Books shape how we think about leadership, improvement, and learning—but only if we reflect on them and apply their lessons thoughtfully. This archive includes blog posts and podcast episodes about Lean, healthcare, leadership, mistakes, psychological safety, and continuous improvement, including reflections on my own books and conversations with authors whose work has influenced how organizations build better systems and cultures.
Like Mark, I’m frustrated today. Recently I’ve been working to support a quality improvement blitz within a manufacturing facility. The plant is taking a step towards ISPC by establishing maximum levels of defects at the end of each zone. The…
Sigh, crabby mood… for those of you who don’t like the “Crabby Mark” blog posts, here come a few today. It’s often commented about here (and Jamie Flinchbaugh makes this point in his first podcast discussion with me), that lean…
Here is LeanBlog Podcast #5, with a new guest: Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean. In this Podcast, we talk about the “language of waste” and how waste reduction is a critical tool in the implementation of lean…
by Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean I just got my copy of Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise. Of course, I did have the chance to read a review copy, and offered up my endorsement for…
There are certain things we learn while we grow up that are unquestioned – in fact, unquestionable. There are 26 letters in the alphabet, 5 x 5 = 25, there are 4 sides in a square, and there are 9…
BusinessWeek wrote about Segway, the wonderfully inventive two-wheel transportation device that was supposed to revolutionize how cities are built. Of course, I don’t know anyone who is currently building a new city from the ground up, but that’s a different…
As posted by LeanBlog.org founder Mark Graban, there is a new website available that focuses on helping individuals who want to guide their own self-learning, called The Lean Library. It includes a comprehensive list of lean books, book reviews, links…
When people talk about labor, they often focus on unions, disengaged employees and high wages. But there is a much bigger problem facing manufacturers today – a real skills shortage. Industry Week focused on this topic in a special report…
Click here for the site Here is a growing resource of book reviews of Lean Manufacturing Books, check it out. The reviews have a standardized approach: Book description: what’s the key message? How does it contribute to the lean knowledge…
Mike Rother, an excellent guy and also the guy that brought us all value stream mapping through the book Learning to See, has just written a reflection on pitfalls of value stream mapping for SME’s Lean Directions newsletter. Here are…
Onshoring may not be the counter-argument to offshoring, particularly since most of the cases are just KEEPING work in the US when it could have moved overseas. That’s not really onshoring, it’s just preventing offshoring. This article from The Manufacturer…
Here’s some not-so-interesting news that I believe indicates not being focused on the customer and the subsequent focus on waste elimination. Harley-Davidson is changing their ticker symbol on Wall Street from HDI to HOG. Read the press release here. How…
