukey’s EDA… Essential Actions for Root Cause AnalysisWhen a customer demands that you leap into action, you’d better have a plan
Mon, 12/08/2014 - 00:00
Have you ever received a customer complaint with blurry photos and a demand for immediate action, but insufficient detail to actually take that action? Or the customer, in his or her haste to get the complaint out, neglected to mention which part… Science Should Discover DemingThere’s a monster threatening scientific research. It’s called measurement.
Tue, 10/14/2014 - 10:57
W. Edwards Deming was a frequent critic of quotas. One of his famous 14 points presented in Out of the Crisis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982) is “Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.” There is… On Lesser Gods and DevilsIt’s possible to learn from anybody
Thu, 07/24/2014 - 09:27
Bruce Hamilton recently wrote about his former colleague Manny S., whom he referred to as a “Lesser God.” The article reminded me of my former colleague Jose P., who trained me in my first quality job after college. By that time I had read W.… The Guru and the BardAs airline wreckage eludes discovery, lawyers cast for the big catch
Thu, 04/03/2014 - 10:35
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, and has yet to be definitively found. But the lack of wreckage or even an idea as to what happened isn’t sufficient to stop the first lawyers from filing lawsuits. The lawyers are already…
