Mark Graban Interviewed on the “IT Knowledge Exchange”
Sorry to be self referential again, but I was interviewed for a website called the IT Knowledge Exchange. The interview appears in three parts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3…
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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
How Often Do You Hear “How Can I Help You?” From Your Manager?
I was going through some old notes I’ve taken when visiting different hospitals and I came up with this quote from a healthcare professional: “I’ve never worked in a place where managers asked ‘how can I help you?’” The good…
Lean Healthcare “Success” Without Benefits? What?
I saw the following in a submission for a session at the 2012 Society for Health Systems conference, where I’m the Lean track chair. One submission said the following: “Lean efforts often succeed but do not always provide meaningful benefits”…
Origins of this Quote on “The Biggest Room in the World”?
I’ve been trying to identify the source of this quote or maxim for my upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements. The quote is: “The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” I’ve…
Podcast #129 – Chris Cooper, on His Book “The Little Book of Lean” and Simpler Consulting
My guest for episode #129 is Chris Cooper, a vice president with Simpler Consulting. We’re talking about his new book The Little Book of Lean. In the episode, Chris shares his extensive experience with Lean methodologies, tracing back over 20…
Dramatically Reducing Infections & Errors – Why Not Your Hospital?
When I recently interviewed Paul O’Neill and Dr. Richard Shannon about the amazing improvements in patient safety that had been made in the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative organizations, they each seemed a bit frustrated that these simple, yet effective, methods…
Suggestion: Make Suggestions (U.S. Government Poster from 1945)
I’m not sure if this poster was associated with the Training Within Industry program or not, but it’s a World War II era government propaganda poster. Is one suggestion (or implemented idea) really too much to ask? Why do most…
Quitting a Software Application: Safari vs. Chrome & Error Proofing
The two primary web browsers I use these days on my Mac are Safari and Chrome. I’ve always been a big user of keyboard shortcuts, whether in Microsoft Office or other software. In Safari, when trying to close a single…
Waste & Respect for People in Hospice or a Dell Factory
I’ve recently had an email exchange with a retiree who is volunteering in a non-profit hospice care facility. I’m sharing this thoughts with his permission. It sounds like there’s often nothing for the volunteers to do and the leaders aren’t…
Podcast #128 – Mark Graban Interviewed on Quality Digest Live About Healthcare Quality
Listen: Podcast #128 turns the tables a bit, as your host Mark Graban is, this time, interviewed by Dirk Dusharme and Ryan Day from the online video show “Quality Digest Live.” Thanks to Quality Digest, I’m able to share the…
In Three Words – What You Do
I found this idea for discussion in a LinkedIn group and I was curious to hear what my readers and this community would say. How would you describe what you do professionally in just three words? My first thought was…
Dear “Lean Six Sigma” Crowd – Lean is About Quality, Too
A note from 2026: I wrote a fuller version of this same argument recently, with more sources and a fairer look at what Six Sigma actually offers. This post stays up because the comments below are still some of the…
