Previous Episodes (Full List): Click to visually browse episodes For easy access to any Podcast, use the forwarding URL: leanblog.org/X where X is the episode number. This text list is from the old version of the podcast’s main blog page.…
TL;DR: A 1966 magazine exposé documented widespread, preventable patient harm caused by system failures in American hospitals. While some areas have improved, many of the same problems–errors, infections, lack of transparency, and blame instead of learning–still persist today. Three or…
I’ve read most of retired General Stanley McChrystal’s excellent book Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World (I start a lot of books and finish a few). Amazon reminds me that I bought the book just over…
I was invited to give a talk at a gathering of improvement teams and Kaizen Promotion Offices within the NHS in England. It wasn’t feasible for me to attend in person… and presenting live over the internet would have meant…
Last week, I received a few questions from somebody at a hospital system and I thought I'd address one of them here: "Can you suggest any "quick wins" to get staff engaged in a Lean culture?"
People often talk about “fire fighting” in a colloquial way. Today, my guest for episode #278 of the podcast is an actual professional fire fighter, Tom Bouthillet, who serves as Fire Captain / Paramedic for the Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue...
In today's post, I write about how Kaizen starts with you. I share some examples of "personal Kaizen," including the way I've streamlined my call scheduling process, for my benefit and for others.
Thanks to Sam Selay for today's guest post. Although he's writing about the government and the military, I think you'll find it interesting regardless of your industry. Read an excerpt from Sam's chapter of Practicing Lean.
Here’s Part 2 of a post about the original NUMMI Team Member Handbook from 1984 (see Part 1 here). This, and other documents I’ll be blogging about, are part of Don Ephlin’s UAW office papers, archived at the Walter P. Reuther…
TL;DR: Lean isn’t about “idiot-proofing” work–it’s about respecting people. True Lean focuses on improving systems (through mistake-proofing and better design), not blaming or deceiving workers. When leaders treat people as capable professionals and fix processes instead of people, quality, learning,…
Here’s the transcript from the recent podcast that Chip Ponsford, DVM (of the LeanVets.com blog) and I did with Samantha Parrett, the Director of Business & Administrative Services at North Carolina State University Veterinary Health Complex. We know many of you prefer…
Originally published May 4, 2016. Updated in 2026 “Patients are not cars.” I’ve heard that objection for twenty years now. It usually arrives as a conversation ender rather than a conversation starter. And the thing is, it’s true. Patients are…