All Blog Posts

All Posts on Lean Blog

All Blog Posts

All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.

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Happy Birthday, “Measures of Success” (The Paperback) — Reflections and More

Mark Graban Mar 11, 2020 8

I realize there's a lot of serious stuff taking place in the world... and that's weighing on my mind a ton, which is one reason why I haven't been blogging quite as much recently. But, if you'll forgive the indulgence, I'm going to…
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Audio

Covid-19: Don’t Blame Toyota or “Just in Time” for Your Risky Supply Chain…

Mark Graban Mar 9, 2020 6

I normally love the public radio program "Marketplace" and have listened to it (on radio or as a podcast) for 15 years or so. But, I was very disappointed with this recent piece, which you can read here: "Just-in-time" manufacturing…
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Blog

The Misleading Use of “YTD” Numbers to Evaluate Performance

Mark Graban Mar 3, 2020 1

In my travels, I see many organizations using Year-to-Date (YTD) numbers to evaluate performance. Some of it is in the context, at this moment, of using the 2019 End-of-Year (EOY) number to evaluate performance (often compared to the 2018…
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Interviews

Podcast #359 — Alfred Angerer on Lean Healthcare in Switzerland

Mark Graban Mar 2, 2020 0

My guest for Episode #359 of the podcast is Prof. Dr. Alfred Angerer, joining me from Switzerland to talk about Lean healthcare. I had a chance to visit a hospital with Alfred, in Switzerland, late last year, as we discussed in this…
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Mixtape

Operational Excellence Mixtape: February 28, 2020

Ryan McCormack Feb 28, 2020 0

Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients Developing a culture of patient safety requires the ability to raise risks without fear of reprisal. This post from leanblog.org about a nurse who failed to report a critical incident…
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Blog

A Throwback to Another #ThrowbackThursday: Yet Again, the Wrong House Was Demolished

Mark Graban Feb 27, 2020 0

I can't believe that I'm once again writing about this. But, I saw in the news that ANOTHER house was mistakenly demolished in the Dallas-Fort Worth area this month. Where a carpenter says, "Measure twice, cut once," you'd like to think…
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Blog

Webinar Preview: A Great Idea Isn’t Enough for Successful Change

Mark Graban Feb 25, 2020 1

Today, I'd like to preview the next webinar that I'll be hosting in our KaiNexus Webinar series. It's going to be presented by my friend, Dr. Mark Jaben and it's titled "A Great Idea Isn't Enough for Successful Change." You can…
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Blog

Learning Process Behavior Charts and the More Difficult Challenge of Unlearning Old Lessons or…

Mark Graban Feb 24, 2020 0

Thanks to ASQ for asking me to write this article for their "Statistics Digest" newsletter in October of 2019 - click here to access the whole issue if you're a member. I'm posting the article here with their permission. Readers of…
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Blog

What Didn’t Happen After This Preventable (and Potentially-Fatal) Medication Error

Mark Graban Feb 20, 2020 4

Here is a story that was sent to me by a blog reader, who needs to remain anonymous. I know the blog reader fairly well and believe what's written here to be true. The blog reader is a career-long Lean practitioner who has done a lot of…
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Blog

The Way We’ve Always Done It: Astronaut Edition

Mark Graban Feb 19, 2020 2

I've been to the Kennedy Space Center three times, I think... in 1980, 1985, and now in 2020 as an adult. Here's a photo of me in 1980, standing in front of the enormous Vehicle Assembly Building that's still being used today. Also…
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Blog

Must Dos and Nice to Haves: Performance Reviews and Continuous Improvement?

Mark Graban Feb 18, 2020 1

There's a very well known cartoon that you might have seen where a caveman offers round wheels to other cavemen who are pulling a cart that has square wheels. One says, "No thanks," and the other says, "We're too busy." There are…
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Blog

Iowa Democratic Caucus 2020: “App Problem” or “System Problem”? Implications…

Mark Graban Feb 17, 2020 7

Let's start today's post with Point #8 from The Toyota Way management philosophy: "Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes." amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "markgraban"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode =…
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Mixtape

Operational Excellence Mixtape: February 14, 2020

Ryan McCormack Feb 14, 2020 0

Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients "We have a good people in a bad system". Here's an excellent interview with Dr. Marty Makary, author of "The Price We Pay", on how to address the challenges of the US Healthcare…
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Lean Whiskey

Episode #13 of “Lean Whiskey”: Don’t Drink Pacific Northwest Whiskeys While…

Mark Graban Feb 14, 2020 0

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh In Episode 13 of Lean Whiskey, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh reconnect in their first joint episode this year, after a couple weeks of guest hosts. Our last episode together was filled with…
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Blog

Oscars Ratings Down 20% — Is That a Data Point Worth Reacting To?

Mark Graban Feb 12, 2020 0

Another year, another evening of the Academy Awards, a.k.a. The Oscars. I don't watch the show, but I do pay attention to the inevitable headlines about TV viewership or ratings being up or down -- usually a two-data point comparison,…
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Blog

Postponed: My “Measures of Success” Workshop at the Shingo Conference 2020 in Orlando

Mark Graban Feb 11, 2020 0

Thanks to the Shingo Institute for inviting me to facilitate a half-day workshop at the Shingo Conference, being held this year in Orlando, April 16 and 17 dates to be determined. The workshop covers concepts and methods from my book…
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Interviews

Podcast #358 — Steve Spear on Evolving our Knowledge and Learning on #Lean

Mark Graban Feb 10, 2020 0

Returning to the podcast for Episode #358 is Steve Spear, a senior lecturer at MIT and author of the book The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition. He's also the founder and…
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Blog

Starbucks Risks Getting Burned on the Metrics Rollercoaster

Mark Graban Feb 6, 2020 1

Shout out and hat tip to Dan Markovitz for his excellent blog post: "WHEN LEADERS TORTURE THEIR EMPLOYEES" He makes a strong case that displaying three months of customer satisfaction this way might lead to a lot of wasted effort and…
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