All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
I love my Amazon Kindle (I have had a 2nd generation 3G Kindle for about two years). Amazon has recently made the device more “social,” where you can share highlights and notes that you take about a book via Twitter,…
Most (all?) of us here did NOT graduate from Harvard Medical School last week. But, we all can read the commencement address that was given by Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon and author of great books such as Better: A Surgeon’s…
Produced in partnership with the Healthcare Value Network, episode #119 is a discussion with Dean Gruner, MD, the president & CEO of ThedaCare. Here, we talk about Strategy Deployment as a Lean management system and how it fits into their ongoing management and improvement efforts in their health system.
I know about 35% of you are reading from outside of the United States, but it is a national holiday here today, Memorial Day. It is a day to remember those who gave their lives in service to their country…
Here is a video from the St. Louis Beacon (actually, an NPR-style audio story with pictures) about Lean healthcare at Virginia Mason Medical Center, in Seattle, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in St. Louis. A few comments on what’s generally an excellent…
Today’s post is a short one, a bit of a visual puzzler and a reader participation post (leave a comment!). If you were in the market for a traditional “suggestion box” you might use this google search. Or check out…
TL;DR: Time and motion studies haven’t been discredited–the Taylorist mindset behind them has. When used as an expert-driven tool to control workers or set quotas, they cause harm. When used the Lean way–by teaching people to study and improve their…
Here is the long overdue Part 4 of our video discussion series about Lean Healthcare Design, featuring Miguel Burbano, an architect and Senior Vice President with The Neenan Company, and Dr. Randall Huss, President of the St. John’s Clinic –…
TL;DR: W. Edwards Deming taught that organizations don’t need to motivate people–they need to stop demotivating them. Practices like rankings, merit pay, numerical targets without methods, and competition between people crush intrinsic motivation, dignity, and joy in learning over time.…
It’s alphabet soup Saturday, as this IHI PDSA video comes from a PhD, Robert Lloyd. A great basic overview (or refresher course) for anyone involved in improvement or problem solving. From the IHI Open School’s online course: QI102 Lesson 4…
I stumbled across a surprising use of the word “kaizen” the other day from a surprising source – TV entertainment reporter and actress Maria Menounos. She talked about kaizen in an interview about her book The EveryGirl’s Guide to Life.
I heard a story on NPR last week profiling New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan, “In Football And Life, Ryan Plays Like He Means It.” I was reminded of some Lean leadership concepts right away during the interview.
