Joining me for episode #219 is Tristan Kromer, a professional “Lean Startup” coach who works with startups around the world and volunteers for the non-profit Lean Startup Circle. In this episode, we discuss topics including how he got involved in…
This article caught my attention the other day, primarily because I like scotch, whisky (and whiskey and bourbon). The Japanese love scotch whisky and have long produced a product that’s a variation of scotch — Japanese whisky (the lack of…
Returning to the podcast after his first appearance in Episode #188 is Daniel T. Jones, founder and chairman of the UK-based Lean Enterprise Academy. You can find him on Twitter now as @DanielJonesLean. Dan collaborated with Jim Womack on the books The…
Valentine’s Day isn’t just about flowers and chocolate. It’s about flow.It’s about respect.It’s about asking “Why?” five times. If you’ve ever said “gemba,” “poka-yoke,” or “stop the line” with a straight face, this post is for you. Welcome to Lean…
We all know the beaver is “the engineer of the animal kingdom.” That’s why MIT has a beaver as a mascot… It’s an engineer who likes to build things and is generally nocturnal, an apt description of MIT students. A…
I was happy to see this article in FORTUNE’s recent issue: “Brad Smith, Intuit CEO: How To Be A Great Leader: Get Out Of The Way.” Smith (@IntuitBrad) talks about the Lean Startup concept often called “getting out of the…
Joining me for episode #199 is Jeff Gothelf (@jboogie), talking about “Lean UX” or “Lean User Experience,” a key method for software development, usually used in conjunction with design thinking, agile development, and Lean Startup business practices. Jeff is author…
If we’re trying new things, there are bound to be “failures.” If our leaders want guaranteed success, we won’t be trying many new things. The best way to guarantee that we won’t fail is to not try. A Domino’s Pizza…
What Henry Ford wrote about hospitals in 1922 sounds surprisingly modern. He argued for reducing nurses’ wasted motion, designing around patients, standardizing rooms, challenging professional hierarchy, and treating every process as experimental. More than a century later, many of those…
I enjoy reading the magazine Inc. for my interests in startups and entrepreneurship. There are often examples and case studies that directly reference Lean thinking or just sound like Lean and Kaizen with another label. There were two articles in…
Some of you might have seen it, but I wrote a piece for the LinkedIn Influencers series about how the “Lean Manufacturing” principles are being used in various “knowledge work” settings – including healthcare, education, software, government, financial services, etc.…
Since the “Lean” in the “Lean Startup” methodology basically comes from Toyota, it was fascinating to see two engineers from Toyota, Matt Kresse and Vinuth Rai, speak at the 2013 Lean Startup Conference. Matt and Vinuth (pictured below) are from…
