Monthly Archives: October 2017
This Date in 1517 – The Original A3?
Exactly 500 years ago today, Martin Luther famously nailed a document to a church door that pointed out problems and ideas for change and reform.
He...
2-Data-Point Comparisons vs. Charts – NBA Big Man 3-Point Shots and Lean Blog Traffic
So many of our business metrics are reported in terms of two-data point comparisons. How much did the metric change from last week? Web...
Highlights from a Great Book: “The Leader’s Handbook”
I've been going through the book by the late Peter Scholtes: The Leader's Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done. His work builds upon the legendary W. Edwards Deming and Russell Ackoff, among others.
I often quote Scholtes (something also attributed to Peter Senge and others) as saying:
"People don't resist change, they resist being changed."
I think that's very insightful and that thought has led me to study change management, "motivational interviewing" and other related topics. It turns out that having the right answer and pushing it on others isn't the best strategy for effecting sustainable change. I had to learn those lessons the hard way and I'm still learning.
How Are “Quality Posters” Like This Still a Thing?
Back in 2007, I wrote a blog post that highlighted (if not mocked) so-called "quality posters" that are, I suppose, intended to be helpful:
https://www.leanblog.org/2007/04/krazy-kwality-posters/
Ten...
If You React to Every Blip in the Metrics, Then Nothing is a Priority?
Here's another post on the theme of performance metrics, as I'm talking about next week at Lean Startup Week (see yesterday's post or others...
The Joy and the Pain of Overreacting to Metrics
As next week's Lean Startup Week approaches, I'm pretty laser focused on preparation for my:
Facilitation of the famed Deming Red Bead Experiment
My...
Podcast #291 – Jeff Roussel on the Current #Lean (and P.I.) Landscape
My guest for Episode 291 is my friend and colleague, Jeff Roussel (@jeff_roussel on Twitter). Jeff is the VP of Sales at KaiNexus, a...
Looking for “Champions of Change” in Healthcare Supply Chains and Beyond
Who are the "champions of change" in your organization? Is your CEO a champion of change? How many of your front-line managers and staff...
Why We Should All Consider Eric Ries’s “Employee’s Bill of Rights”
As you might know from episode #290 of my podcast with Eric Ries on Monday, his new book was released on Tuesday: The Startup Way: How...
Adventures in #Lean Healthcare Hiring, Part 2
I recently blogged about a healthcare improvement job posting that had me scratching my head when the interviewing process included an process improvement exercise...
Great Leaders Aren’t Threatened by Their Employees’ Ideas or Feedback
This Business Insider article caught my eye the other day:
A celebrity chef who owns 26 restaurants explains why he loves when employees shoot down...
Eric Ries on The Lean Startup Approach and Implementing the Startup Way for Sustainable...
Joining me again for episode 290 is a three-time guest, Eric Ries. When we first talked, in episode 115 six years ago, his New York Times bestselling book The Lean Startup was being published. In 2012, we discussed the impact of Toyota's Taiichi Ohno on his work, in episode 142. This time, we're talking about his new book, The Startup Way.
