In the Lean methodology, building upon the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, we work hard to shift away from “naming, blaming, and shaming.” Dr. John Toussaint is one of many who provide alternatives to the “blame and shame” approach…
My wife is a leader in a business (not GE) that does aircraft engine “MRO” work – maintenance, repair, and overhaul. I’ve been able to visit her shop floor (her “gemba”) and we noticed similar parallels between their work (bring…
As we move into the Labor Day weekend, I need to close some browser tabs that are full of things that I was maybe going to write about, but don’t merit a full post. So, the latest in my “What…
I was happy to see that one of my local Indian restaurants not only has very good Yelp reviews… they also have a top score (a perfect score!) from the health inspector. This is proudly displayed (as it should be)…
I flew back safely from Finland on Saturday – or I should say British Airways and American Airlines flew me safety, including in the 747 pictured at left. 15 hours across three flights. It was a long day. But, I…
tl;dr: Lean encourages learning and iteration, but PDSA is not a license to roll out poorly tested, customer-facing changes and promise to “fix them later.” I’ve added a new post to my LinkedIn Influencers series: “The Ability to Iterate is…
You might recall my post from July 2012 (“I Wish American Airlines Would Error Proof This on Their Website“) where I pointed out how easy it was for an American Airlines customer to accidentally cancel the wrong flight (an error I…
Last week, my wife was watching ABC’s show “Grey’s Anatomy,” as she always does. Again, as she often does, she’ll pause it for me when there’s a scene related to patient safety, so I can watch. In this scene, below,…
A few years ago, there was a lot of buzz about how a board should evaluate a potential job candidate by seeing how they treat waiters and other “lowly” employees in a restaurant (see “CEOs say how you treat a…
TL;DR: Headlines and two-point comparisons can’t prove a “sick out.” This post shows how Process Behavior Charts (PBCs) help distinguish real signals from normal variation–and why data alone can’t confirm intent or blame. As a frequent flyer on American Airlines…
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.
Last weekend, I watched a show on the Smithsonian Channel that was an interesting contrast to the CNN show I blogged about yesterday (“A Lean Guy Watches “CNN’s 25 Shocking Medical Mistakes“). The Smithsonian show was about aviation safety: “AIR…