Last weekend, at a patient safety conference, I heard a physician talk about “robust process improvement” and this, thankfully, included an endorsement of Lean methods. That’s the good news. The bad news was that the physician who was presenting trotted…
I recently saw a tweet that referenced a May 2014 that was sent to President Obama and his administration: “Report to the President – Better HealthCare and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvement Through Systems Engineering.” The report was written by the “President’s Council…
tl;dr: Lean is not just about speed or efficiency. Lean, properly understood, improves flow and quality at the same time–along with safety, cost, and morale. The idea that Lean “makes bad stuff faster” is a persistent Lean Six Sigma myth…
tl;dr: Most “Lean Six Sigma” programs teach a thin layer of Lean tools on top of a heavily Six Sigma-centric curriculum. If you want real Lean thinking, culture, and leadership, this format rarely delivers it. I had a conversation recently…
Joining me for episode #187 is Joe Swartz, my friend and esteemed co-author of our books Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization.…
Here is a short video from Johns Hopkins Medicine, a member of the Healthcare Value Network, an effort I help facilitate through the Lean Enterprise Institute. This video is from the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care.
Years ago, an article in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers magazine made an argument I’ve never quite let go of. The author, Geoffrey Mika, set out to debunk the idea that Lean plus Six Sigma adds up to one thing…
