Monthly Archives: October 2012
The Invisible Waste in Healthcare Leads to Visible Harm to Patients
In a car assembly plant, they do a pretty good job of ensuring that no assembly line worker has to do 70 seconds worth...
Going to Japan to Study Lean in November – Any Advice or Questions?
I had previously blogged about this Lean healthcare study trip to Japan, but I'm really excited that it's coming up soon! I depart in...
Video: Kaizen vs. the Suggestion Box
Thanks to the Lean Enterprise Institute for recording this short video when we were at the recent Northeast Shingo Prize conference.
In this video, I...
Learning Jazz (and Lean?): Imitate, Integrate, Innovate
Although I don't get to play much anymore, I used to be a pretty serious drummer (I almost said "musician," but that invites jokes...
Guest Post: Respect for People Goes in All Directions
Today's guest post is by Natalie Sayer, who was my guest for Podcast #145.
Most of the literature I read about "Respect for People"...
Lean Healthcare & Virginia Mason Medical Center on the PBS News Hour
Yesterday's PBS News Hour had a piece on the use of Lean and the Toyota Production System at Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center:
It's a...
Elon Musk Wrongly Pooh-Poohs Process as a Substitute for Thinking
I've always been intrigued by entrepreneur (and billionaire) Elon Musk. He founded PayPal (which I have used for over ten years), founded SpaceX (which...
Make Patients Responsible for Reporting Medical Errors? Really?
Karen Wolk Feinstein, president and CEO and the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, channeled the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment "Really!?!" in this recent...
Just Call it “5S Six Sigma” Instead of “Lean Sigma,” Please
My whole career, I have worked with the Lean methodology (aka the Toyota Production System). I've just really never done much with Six Sigma....
Google’s Early Earnings Release – “Human Error” or Process Problem?
Here's an interesting story from this week: "Google early earnings release stuns traders." Reportedly, the Google financial report for Wall Street was mistakenly released...
KaiNexus Update – User Badges & Sharing Improvements Widely
The team at KaiNexus (where I am the "chief improvement officer") is always improving. I want to share a few of these improvements, as...
Stuff I’m Reading: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly in Healthcare
The list of stuff I've read and wanted to blog about has grown... that inventory becomes a post like this. Here are links to...
