Audio Parody – “Lean Serial”
My wife and I were late to the wildly popular podcast “Serial,” but we listened to the first six episodes while traveling over the holidays. I ran hot and cold on the serialized non-fiction story about a murder… it was…
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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Throwback Thursday – “Lean Sigma” is Still Pretty Often Wrong on Lean
Last weekend, at a patient safety conference, I heard a physician talk about “robust process improvement” and this, thankfully, included an endorsement of Lean methods. That’s the good news. The bad news was that the physician who was presenting trotted…
Mark Graban Interviewed by Dr. Bob Wachter on Lean & Patient Safety
I’m honored to have been interviewed by Dr. Robert Wachter for his “Web M&M” interview series on the AHRQ website. In Conversation with…Mark Graban, MS, MBA Dr. Wachter is a leader in the patient safety movement who I’ve respected and admired…
Visiting and Touring the Toyota Tsutsumi Plant, Part 2
Last week, I wrote a post (part 1) looking back at our visit to the Toyota Tsutsumi factory that was part of our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series. I’m going to try to…
Webinar Previews: Lean is All About People? Leadership Behaviors for Kaizen
Tomorrow afternoon, I’m doing two different webinars that I hope you’ll want to sign up for. Even if you can’t attend live, I’d encourage you to register in advance so you can get links sent to you automatically to view these on…
Tweets & Notes from a Patient Safety Conference
Today and tomorrow, I’m attending the “Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit” in Irvine, California, as part of my role as a board member for the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. I’m taking notes via Twitter and I will post some below.…
#Throwback Thursday: Punishing and Jailing People for Patient Harm
Today is another “Throwback Thursday” post where I revisit posts from the past. Friday and Saturday, I’m going to be attending the “Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit” in Irvine, California. I won’t be speaking, but I’ll be participating and networking…
My Visit to the Toyota Tsutsumi Plant, Part 1
I’ve been overdue in writing more posts about our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series. I’m going to try to do one post a week on this topic. It’s always fascinating…
Putting Up Signs and Shooting Down Ideas
A friend sent me a link to this article, “7 cultural concepts we don’t have in the U.S.,” and he told me to check out item #5 in the list – Kaizen in Japan. By the way, if you ever…
11 Lessons My Personal Trainer Taught Me About Coaching, Lean, and Improvement
TL;DR: Working with a personal trainer offered unexpected lessons about coaching, learning, patience, and improvement. Many of the same principles apply to Lean: you can’t learn just by reading, encouragement matters, progress takes time, and effective coaching helps people push…
Podcast #213: My New “Lean Blog Audio” Podcast Series
Today’s podcast is different than my usual interview format. I still plan on continuing the podcast format and series, but I also wanted to try something new. I’m starting a “Lean Blog Audio” podcast, which is basically an “audio book” type…
Strategy Deployment as Four Testable Hypotheses (Not a Fixed Plan)
TL;DR: Strategy deployment works best when leaders treat it as a series of testable hypotheses–not a fixed plan to execute at all costs. Using a PDSA mindset helps organizations focus on a few true-north priorities, learn from results, and adjust…
