All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Jenkins beats doping charge — chicagotribune.com Here’s an example of a testing lab not following their own industry standard work, an error that “vindicates” (in a way), an Olympic-caliber athlete who had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and appealed her…
PEPCON disaster – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In some Saturday afternoon background TV watching, my ears perked up when I heard about this story on the History Channel, from 1988. A factory, in Nevada (just outside of Las Vegas) had…
Our friend Kevin at Evolving Excellence has written about Cliff Ransom before, so I’m excited to see the LEI has a webinar with him tomorrow, Tuesday. Here is the link for registration. If you have any comments or discussion points…
This past week, I stumbled through a systemic problem that might not ever be solved, namely the National Car Rental service at Terminal 3 of the Toronto Pearson International Airport. I say a “systemic” problem, because I’ve seen the same…
Here is another reader question I received this week: I was wondering how you deal with removing people from the company who resist change while maintaining the culture where people are not afraid to be laid off due to improvements.…
We spend a lot of time here talking about how to prevent Lean failures and what some of the root causes are. I received a question from a reader that I thought I’d open to the group: What are the…
As the end of the year approaches, it’s always a good time to reflect, including the “am I happy with my current job?” question. Here’s a link to a survey on employee engagement from the firm BlessingWhite if you want…
New Yorker – Dr. Atul Gawande Here is an outstanding piece by one of my favorite medical writers, on the use of checklists (a form of Standardized Work) to improve healthcare quality. How can “a stupid little checklist” have such…
by Dan Markovitz Whew! Just in case you panicked at the thought of not having access to email on your upcoming flight to Slippery Rock, JetBlue has come to the rescue with in-flight internet access. You’ll never again have to…
What your CEO drives says a lot – USATODAY.com: One thing I love about the Toyota Way is the humility and down-to-Earth nature of leaders, it’s such a contrast to the arrogance you so often see in other circles. USA…
If you’re a regular reader, you might recall the Cedar-Sinai medical error that harmed Dennis Quad’s twins (and others). Quaid and his wife are now suing the maker of the drug, Baxter, claiming the company is negligent for not designing…
My ears always perk up when I hear the word “suggestions.” Again, it was in a football context. But unlike the ASU Sun Devil example, it was the other way around. As my new team (the Cowboys) was still losing…
