All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Come back Thursday, July 21 for my new Podcast with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, where we talk about his work to improve patient safety in healthcare (see an earlier blog post here as a preview). I wish I…
One reason I love applying Lean thinking in new arenas as my career progresses is that each shift in industry leads to new challenges and new experiences, which forces you to challenge your thinking… and each change in Lean direction…
Back in the manufacturing world, the distinction between “push” and “pull” is often much more obvious than it is in healthcare. Push production occurs when products are built based on the forecast were something other than actual customer needs. In…
I was at the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value office a few months ago when Dr. John Toussaint reported that he had gotten a call from Dr. Don Berwick, the head of Medicare and Medicaid. Dr. Berwick wanted a collection…
Listen: This episode is a discussion with two leaders from Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system based in Seattle, Washington. My guests are Claire Trescott, MD, Primary Care Medical Director, and Alicia Eng, Vice President of Primary…
If you are a Twitter user and follow the #Lean hashtag on Twitter, you might have seen a lot of noise from a company called Designing Kaizen (@DesigningKaizen), claiming to have a web-based app for “value stream mapping” (see their…
As a student of Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s books and teachings, I’m not a big fan of slogans and posters in the workplace. Last week, visting a hospital laboratory to do research for my upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line…
I’ve been asked many times over the past few years, mainly by physicians and other healthcare professionals, about an audiobook version of my book, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement. My publisher has given me permission and…
These daily healthcare kaizen examples show simple ways to document improvements, recognize the people involved, and share learning. I originally shared them in 2011 while Joe Swartz and I were developing Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Improvements. The…
Did anybody see the new movie, the comedy “Horrible Bosses” this weekend? If so, leave a comment and let us know what you thought – should I see it next weekend or wait for home video? The trailer looks pretty…
If you’re in Michigan, come join me and a great crew for the first annual Michigan Lean Consortium conference near Traverse City, Aug 10 and 11. You can learn more in this PDF: MI Lean Conference Agenda 2011 FINAL and…
I’ve posted a new video on YouTube, about 5 minutes of sections of a presentation I gave at the 2010 Shingo Prize Conference on Lean Healthcare. To have me come to your event or organization, click here for more details.…
