Some of you might be familiar with the internet meme, spreading on Facebook especially, about “what people think of my profession” (as described in this Washington Post blog post). For example, see “what a contemporary artist does.” It’s all a…
Listen: Episode #137 is a chat with Jerry Bussell, founder of the Jacksonville Lean Consortium. I’ve met and talked with Jerry many times through LEI, so I’m thrilled to finally get him on the podcast. Jerry is a retired Medtronic…
Updated (12/23): Based on the positive response I received, I decided to move forward with an eBook through LeanPub. It’s being published incrementally, with some experimental pricing. If you buy early, you get a lower price (but with free updates…
Yesterday, the MIT SDM program hosted a webinar by Dr. Jack Billi from University of Michigan. I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Billi a few times during my involvement in the Healthcare Value Network. He is an extremely…
This time of year, every publication under the sun (print and web) has a “Holiday Gift Guide” to share. In that spirit, I am happy to present the first Lean Blog Holiday Gift Guide. This guide is a mix of…
The Management Improvement Carnival was started by my friend and fellow LeanDaily blogger John Hunter of the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog. My job here is to share some noteworthy and thought provoking posts from the past few weeks from…
It’s official – the 2nd revised edition of my first book, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement, is now shipping from Amazon.com! Other country sites, like Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk don’t have their inventory yet. Ah, paper and…
Why inspection alone does not prevent defects TL;DR: Even with multiple editors and spell checks, publishing errors still occur. This post uses real examples to illustrate why 100% inspection is not 100% effective, a lesson that matters even more in…
My dad was flying back from Seattle last week and he noticed this at the TSA “gemba” in the airport, as he reported in an email: The [TSA] woman’s stamp kept falling of the stand. She said they just got…
Today, I’m sharing a link to some videos our good friend Bob Emiliani has uncovered and posted on his website. Back in November 2001, leaders from Virginia Mason Medical Center visited Wiremold, a manufacturing company whose Lean transformation was covered…
Listen: Podcast #128 turns the tables a bit, as your host Mark Graban is, this time, interviewed by Dirk Dusharme and Ryan Day from the online video show “Quality Digest Live.” Thanks to Quality Digest, I’m able to share the…
A note from 2026: I wrote a fuller version of this same argument recently, with more sources and a fairer look at what Six Sigma actually offers. This post stays up because the comments below are still some of the…
