All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
I’m a bit of a counter-culturalist when it comes to the hype about Super Bowl commercials being entertainment and being something we “have to watch” or “have to discuss at the water cooler.” Bah, I don’t pay attention to most…
When I recently did a Healthcare Kaizen workshop near Detroit, I invited an old friend of mine to attend as a guest. Marisa Smith, an entrepreneur and business owner in Ann Arbor, saw the connections between my Kaizen work and a…
I was asked a question by a Twitter follower over the weekend: “What are the pros & cons of using direct observations in hospital environment to identify value & non value adding activities?” It’s a short question, but I didn’t…
For the coin toss of the Super Bowl 48 (or XLVIII), the referee, Terry McAulay, handed the coin to Joe Namath to toss it… it appeared that McAulay realized when the coin was in mid-air that he had possibly forgotten…
I’m part of the crowd that asks the following of healthcare organizations and leaders: be transparent and share quality data with the public, be open about problems and realize that “no problems is a problem,” and practice continuous improvement in…
Next class: Boston, May 20, 2015 I was thinking yesterday about the “Lean for Knowledge Work” seminars I’m doing with Jim Benson and I was thinking that Kaizen and “Personal Kanban” are such a good combination, it’s like the old…
If you have to add a warning or instruction label to something that should be obvious in its use, then the item is probably badly designed. I think that’s a pretty good design principle for products or software. Slapping on…
When I started blogging here in 2005, I was still about six months away from my transition from “lean manufacturing” to “lean healthcare.” It was mind boggling and disturbing to me to learn about the healthcare quality and patient safety…
TL;DR: Lean transformation isn’t about copying Toyota’s tools. In this video, John Shook of the Lean Enterprise Institute explains why real Lean starts with a clear purpose (“true north”), develops people alongside processes, and requires leadership behaviors and management systems…
Next class: Boston, May 20 2015 I’m happy to be once again partnering with fellow Shingo Award recipient Jim Benson to teach our combined full-day “Lean for Knowledge Work” class. We did this together last year in Seattle and had…
Joining me for podcast #192 is John Torinus, author of the excellent book, The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same. John is the…
I’m happy to be attending two really outstanding events in the next two months and I hope to see you there! The picture at left shows rows of people sitting, listening, and taking notes. I think the best parts of…
