This article caught my attention the other day, primarily because I like scotch, whisky (and whiskey and bourbon). The Japanese love scotch whisky and have long produced a product that’s a variation of scotch — Japanese whisky (the lack of…
Normally, I like interviewing other people, through my podcast series (and this recent blog post with a hospital leader telling her story of putting patient safety first). Sometimes, the tables get turned and I’m the one being interviewed. Check out…
Returning to the podcast after his first appearance in Episode #188 is Daniel T. Jones, founder and chairman of the UK-based Lean Enterprise Academy. You can find him on Twitter now as @DanielJonesLean. Dan collaborated with Jim Womack on the books The…
Valentine’s Day isn’t just about flowers and chocolate. It’s about flow.It’s about respect.It’s about asking “Why?” five times. If you’ve ever said “gemba,” “poka-yoke,” or “stop the line” with a straight face, this post is for you. Welcome to Lean…
After being at the Lean Startup Conference the last two years (giving this talk in 2012 and speaking last year on Kaizen), I’m not there this year, unfortunately. I’m also not at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement forum (why are there often two great…
My blog will turn 10 years old in February 2015. You’re probably either thinking, “Wow, that’s awesome!” or “Get a life, dude.” :-) Here’s a look back at some of the posts from August 6 in past years… what was…
We all know the beaver is “the engineer of the animal kingdom.” That’s why MIT has a beaver as a mascot… It’s an engineer who likes to build things and is generally nocturnal, an apt description of MIT students. A…
I was happy to see this article in FORTUNE’s recent issue: “Brad Smith, Intuit CEO: How To Be A Great Leader: Get Out Of The Way.” Smith (@IntuitBrad) talks about the Lean Startup concept often called “getting out of the…
If we’re trying new things, there are bound to be “failures.” If our leaders want guaranteed success, we won’t be trying many new things. The best way to guarantee that we won’t fail is to not try. A Domino’s Pizza…
What Henry Ford wrote about hospitals in 1922 sounds surprisingly modern. He argued for reducing nurses’ wasted motion, designing around patients, standardizing rooms, challenging professional hierarchy, and treating every process as experimental. More than a century later, many of those…
I enjoy reading the magazine Inc. for my interests in startups and entrepreneurship. There are often examples and case studies that directly reference Lean thinking or just sound like Lean and Kaizen with another label. There were two articles in…
In this 5-minute video from the 2012 Lean Startup Conference, I explore how Lean principles can improve hospital facility design. Using the fast-paced Ignite talk format (20 slides, auto-advancing every 15 seconds), the presentation draws connections between Lean Design in…