Dan Pink’s new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, has been getting a lot of press recently, and deservedly so. He demonstrates persuasively not only that people are self-motivated by the desire for autonomy, mastery, and purpose, but…
It’s an honor to again contribute to John Hunter’s amalgamated Management Improvement Blog Carnival. The main page is located here. Ten bloggers are each selecting a few favorite posts from their favorite blogs to highlight. It’s quite a collection. Dan…
by Dan Markovitz Long-time readers of this blog (and my own) know that I focus on bringing lean techniques to individual work habits. One topic I often cover is how interruptions — from email, phone calls, colleagues — creates inefficiency…
by Dan Markovitz I took this picture of a UPS truck recently in NYC. (The orange signs say “SAFETY.”) At first I thought, “Great! UPS management cares about safety for its drivers. Terrific!” But then I looked at the signs…
Following up on Part 1 of my Reader Survey reflection exercise, here is Part 2. Thanks for the 113 survey responses and for the time you took to give free-form feedback. I won’t share the generally positive comments and praise…
by Dan Markovitz Best Buy is generally not talked about as an exemplar of lean. (It’s best known for its Results Only Work Environment; read about ROWE here and here.) But yesterday’s WSJ article on Best Buy shows that the…
by Dan Markovitz Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 blog at WSJ.com features his ideas for “Management Moonshots” — 25 ambitious and radical ideas that will significantly improve business management in the future. Frankly, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Some of the ideas…
by Dan Markovitz In a refreshing change of pace for the auto industry, Akio Toyoda, who was just named as the new president of Toyota, did not ask for government loans. Nor, in his first public statements, did he express…
Podcast Episode #52 is a discussion with a good friend (and sometimes contributor) to the Lean Blog, Dan Markovitz, founder and President of Markovitz Consulting. Markovitz Consulting is a corporate efficiency-training firm specializing in the application of Lean manufacturing principles…
Congratulations. You’ve mapped out the future state. Now what? | Markovitz Consulting Here’s a post, linked above, from a good friend of the Lean Blog, Dan Markovitz. “After you map the current state, you create a “future state” map that…
by Dan Markovitz The New York subway system has invested nearly $1 billion investment since the early 1990s — and $25 million per year in maintenance cost — in equipping stations with elevators and escalators. The results have been less-than…
strategy+business, the e-magazine from Booz, Allen & Hamilton, reports how the US Army is changing the way that it shares knowledge within such a massive organization. The new system is a powerful example of how respect for people and a…