All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
My Healthcare Kaizen co-author Joe Swartz works in Indianapolis in the Franciscan St. Francis Health System. They use the term “kaizeneer” to describe those employees and staff members who initiate and participate in “kaizen,” or continuous improvement, activities. One of…
Here are a few updates about my blog and my podcasts. For one, I’ve now been blogging for seven years now. I’ll write a blog post soon with my reflections on the anniversary/birthday of my blog. The other updates: My…
If you’re watching college football bowls or the NFL playoffs, it’s hard not to see this commercial from DirecTV. It’s not exactly the reverse of the “5 Whys” (as popularized in Lean and the Lean Startup methods), but it made…
Continuing this first week of the year’s theme of using Lean principles to improve our lives, I’m going to write about two pieces of technology that can help prevent two different types of health problems, particularly in the elderly. The…
While doing research for my upcoming book on “Healthcare Kaizen,” I found two books that touched on kaizen-style continuous improvement in our everyday lives. One was a brief mention in a book from a TV personality (see my post An…
Our guest for episode #135 is Dan Markovitz, author of the new book A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance. If your New Year’s resolutions include improving your own personal productivity, Dan…
At first I thought this post was stretching this week’s blog theme of applying Lean principles in everyday life, but I think it actually does fit quite well, at least for those of us for whom sports is a part…
Updated (12/23): Based on the positive response I received, I decided to move forward with an eBook through LeanPub. It’s being published incrementally, with some experimental pricing. If you buy early, you get a lower price (but with free updates…
Over the holidays, as I’m experimenting with an eBook of 2011 Lean Blog posts (on sale now), I’ve been giving a lot of feedback to Peter and Scott from LeanPub, the site I’m using to compile and publish the eBook.…
Readers outside the U.S. might not know the UPS advertising slogan of “What Can Brown Do For You?” This often refers to the iconic brown trucks that deliver packages (and the brown uniforms of the employees). One of the challenges…
Listen: Episode #134 is a different topic than usual. Instead of strictly talking Lean, today’s discussion is about broader issues of healthcare quality and the United States military. Joining me are Daniel Sullivan, President and General Manager of the The…
I saw this article the other day on BusinessInsider.com: “10 Predictions For How The Workplace Will Change In 2012.” Two of the predictions caught my eye: 3. “It’s about the people stupid.” 4. The suggestion box will be reborn. Other…
