Tag: Problem Solving

Problem Solving, Scientific Thinking, and Lean Leadership

Effective problem solving is not about quick decisions, templates, or expert opinions—it’s about shared understanding, scientific thinking, and learning at the system level. These posts explore how leaders and teams approach real problems in complex environments, from executive decision-making to daily improvement work.

Drawing on Lean thinking, Toyota practices, healthcare, manufacturing, and knowledge work, this archive emphasizes problem-solving as a leadership capability: asking better questions, testing assumptions, and building systems that make problems visible instead of hidden.

You Observe A Lot Just By Watching – Then What?

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Learned 2 things from this pic: men are taller than women; wh... on TwitpicScott McDuffee referenced the "Yogi-ism" the other day, that you see...

A Simple Toyota Root Cause Problem-Solving Example — From USA Today

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A USA Today article offered a small but telling example of how Toyota applies root cause problem solving and kaizen in everyday work. Even...

Management "Moonshots." Really?

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by Dan MarkovitzGary Hamel's Management 2.0 blog at WSJ.com features his ideas for "Management Moonshots" -- 25 ambitious and radical ideas that will significantly...

John Shook on A3 Problem Solving, Managing to Learn, and Why...

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John Shook -- one of the first Americans to work deeply within Toyota -- explains why the A3 is far more than a template....

In Customer Service, Apologizing Does NOT Get to the Root Cause

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I walked into my hotel room after three nights of complaining about the internet and found a stuffed bear on the bed. "Beary Sorry," it...

Managing to Learn, from John Shook

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Managing to Learn: Using the A3 management process to solve problems, gain agreement, mentor, & leadPublished by the Lean Enterprise Institute, John Shook has...

"JIT" As A Cause of Delayed Shipments?

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"Just in Time" so often gets a bad rap. People blame "JIT" for all sorts of problems, when it's often a problem with how...

Taking Responsibility for Mistakes – On the Field, and Off

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Wildcats know they have room to improve -- chicagotribune.comThose of you who know me recognize me as a diehard Northwestern Wildcats fan. Yes, it's...

IndustryWeek Webcast on A3 Reports by Prof. Durward Sobek

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IndustryWeek : A Primer on A3 Reports: Better Thinking for Stronger Organizations I can understand the appeal of A3 reports... putting all of the relevant...

Process Firefighting, Sometimes the Result of Process Arsonists?

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"process arsonist" - Google Search I was talking with someone a few weeks back about the analogy of "fire fighting" in a workplace (something that...

Fire Fighting vs. Root Cause Problem Solving

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Below is some of the text from edition #3 of the newsletter from my upcoming book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee...

The Power of Asking "Why?"

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reportonbusiness.com: Asking 'why' again and again is harder than you think, but it works It's kind of neat to see a column about the "5...
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