Why does Lean fail to stick so often? Thomas Cox and Andre DeMerchant join me on Episode 547 to make the case that the missing precondition is psychological safety, and that it has to exist at the top before any…
A lunch, a hand gesture, and the question most Lean implementations are answering backwards. The gesture is the whole thing. The late Hajime Oba held his hands out in front of him, palms down, one higher than the other. “All…
I ran an experiment recently. I gave ChatGPT and the Lean Coach AI I built the exact same opening statement about a real problem. Then I asked each one for help with creating an A3. The difference in how they…
TL;DR: AI tools can evaluate your A3, but evaluation creates dependence — coaching develops thinking. I used A3 thinking on the Lean Hospitals Coach itself to fix the difference. There are AI tools out there that will evaluate your A3.…
Lean succeeds when people focus on scientific thinking and action, not perfect templates. A3s, hoshin kanri, and other tools only work when they support real learning, experimentation, and reflection–mindset and behavior matter far more than format. During my recent Japan…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #472 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Mit Vyas, managing director for Gemba Automation. He started his career at Toyota and worked for other large corporations.…
I want to give credit to my friend and colleague Tony Milian for the idea that prompted this blog post. Tony and I used to work together in a Lean healthcare consulting group that was part of Johnson & Johnson…
Cleveland Clinic’s daily tiered huddles are not just short meetings–they’re a Lean management system that connects front-line realities to executive decision-making in real time. By combining visual management, clear escalation rules, and psychological safety, these huddles help teams solve problems…
Joining me for Episode 346 of the podcast is Mark Ryan, a Transformation Coach and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at Franciscan Health. Mark will be one of the hosts and facilitators at our upcoming “Kaizen Live!” site visit event…
TL;DR: Many organizations misinterpret metrics, overreact to noise, and miss real signals. Using an A3 approach helps leaders align on the problem first–before introducing Process Behavior Charts as a countermeasure for better decisions and more effective improvement. Why Process Behavior…
Here's a blog post written by three physicians:
Can the auto industry improve spinal fusion surgery?
It's interesting that they so closely associate Lean with the auto industry when, at this point, Lean is used in virtually every industry and setting. That's why I used the word "Lean" in the title of my blog post here.
They are also authors of a journal article titled "Application of Lean Principles to Neurosurgical Procedures: The Case of Lumbar Spinal Fusion Surgery, a Literature Review and Pilot Series," published in Operative Neurosurgery.
In my post, I comment on their work...
We have two free webinars coming up in the next week, hosted by KaiNexus. I hope you can join us.
Oh, as a reminder, I'm doing a Measures of Success webinar this Friday, the 22nd.
The webinars are:
The Lowdown on A3 Software [Demo]
How to Ease the Pain of Change