As a frequent flyer on American Airlines, I often have five or six itineraries booked at a time. Unfortunately, the poor design of the American Airlines website includes the risk that I might cancel the wrong itinerary and flight. The Lean principle of mistake proofing would go a long way... and I'm sure a simple bit of programming could easily alleviate this risk.
Did anybody else see this show hosted to Elizabeth Cohen on CNN last weekend, titled “25 Shocking Medical Mistakes“? You can see a video preview or read the transcript online. I’m not sure if the whole show is available online…
Our good friend Matt May (see posts and podcasts about him here) has a new book coming out in October, The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules For Winning In The Age Of Excess Everything, a follow-up to previous books,…
One of my favorite newspaper writers is Ed Wallace of my local Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wallace appears in the Sunday automotive section and usually writes about broader business issues beyond cars. His most recent column (“The Fall and Rise of…
I often get asked “what do you use to produce your podcasts?” So, while this might not be of interest to all, I thought I’d put it in a blog post that I could refer people to as a starting…
When it first came out, I was a big fan of Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game about the Oakland A’s major league baseball team and the unorthodox approach they took to building a team (under…
Continuing this first week of the year’s theme of using Lean principles to improve our lives, I’m going to write about two pieces of technology that can help prevent two different types of health problems, particularly in the elderly. The…
You might remember Dr. Les Muda, the “World’s First Lean Healthcare Comedian” (arguably the only one?) from a video back in June. He has taken a break, apparently, from his comedy club tour schedule to be interviewed by Diana Davis…
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…
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” – Robert Heinlein, American science fiction writer (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) With “kaizen,” the Japanese word meaning “change…
Bob Lutz spent 47 years in the auto industry at GM, Ford, BMW, and Chrysler, and in this 2011 conversation he talks about his book Car Guys vs. Bean Counters, the “blanderizer” effect on product design, and why he thinks…