PDCA

PDCA Management Cycle is one of the most basic theories for managers. If you make use of PDCA Management Cycle, you can handle any kind of projects and business to achieve goals well.

P=Plan
D=Do
C=Check
A=Act

You just take one by one in order. After you finish A, you are supposed to work on a new P that comes from the first PDCA. You don't have to make a big progress or a revolutionary change at once. All you have to do is just to go round and round until the cycles make a big difference the sooner or the later.

Numerical Targets

In order to achieve long term goals, I take advantage of numerical targets. Numbers have mysterious power for our brain to understand the world objectively. As sports results you may find how far you reach on the way to achieve goals.

How can I work on tasks for long term goals with a good endurance? One way to do so is to make a point system for tasks related to long term goals. Without it, it is hard to endure to make an effort. It seems to measure lap times in a marathon race or gain points for the championship of a car race!

The First Time to Go

In this summer, I plan to go to Russia for the first time. I have been in many different places in Japan and the world. Before I reach at a virgin land for me, I study two things, history and language. To study history inspires me to understand the thought and characteristic of people there.

So, I study Russian and Russian history everyday. Russia is a neighbor to Japan and Finland! The most interesting thing I learned from my study is that their political ideas such as centralization and federation were influenced by Mongolians or Nomads who had threatened and ruled Russians.

It is more interesting than I thought for me to study Russia and the Central Asia!

TOC Theory of Contraints

TOC is the abbreviation of "Theory of Constraints". Prof. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, an Israeli physicist, expressed this theory in a novel called "Goal". Our activities are constrained by a bottleneck. For example, when four people are working together to produce products, three of them can finish each part in a minutes, but it takes 2 minutes to do his part. This product can be output every two minutes. Although three people can do 60 pcs per hour, the other person can make only 30 pcs in an hour.

If you want to know about it, why don't you read "The Goal" or books about "Theory of Constraints"?

Failure is not an Option

On July 21, 1969, humans landed on the surface of the moon for the first time in history. 40 years passed by.

I bought a book called "Failure is not an Option". I thank to Amazon that I can easily buy American book as if I were in the United States. This book was written by Gene Kranz, the flight director of Apollo Project. The title was quoted from his statement in the mission of Apollo 13. That was the toughest mission to manage in the history of the space. I want to study how he encountered with the most difficult situation and know who he is.

I have not finished to read it....It may take a little while. If you are not able to wait for comments、why don't you buy one for yourself. I promise that you never get regret.

Unemployment Rates in Japan

As many other countries, unemployment rates in Japan have been raising this year. Many part-time works have already lost jobs since October in 2008. This year more full-time workers may lose jobs!

2009 Japan
Jan. 4.1%
Feb. 4.4%
Mar. 4.8%
Apr. 5.0%
May. 5.2%

The quarterly earnings of American companies have been released this month. So far, the most of them have showed satisfactory results. On the other hand, unemployment rates in the U.S. have been going up as Japan.

2009 the U.S.
Jan. 7.6%
Feb. 8.1%
Mar. 8.5%
Apr. 8.9%
May. 9.4%
June 9.5%

At this point economy seems to be recovering by the way that companies cut employment fees. I don't think that it is just the first stage of recovery.