Tag: LEI

Kudos to the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Lean Global Network for the message they sent out today via email (which is also on...

My guest for Episode #372 is Karen Gaudet, author of the excellent book Steady Work, which was published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. In the...

I was really excited to learn about the new book by Dan Heath, so I pre-ordered it at the start of March. The new...

It's two episodes in a row with Jamie Flinchbaugh, as we're both back for Episode #7 of the Lean Whiskey podcast. This Sunday, I'll...

Here is my latest article for "The Lean Post" and the Lean Enterprise Institute: But TPS Doesn't Apply to Us...." We hear that a lot. "But patient...

Thanks to the Lean Enterprise Institute for publishing my article about Kaizen, new habits, and New Year's resolutions: Take Baby Steps Towards Improvement "As 2019 begins,...

My guest for Episode #324 of the podcast is Art Smalley. Art was one of the first Americans to work for Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and, since then, has been helping other organizations with the Toyota Production System (a.k.a. "Lean") methods and approaches. You can also visit his website to learn more, www.ArtOfLean.com. Art is a fellow faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute. He has written two Shingo Publication Award-winning books: Creating Level Pull and (co-authored with Durward Sobek) Understanding A3 Thinking. Art later wrote Toyota's Kaizen Methods: Six Steps to Improvement with Isao Kato. I own all of these books and have only met Art briefly in the past, so I'm happy to finally have him here as a guest. Today, we'll talk about Art's career and his most recent book, Four Types of Problems, published by the Lean Enterprise Institute (note: LEI provided me a free electronic copy of the book).

Some colleagues recently sent me a Harvard Business Review article that has a fairly accusatory title, although many readers might think it applies to other managers: Most Managers Don't Know How to Coach People. But They Can Learn. It's a common dynamic for people to overstate their own abilities. When it comes to "coaching" in the workplace:

It's been a while since I've contributed something to the Lean Enterprise Institute's online publication, The Lean Post (see past articles). Today, they're allowing me to introduce some ideas from my book Measures of Success. Many "Lean thinkers" just haven't been exposed to these ideas. Many haven't read Deming or Wheeler... it's not their fault for not knowing of Process Behavior Charts and methods like this. But, I hope this post helps people see that "bowling charts" and "red/green" analysis are not the only way (or the best way) to look at metrics. My article: "React Less and Improve More by Using SPC More Effectively"

The Lean Enterprise Institute (a former employer of mine from 2009 to 2011) has announced a new CEO, the third in their history following founder James P. Womack and his successor, John Shook. Their press release: Lean Enterprise Institute Names Eric Buehrens New CEO The start of the release: "The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute, a global leader in lean thinking and practice, today announced the appointment of Eric Buehrens as its new CEO. The appointment took effect October 1, 2017. A proven lean thinker and leader, Buehrens led lean transformations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he served as COO and Interim CEO, and at Reliant Medical Group, a Massachusetts group medical practice, where he was COO."

One challenge with teaching Lean is that there isn't aways a consistent definition that's used by everybody. Some of the definitions are really bad....

Since the first Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit was held in 2010, I’ve been fortunate to attend and participate each year. I think it’s the pre-eminent Lean healthcare event of the year...