John W. Thompson Quotes

CEOs hate variance. It's the enemy. Variance in customer service is bad. Variance in quality is bad. CEOs love processes that are standardized, routinized, predictable. Stamping out variance makes a complex job a bit less complex.

Customers require the effective integration of technologies to simplify their workflow and boost efficiency.

The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.

There can be economy only where there is efficiency.

I got to get the right people in the right job. Because a lot of costs can be taken out in the context of your administration without the legislature. For example, using technology to do more with less. Using technology to fight fraud. Reorganizing and streamlining can be done within the context of the administration.

One of the ways I think you make more money is by creating more efficiency.

The entire idea of building a series of systems in a business is simply this - to create the tools that allow you, as a business owner, to increase productivity and get the job done. The idea behind these systems, of course, is to quit needing your judgement or input in every area of the business.

I think that every project offers an opportunity to reinvent process as well as content.

Part of the process is always, 'Is there a better way?' We try to think through if there's something we can do better creatively or technically, or just is more efficient.

We undertook a huge internal transformation to sharpen our customer focus, step up innovation, improve productivity to ensure competitiveness, change our culture, and simplify our ways of working so that our size and scale became a competitive advantage rather than a bureaucratic hangover after years of diversification.

We are constantly reviewing our processes to identify areas where we can learn and improve.

In business -- every business -- the bottom line is understanding the process. If you don't understand the process, you'll never reap the rewards of the process.

Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.

Checklists turn out...to be among the basic tools of the quality and productivity revolution in aviation, engineering, construction - in virtually every field combining high risk and complexity. Checklists seem lowly and simplistic, but they help fill in for the gaps in our brains and between our brains.

While introducing AI into the government will save money through optimizing processes, it should also be deployed to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.

We are addressing duplication and complexity. At the same time, we are investing more in research and development, speeding up the time to market of new innovations, and expanding our sales force in markets where growth is to be found, like Turkey, Russia, the Mideast, China, and southeast Asia.

We're allowing technology to take out the non-value-added manual elements of the McDonald's experience.

The rigor and discipline we use in running our business is key to consistently executing our growth strategy. And we systematically applied the same discipline to our investments, including acquisitions.

I don't want projects to take 10 years to set up. That adds to the cost.

I believe there are a lot of inefficiencies in the way technical innovation happens.

Too little process and you can't get good work done. Too much process and you can't get any work done. Most companies never find the middle.

Advantage comes not from the spectacular or the technical. Advantage comes from a persistent seeking of the mundane edge.

You must have a supplier relationship of constant improvement.

In the first round of work simplification...you can reasonably expect a 30 to 50 percent reduction...To implement the actual simplification, you must question why each step is performed. Typically, you will find that many steps exist in your work flow for no good reason. Often they are there by tradition or because formal procedure ordains it, and nothing practical ordains it.