As I've been writing about "process behavior charts" - a simple, yet effective method for charting and reacting to (or not overreacting to) metrics, it's made curious what some of the modern Toyota books say about metrics and performance measures.... or at least the first two in The Toyota Way series.
I recently saw a presentation by some leaders from a children’s hospital. I was really impressed that their medical quality and effectiveness leaders were outspoken advocates for Lean and Six Sigma, as was their director of process improvement. They shared…
As next week’s Lean Startup Week approaches, I’m pretty laser focused on preparation for my: Eric Ries, author of The Startup Way and the founder of this event, cited Dr. W. Edwards Deming multiple times in his first book The Lean Startup.…
Joining me again for episode 290 is a three-time guest, Eric Ries. When we first talked, in episode 115 six years ago, his New York Times bestselling book The Lean Startup was being published. In 2012, we discussed the impact of Toyota's Taiichi Ohno on his work, in episode 142. This time, we're talking about his new book, The Startup Way.
TL;DR: Leaders lose sleep because they react to every up and down in their metrics. Most fluctuations are just noise. Process Behavior Charts help filter noise, identify real signals, and focus leadership attention on meaningful improvement instead of constant firefighting.…
If you don't care about sports or statistical process analysis, this isn't the post for you... but it was interesting for me to try to wrap my head around the data behind a headline ("Blazers player secures $500,000 bonus by not taking 3-pointer in final game of the season") that I'll write about here in this post.
Can physician-led surgical centers provide lower out-of-pocket prices for patients, along with lower infection rates, and higher compensation for the surgeons? One surgical center in Oklahoma says so...
In this post, I look at the impact (or lack thereof) of targets, rankings, and incentives, when it comes to safe driving or PCI (angioplasty) procedures in a hospital cath lab. Are we improving? How do we know? How do we improve?
This article in The Wall Street Journal caught my eye the other day: "Can Tech Speed Up Emergency Room Care?" But, it seems like the real story is process redesign, which is barely mentioned in the story...
Can leaders get some improvement just by asking for it? Does improvement stall out if we don't have a method for doing so? What can "process behavior" charts show us in our work today?
I’m talking about the use of “bar charts” vs. “line charts” when tracking performance measures through Lean Daily Management, Strategy Deployment, or other methods.
Joining me for Episode #265 of the podcast is Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB, a Principal and Director of Lean Strategy at HKS, an international architecture firm. Bernita is originally from Kansas and has a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University…