Robert De Niro, #Lean Thinker?
The other day, I was reading the latest issue of Esquire magazine, with an interview with the famed actor Robert De Niro. One thing he said reminded me of Lean and the Toyota Production System:
Year 2010
What Would #Deming Say? Polish Police Officer Fines Himself to Meet Quota
Here’s a hilarious, yet somewhat sad, story that will instantly resonate with students of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. From Poland — police officers in the town of Bialogard were given a strict quota of writing one ticket per day, or…
Reader Question: Support and “First Responders” for Healthcare Professionals
Here is a new reader question from Steve Palmreuter in Michigan. He raises a topic that I’ve been thinking about lately, so I’m happy to share it with you (with his permission). You might remember Steve as I blogged about…
Daniel H. Pink Discusses the Intersection of Lean Methodology and Motivation in His Book ‘Drive’
Dan Pink joins me to discuss his book Drive and the science behind what actually motivates people — ideas deeply aligned with Lean thinking and Deming. We explore why “if-then” rewards backfire for complex work, the dysfunctions of incentive schemes…
Starbucks Ad Influenced by Their Lean Education?
Here’s some weekend fun leading into the holiday season… I received a marketing email today from Starbucks that included a phrase that would jump out at any Lean thinker. Who knows how broadly the Starbucks Lean education efforts have gotten…
G.E. Rediscovers the Value in Providing Real Value to Manufacturing Customers
I’ll apologize if today’s post seems off-topic to my healthcare readers, but I have to share a link to a Sunday New York Times article about General Electric (“G.E. Goes With What It Knows: Making Stuff“). After being seduced by…
Reader Question: When the Stated Values Don’t Match Daily Reality
I received a question from a reader, a retiree from a manufacturing company who is now a volunteer for a healthcare organization. We have exchanged messages before about opportunities to apply Lean thinking in a faith-based mission-driven organization like this,…
OMG, Who Are The Lazy Eleven Percent?
There was a short blurb in the Institute of Industrial Engineers IIE magazine this month that caught my eye. It read: “The vast majority of manufacturers (89 percent) plan to undertake process improvements during the next 12 months, according to…
Notes From My Second Day at #IHI 2011
Following up my notes from Day 1, I’m sharing my notes from the second full day I attended on Wednesday, December 8 2010. Here, in the last day of the IHI National Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare, I saw…
Podcast #106 – Jim Baran, “Career Kaizen”
For episode #106, we have a returning guest, Jim Baran of the firm Career Kaizen, formerly of “Value Stream Leadership.” Jim was previously a guest on episodes #16, 27, and 88 talking about careers in Lean. Today, Jim talks about…
Guest Post: Lean Value Streams
Mark’s note: Today is the first of what might be a regular series of guest posts from the team at Lean Pathways, Inc., including Pascal Dennis and Al Norval, the leaders of that group. by Al Norval at leansystems.org Lean…
Notes From My First Day at #IHI 2011
This is just my second time attending the annual Institute for Healthcare Improvement annual forum – one of about 6,000 medical professionals, leaders, and patient advocates in attendance. For those of you on Twitter, I’ve seen familiar faces here, including…