Cemetery full, mayor tells locals not to die Maybe this mayor has consumed too much Bordeaux wine. But this story is a wonderfully comical illustration of how ineffective management mandates, targets, quotas, and the fear of punishment can actually be.…
This particular post is about as overdue as my contributions to LeanBlog, but it’s always better to be late than never. Given how far industry has come, and in the spirit of how far we have to go, I thought…
ABC News: Airport Security To Be Easier for Families? I am probably giving the Transportation Security Agency waaaaaay too much credit here, but this story made me think of the “PDCA” cycle of “Plan Do Check Act” (known as the…
Thanks to the global reach of the internet, I have a new correspondent for the Lean Blog in Russia. We have exchanged some emails and we now have a Q&A series that I will post here. My correspondent is Slava…
If there was any value to the Industry Week commentary that tried to link Deming and Obama, it was that it prompted me to re-read some of Deming’s work, namely the “management of people” chapter from The New Economics. There’s…
The OODA Loop & You I love examples of lean thinking that come from unexpected angles. Mike Gardner at the TPM Log recently brought up one of my favorite figures from the world of folks who embody lean without knowing…
Joseph Juran, 103, Pioneer in Quality Control, Dies – New York Times I haven’t run the numbers, but it’s probably fair to say that Juran’s lifespan was far beyond +3 standard deviations beyond the mean. His impact and influence on…
Politics | NAFTA bashing popular, but is it justified? | Seattle Times Newspaper Google News Search At the risk of stirring an unmanageable political debate (please keep the discussion in line with the “respect for people” principle and avoid name…
Jeffrey Liker explains why Toyota’s success is rooted in culture, leadership, and deep respect for people–not Lean tools. This episode explores the human systems behind the Toyota Way and why real Lean transformation takes years, not days. Here is LeanBlog…
Breaking: Deming Endorses Obama – IndustryWeek Forums A few people have emailed me about this and it’s easier for me to comment here than it is to register for the IW forums. An interesting idea is posed by Brad Kenney:…