In March, I wrote a post titled “Is it Lean’s Fault or the Old Management System’s?” about how people’s complains about Lean are actually often complaints about old management mindsets. Unfortunately, what’s described as “Lean” in an organization is sometimes not…
Since the healthcare improvement work I do is apolitical and non-partisan, I’m generally not one to butt into the political affairs of Canada or other countries. But, when I hear complaints about Lean or when it’s being called a “scam”…
It’s easy for an organization to say they are “doing Lean” or they have “started a Lean transformation.” They might hire a consultant or put out a press release. Maybe there’s an optimistic (but premature) news article about how the…
I read this valid complaint from somebody on a LinkedIn group…. it led to a “facepalm” that I managed to catch on camera: I interviewed with a medium sized company for a quality Manager position a while back. They were convinced…
An old friend of mine (whose name and company remains confidential) recently saw me reference an old blog post on Facebook. I had posted a link to this old post about Kyocera’s “Lean Office” initiative that focused on neatness and,…
In my experience, you have to be cautious when somebody says either, “Lean says you should….” or “Toyota would tell you to…” because those statements, even if stated authoritatively, can be wrong. At a recent speaking engagement (I won’t disclose…
After the nice response to Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, I often get asked, “So, what’s your next book going to be?” (other than the upcoming Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, that is). I’ve had people suggest writing something about…
Today I’m linking to a guest post that I wrote for my friend Marc Rouppe van der Voort who works at St. Elisabeth Hospital (Tilburg, Netherlands) and has a blog in Dutch (with auto Google translation). Marc used to maintain a…
I was preparing for the Gemba Academy webinar that I’m doing next Tuesday (you can still sign up) on: Stories about the Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare. I found this fun picture from about 2008 that I decided to…
I sometimes do a “What I’m Reading” post where I share links to good stuff I’ve read recently. Today, I’m dedicating such a post to some recent missives from my friend Paul Levy and his excellent blog, “Not Running a…
TL;DR: Many “Lean Six Sigma” programs misrepresent Lean as a set of tools layered onto Six Sigma. Lean is not a toolbox–it’s a management system and culture rooted in flow, quality, and respect for people. When Lean is reduced to…
As the creator of the admittedly awkward L.A.M.E. acronym (meaning Lean As Mistakenly Explained or Lean As Misguidedly Executed), one burden is that I often get emails tipping me off to L.A.M.E. sightings. In a nutshell, it’s L.A.M.E. when a…
