Quality & Innovation

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) I stumbled across a LinkedIn discussion in the “Continuous Improvement, Six Sigma & Lean” group yesterday that, though posted 8 months ago, has just started to get revived traffic. The question was simple: What is Quality? The poster, though, spe

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) This isn’t specifically quality or innovation related, but it came out of my mouth over coffee this morning in answer to the question “What do you think is the best approach to maintaining healthy relationships?” I wanted to record it because it

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) In his April post, ASQ CEO Paul Borawski asks “Are Quality Professionals Happy on the Job?” His question was motivated by a recent Forbes article that rated software quality professionals among the ten happiest in their careers. However, I’d like

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) Measurement is an important aspect of assuring and improving quality(*). As a result, I think about it often, especially in the context of maintaining and losing weight. My BMI is not bad (23.5) but I don’t like to exercise, so I try to eat witho

(Image credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) I always thought mindfulness was some sort of Zen-like state of nirvana and bliss. (Great for improving the quality of my life in general, but maybe a little too fluffy and spiritual to have any practical value at work.) But, like a lot of others

On Saturday, March 24, I led the “Quality Tools for Problem Solving” sessions at the 2012 JMU Expanding Your Horizons conference, affiliated with the national program of the same name. In just 50 minutes, we learned how to use affinity diagrams, checksheets, and Pareto Charts to identify the “vital

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to) The other day I read a news article or blog post (or something; I can’t remember) that explained one reason we get irritating songs stuck in our heads. The post was based on a research paper by Williamson et al. (2011) in the journal Psychology o

A Pareto Chart is a sorted bar chart that displays the frequency (or count) of occurrences that fall in different categories, from greatest frequency on the left to least frequency on the right, with an overlaid line chart that plots the cumulative percentage of occurrences. The vertical axis on the

It’s been a long time! Although I haven’t served in this role since the spring of 2009, I am pleased once again to host ASQ Influential Voices blogger John Hunter’s Management Improvement Carnival, featuring some interesting or noteworthy articles that have been posted over the past couple weeks. Be