Articles on Quality and Innovation

This is the site map for the Quality & Innovation Blog that I've been writing since October 2008. I'm interested primarily in how organizations can build a quality culture in a decentralized way, from quality consciousness (which is best summed up here), given that all quality systems are inherently socio-technical systems!

Agility as a Dimension of Quality

  • Disorganization and Changing Your Mind are Both Expensive - August 5, 2009

    • Authenticity & Transparency as Dimensions of Quality

  • No Settling (Authenticity as a Dimension of Quality) - November 18, 2010
  • Authentithesis - October 11, 2010
  • You're Not Your Own Authenticity - October 12, 2010
  • Getting to Great: Authenticity in Customer Service - October 8, 2010
  • Why Authenticity Requires Introspection - January 17, 2011
  • Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part I) - November 5, 2010
  • Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part II) - November 12, 2010
  • The Customer Isn't Always Right: Keeping Customer Conversation Authentic - January 14, 2011
  • How to Achieve Transparency: One Approach - August 10, 2009

    • Communications Quality

  • How to Give a High Quality Presentation - March 26, 2009
  • Overcoming Jargon - February 18, 2009
  • Good Tutorials and Bad Tutorials - June 22, 2009

    • Customer Service Quality

  • Genuinely Bad Customer Service - January 28, 2011
  • The Customer Isn't Always Right: Keeping Customer Conversation Authentic - January 14, 2011
  • Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part I) - November 5, 2010
  • Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part II) - November 12, 2010
  • Getting to Great: Authenticity in Customer Service - October 8, 2010

    • Emotions, Attitude, Affect & Motivation in Quality

  • The Hidden Value of Weakness - June 23, 2011
  • The Quality and Innovation Attitude - March 2, 2009
  • Getting Your Work Mojo Back - April 2, 2009
  • The Secret to Innovation = A Cure for Depression? - June 9, 2011
  • Quality is Better When You Feel Good - February 5, 2009
  • Eight Ways to Deal With Complexity - November 2, 2008

    • Entrepreneurship

  • The Mature Entrepreneur - May 13, 2011
  • The Mature Entrepreneur - Part II - May 21, 2011
  • The Mature Entrepreneur - Part III - June 24, 2011

    • Excellence

  • Quality vs. Excellence - June 22, 2009
  • Excellence is Emotional - January 7, 2011
  • Quality, Continuous Improvement, and the Expert Mind - February 24, 2009
  • What Cupcakes Can Teach Us About Quality - August 8, 2009

    • Expectations

  • Expectations (and How to Violate Them) - December 2, 2010
  • The Genius of Asking Dumb Questions - February 21, 2009
  • Quality is Better When You Feel Good - February 5, 2009

    • Information Overload & its Impact on Productivity and Happiness

  • Zen and the Art of Social Media Blackout - September 22, 2010
  • Detoxing From Facebook - October 15, 2010

    • Innovation

  • The New TRIZ: Bizkus for Innovation - February 6, 2012
  • All About TRIZ for Innovation - February 4, 2012
  • Quality and Innovation on the Road (Maintaining Momentum for Large Projects) - Aug 25, 2011
  • How ISO 8402 Relates Quality to Innovation - October 22, 2008
  • Tuning Into Your Innovation Frequency - November 21, 2010
  • The Secret to Innovation = A Cure for Depression? - June 9, 2011
  • I Can Solve Your Problems Better Than Mine - May 23, 2011
  • Innovation Through Quality: Insights from Neuroscience - March 24, 2009
  • Achieving Quality When Something is Always Broken - June 24, 2009
  • Eight Ways to Deal With Complexity - November 2, 2008
  • The Role of Creativity in Innovation - November 26, 2008
  • The Relativity of Innovation - November 22, 2008
  • Low-Tech, High Impact Innovation - October 24, 2008

    • Lean & Six Sigma

  • How to Pass Your ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) Exam - October 27, 2011
  • How I Passed My ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) Exam - October 27, 2011
  • Should You Get Your Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) from ASQ? - January 17, 2012
  • Is Profit Waste? - January 8, 2011
  • The Origins of Just-In-Time - October 13, 2010
  • Eliminating Waste Using Zombie War Analysis - December 4, 2010
  • Lean Thinking: The Many Flavors of Waste - November 4, 2008
  • RIP Six Sigma? Management Fads and the Apocalypse - October 16, 2008
  • DMAIC Demystified - October 23, 2008
  • When Lean and Six Sigma Don't Work - October 20, 2008

    • Mindfulness as a Dimension of Quality

  • How I Achieved Mindfulness (Without Meditation) - January 23, 2011

    • Productivity (& How to be More Productive!)

  • Quality and Productivity through Reflection - April 10, 2009
  • Maker's Meeting, Manager's Meeting - August 14, 2009
  • Disciplined Creative Time - October 15, 2009
  • Zen and the Art of Social Media Blackout - September 22, 2010
  • Detoxing From Facebook - October 15, 2010
  • Overcoming Jargon - February 18, 2009

    • Quality Consciousness

  • What is Quality Consciousness? - October 21, 2011
  • Quality Consciousness: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out - November 14, 2011
  • Collins and Hansen's Great By Choice: A Story of Quality Consciousness - December 26, 2011
  • Why Positive Psychology is Essential for Quality - September 29, 2011

    • Quality & Continuous Improvement

  • PDCA vs. PDSA: What's the Difference? - August 26, 2011
  • The Rubric as a General Purpose Quality Tool - February 2, 2012
  • What is a Quality System? - October 18, 2008
  • How ISO 8402 Relates Quality to Innovation - October 22, 2008
  • Smith's Taxonomy of Quality Problems - February 2, 2009
  • A Dynamic Model of Quality Improvement - November 28, 2008
  • Quality of an Interactive System - June 23, 2009
  • Continuous Improvement Begins With Standards - January 12, 2009
  • How Usability and (Software) Quality are Related - February 4, 2009
  • Sparklers, Bagels and Value - July 11, 2011

    • Socio-Technical Systems

  • What is a Socio-Technical System? - October 18, 2008
  • What is Sociotechnology? - January 19, 2009
  • What is Socio-Technical Design? - January 19, 2009

    • Software Quality & Reuse

  • How Usability and (Software) Quality are Related - February 4, 2009
  • Why Software Reuse is Hard - January 14, 2009
  • Why Software Reuse is Hard - More Perspectives - February 2, 2009
  • Software Reuse Antipatterns - January 13, 2009
  • ITEA Criteria for Software Process Improvement - February 20, 2009
  • Software Hell is a Crowded Place (Management Fads) - February 4, 2009
  • The Butter Test for Usability - January 24, 2009

    • Technology Management

  • The Poison of Performance Appraisals - Part I - May 26, 2011
  • Is Profit Waste? - January 8, 2011
  • High Risk or Low Risk: An Open Exercise - December 10, 2010
  • The Trouble With Tools - March 18, 2011
  • Modernizing the Balanced Scorecard - October 13, 2010
  • Not Invented Here - June 19, 2009
  • Pain Based Change Management - March 12, 2009
  • Real or Not Real? Deadlines in Project Management - November 15, 2008

    • Time Management

  • The Hidden Value of Weakness - June 23, 2011
  • Too Much To Do, Not Enough Time - January 15, 2011
  • Disciplined Creative Time - October 15, 2009
  • Maker's Meeting, Manager's Meeting - August 14, 2009

    • Usability as a Dimension of Quality

  • How Usability and (Software) Quality are Related - February 4, 2009
  • The Butter Test for Usability - January 24, 2009