I have been going through some old papers recently and I found two sheets of paper with hand-written thoughts or “truisms” that I had scribbled down in early 2002. The word truism, it turns out, doesn’t mean “true” so much as…
David Mann explains why creating a Lean culture depends on leader behavior and management systems–not tools or compliance–and how leader standard work helps sustain improvement. He shares practical guidance for executives on using Gemba walks to learn, teach, and reinforce…
Joining me for podcast #192 is John Torinus, author of the excellent book, The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same. John is the…
I’m happy to be attending two really outstanding events in the next two months and I hope to see you there! The picture at left shows rows of people sitting, listening, and taking notes. I think the best parts of…
TL;DR: Understanding Variation by Donald J. Wheeler is the most influential book in my Lean journey. It taught me how to distinguish signal from noise in data, avoid overreacting to normal variation, and focus leaders on improving systems instead of…
In recent years, there’s been a movement away from having first-year residents work such long grueling hours – 24 hour shifts or longer, multiple days in a row on call, etc. The idea was that fatigued residents were making poor…
In this 2012 conversation, Mike Stoecklein reflects on nearly a decade of learning directly from Dr. W. Edwards Deming — attending and helping with the famous four-day seminars, exchanging letters, and watching Deming consult with clients. Mike also tells the…
Mark’s note: This is a guest post by Tim Noble of The Avery Point Group. Does this assessment match your view, from the hiring side or from the perspective of a job seeker? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.…
There was an interesting article in the most recent Inc. Magazine called “Domestic Medical Tourism: How one company is saving businesses big bucks on employee medical treatments.” Much of the talk about “medical tourism” has focused on patients flying halfway…
Are We 84.7% Certain We’re in the 90th Percentile? Of course, hospitals should focus on patient satisfaction. That’s important but is often a vague and uncertain thing to measure. But, as Dr. Deming said: “The most important figures that one…
Dan Pink joins me to discuss his book Drive and the science behind what actually motivates people — ideas deeply aligned with Lean thinking and Deming. We explore why “if-then” rewards backfire for complex work, the dysfunctions of incentive schemes…
Last month, I wrote a post titled “Consulting Case Studies Need Statistical Validity” where I discussed the need to show more than simple “before and after” numbers in case studies. I promised some follow up posts on his topic, so…