All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
I had an interesting encounter at the Kendall Square Au Bon Pain yesterday morning. Not a bad customer experience, but something I noticed in the checkout process that might be worth discussing. I had a bagel sandwich (wasbai salmon on…
What 90+ Practitioners Taught Us About Credentials and Capability Originally published September 2009. Updated January 2026. This post turned into one of the most active discussions in LeanBlog history. More than 90 practitioners, leaders, recruiters, consultants, and educators weighed in…
I recently invited questions for Michael Balle, the author of the Shingo Prize winning book The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround. He has a new book (published by LEI, my employer), recently published, called “The Lean Manager.” Here…
Sacramento-area hospitals use simple ways to cut mistakes – Sacramento Bee This article has some great examples and an endorsement of the Lean mindset in healthcare without ever using the words “Lean” or “Toyota.” I call this the “Like Lean”…
tl;dr: Many people misuse the 5 Whys by asking five loosely related questions rather than a sequential chain of cause and effect. Real root cause analysis requires disciplined logic–each “why?” should build directly on the last. This post explains how…
I’ve been fortunate and grateful that my book, Lean Hospitals, has received good reviews on Amazon: 5 Star Reviews = 11 4 Star Reviews = 1 This week, I got my first “3 Star” review. That’s fine, I’m not too…
Books – One Injury, 10 Countries – A Journey in Health Care – Review – NYTimes.com I think this book,The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, will go into the “to read” queue.…
Michael Lewis on A.I.G. | vanityfair.com I’ve been a big fan of Michael Lewis and his writing since reading “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” years ago. Great book and my first introduction to the Red Sox’s great…
Episode #74 is a discussion with Roy Vasher, President of RPV Consulting, LLC and is co-author the book Toyota’s Supply Chain Management: A Strategic Approach to Toyota’s Renowned System. Roy works closely with a network of consultants to provide lean…
From Lehman’s Wreckage, New Lives – WSJ.com: Disgraced Lehman CEO Dick Fuld says in this WSJ piece: “‘I spent too much time out of the office with clients and trusted other people to manage the risk,’ he told employees of…
Healthcare – “Writing The New Playbook For U.S. Health Care: Lessons From Wisconsin” John Toussaint just had a piece published in the influential peer-reviewed journal “Health Affairs.” You normally have to pay for the article, but the Lean Enterprise Institute…
Hospital CEOs manage staff time, inventory to cut costs – USATODAY.com It’s nice to see a major publication covering Lean and, especially, Lean in healthcare. This time, it was USA Today who, again, did a better job than the WSJ…
