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.
What 90+ Practitioners Taught Us About Credentials and Capability Originally published September 2009. Updated January 2026. This post turned into one of the most active discussions in LeanBlog history. More than 90 practitioners, leaders, recruiters, consultants, and educators weighed in…
TL;DR — Healthcare Quality & Patient Safety by the NumbersPreventable medical errors remain one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Research suggests hundreds of thousands of patients die each year from avoidable harm, while millions more are injured due…
I love it when I have a chance to meet Lean Blog readers and Twitter followers in the “real world.” In the past few weeks, I’ve finally met, in person, @flynncraig and @bryanlvt (at the Dan Jones Lean Healthcare Transformation…
I’m sure anybody who has done any work with Lean has heard these words said in one form or another, often prefaced with a “You don’t understand…” We’re different. Diff’rent (it’s fun to spell that way, like the old show…
Business list mixes Covey with Seuss – JSOnline There’s a new book I saw at the airport the other day, a compilation of short summaries of the “Best 100” business books of all time: The 100 Best Business Books of…
Neatness Counts at Kyocera and at Others in the 5S Club – WSJ.com I’m going to violate a rule I have to try not to blog when I’m frustrated or angry. Here goes… Today’s front page (argh, front page) article…
Dell to close Austin plant, cutting more than 800 jobs | Statesman Business Blog I’m angry. I try not to blog when I’m angry, so I’ll try to watch my words carefully. Probably won’t succeed. This recent news hits home…
How would you error proof this material handling / logistics situation? I have a few ideas, but thought this would make for interesting discussion. I won’t set up a “spend no money” rule, but cheaper and simpler ideas are always…
Running a hospital: Our Joint Commission Report The headline is my modification of a Deming expression, that management’s job is prediction. Statistical process control was one way of predicting future outcomes of a process (if you have a statistically stable…
Elegant Solutions: Mind of the Innovator Matthew May is the author of the book The Elegant Solution, a friend of this blog, and a blogger in his own right. He has a new “ChangeThis” manifesto called Mind of the Innovator:…
Starbucks Gossip: I know Starbucks would never allow a sign like this to be posted… One blog I follow sometimes is one run primarily for the purposes of allowing Starbucks “baristas,” to bitch about customers. They are coming dangerously close…
TL;DR: Many so-called “Lean failures” aren’t really Lean at all. They’re examples of L.A.M.E.–Lean As Misguidedly Executed, where organizations misuse Lean to justify understaffing, layoffs, bureaucracy, or demeaning management practices. Real Lean, rooted in the Toyota Production System, focuses on…
