All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
It’s 9 p.m. in an operating room, just before the last procedure of a long day that had been full of delays. A nurse sees that the surgeon is about to make an incision without first stopping for the expected…
tl;dr: Shingo renamed “foolproofing” to poka-yoke (mistake-proofing) after the old term made a worker cry. The lesson holds: blame doesn’t prevent defects, and respecting people is what makes zero defects possible. I’m currently working on a Mistake Proofing class for…
Jim Womack returns to the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast to reflect on how Lean thinking has evolved–and where it has gone off track. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience, he shares candid perspectives on leadership, daily management, and why tools…
A while back, I uploaded the entire PDF of my 2018 book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, into the premium version of ChatGPT (updated March 2026). Measures of Success is my 2018 book on metrics, Process…
I’m excited to announce that I’ve registered for Katie Anderson‘s Japan Study Trip in November! Between 2012 and 2019, I visited Japan five times, and I learned something new each time. I’ve been really itching to go back. I’m excited…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make…
As I posted recently on LinkedIn, here are some photos and a story from years ago. Signs are not mistake-proofing. Signs are not adequate process controls. “Please do not park stretchers or carts in the hallway.” I’m quite certain that…
At the recent Healthcare Systems Process Improvement conference, David B. Reid, P.E. from Chick-fil-A Restaurants brought up a very interesting point about the batch size for their pressure cookers. They don’t cook one piece of chicken at a time that…
Jeff Liker explains how Toyota leaders at every level are expected to respond when something goes wrong — and why most other companies default to blame instead. We also dig into the real story behind Ford’s failed andon cord rollout…
The following material was cut from my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. It just didn’t fit the flow of how the book turned out. You’ll hear a story from one of…
2024 Preface: I’m re-posting this blog post from 2012 about Lean at Boeing. The WSJ headline emphasizes “speed up,” but that could be the fault of their editors not realizing that Lean means quality and flow go hand in hand.…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make…