I selected these articles from the 2025 reader favorites and the all-time most-read list. Choose the question that is closest to a challenge you face. Each group offers a starting point for thinking about your own work.
The archive below includes additional posts I have selected over the years. Browse by date or use the pagination to explore further.
You might also have seen the first video animation that I did last week about the waste of getting new recycling bins. I've created a new video that shows what a "bad office 5S" scene might look like... something that's "L.A.M.E." not Lean.
These daily healthcare kaizen examples show simple ways to document improvements, recognize the people involved, and share learning. I originally shared them in 2011 while Joe Swartz and I were developing Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Improvements. The…
TL;DR: Time and motion studies haven’t been discredited–the Taylorist mindset behind them has. When used as an expert-driven tool to control workers or set quotas, they cause harm. When used the Lean way–by teaching people to study and improve their…
When an organization sets a target for the number of kaizen ideas employees should submit, it usually gets exactly what it asked for — a number. What it doesn’t get is genuine improvement. The ideas come in to hit the…
Regular readers might know that I’m working on a second book project, about “kaizen” (continuous improvement) in healthcare. Sign up to receive more info about the book, Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Improvements. I have a lot of…
This is going to seem like a political rant, but I promise this is mainly a post about Lean and healthcare, or at least it’s about dysfunctional parallels in both settings. It was said that President Ronald Reagan and Speaker…
Note: I edited the post title on April 3 to make it clear this was an April Fool’s Joke. Comments posted by readers on 4/1 and 4/2 may have been “fooled” – thanks for taking the joke in good spirits.…
Regular followers of my blog know that I’ve been creating audio podcasts since 2006. Later today (at 3 PM), I am publishing #86 in the series, an interview with David Sundahl, PhD of Rule 4 Consulting. I’ve made mistakes every…
Here’s one to ponder and comment on – does putting a pharmacist in jail for six months and ruining his career and life do anything to bring back a two year-old girl? Does it do anything to make future patients…
TL;DR: Standardized work, influenced by Toyota and Dr. Atul Gawande, is crucial for improving safety, quality, and efficiency in healthcare. It should be created by those who do the work, be flexible, and serve as a basis for continuous improvement.…
Language that undermines Lean, respect for people, and real improvement TL;DR: The words Lean leaders use matter–some common phrases quietly reinforce command-and-control thinking, fear, and misunderstanding rather than learning and improvement. If Lean is truly about respect for people and…
I recently ran into David Meier, co-author of the outstanding books The Toyota Way Fieldbook and Toyota Talent. He was talking about kaizen events and he made a few interesting points from his time at Toyota: 1) He was only…
