All Posts on Lean Blog

In reviewing the excellent "Making Data Count" publication from NHS Improvement, I noticed some articles that they reference. One, in particular, caught my attention (and not just because it's free): "The problem with red, amber,…
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I really enjoyed the HBO miniseries "Chernobyl" that aired/streamed recently. You can watch it all now through HBO if you have access (or you can get an HBO free trial through Amazon). One of my favorite and most meaningful quotes from…
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Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients Healthcare innovation is prone to continuous pilots of improvements that are already proven and a half-hearted embrace of meaningful change.  Sachin Jain, CEO of CareMore Health…
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When we have really sticky, complicated problems (like the widespread healthcare patient safety and quality problems), I think it's interesting to think through what's happening in terms of: It can't be solved (in general)That…
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My guest for Episode #343 of the podcast is Amanda Mewborn, an executive director of project management for Piedmont Health. I've known Amanda through the Society for Health Systems and she's one of the very small number of people I…
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I got a message from a reader of my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. The questions were: "I entered data from Press Ganey patient satisfaction responses (12-month running totals) and since the numbers…
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I attended the IHI National Forum a few times, in 2010 and 2011, I think. I recently stumbled across a few photos from my archives that I'll share here. I always love it when conference posters show "control charts" instead of a…
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I guess I'm wired for improvement. Or, it's just become a habit. Or, it's both. I celebrate moments when I can identify an opportunity for improvement in my work. I tend to be pretty transparent about problems and even mistakes (like…
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My workshop based on my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More are a lot of fun. They are a great way to learn and practice methods related to "Process Behavior Charts." We play the "red bead experiment" and…
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I was invited to be a guest on a Detroit radio talk show that's hosted by Dr. Paul Reeves, a show called "Dr. Paul's Family Talk." Dr. Paul is an educator (and a drummer, like me!) and he asked some really good questions about my books,…
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Originally posted a few years ago, I'm reposting this for the holiday here in the U.S.
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Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients Compelling people with evidence or demanding compliance does very little to drive adoption of new practices - handing out articles, making posters and Powerpoint presentations to…
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Mark and Jamie Jamie Flinchbaugh and I got a great response to the first episode of our new "Lean Whiskey" podcast. We've had a great time with this and I'm happy that anybody is willing to listen :-) We've done our second episode,…
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My guest for Episode #342 of the podcast is Adam Ward, the author of Lean Design in Healthcare: A Journey to Improve Quality and Process of Care. Adam is an innovation process expert and independent advisor. He spent the first 12…
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Our last KaiNexus webinar took a deep dive into problem solving -- you can check out the recording on the KaiNexus website or through YouTube. The next webinar, being held on June 5, will take a step back to look at things from a…
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Over the past year, I've heard about the "OKRs" methodology that is used in tech companies like Google. OKRs stands for Objectives & Key Results. The approach (along with examples and case studies) are laid out in the book by…
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I always enjoy the KaiNexus User Conference (now called KaiNexicon starting this year) and they ask me to give a talk each year. Last year, I gave a talk called "When Being Right is the Wrong Strategy for Change" and KaiNexus recently…
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