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.

A Silly Example of Mandates and Threats Not Working

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Cemetery full, mayor tells locals not to die Maybe this mayor has consumed too much Bordeaux wine. But this story is a wonderfully comical illustration...

Why Do Patients Have to Do This?

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The Informed Patient - WSJ.comGood column in the WSJ today, as always, from Laura Landro. She writes about the need for patients to take...

My At-Home Medical Mistake: Taking the Wrong Version of Day /...

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I'm a bit mad at myself for inflicting some preventable human error on myself last night. It's OK, I didn't harm myself, but let...

Updated: How Often Must the Same Mistake Be Repeated?

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Dennis Quaid's newborns reportedly harmed by medical mix-up - Los Angeles Times (Updated 4:57 PM, again at 9:51 PM, see bottom of post) If this story...

Management’s Job is to be Proactive

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Running a hospital: Our Joint Commission Report The headline is my modification of a Deming expression, that management's job is prediction. Statistical process control was...

Great Piece on Problem Solving

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Elegant Solutions: Mind of the Innovator Matthew May is the author of the book The Elegant Solution, a friend of this blog, and a blogger...

Let’s Try a "5 Whys" Survey

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Following up on the LEI survey that was released and discussed here, I've been talking with a few folks offline about what the "root...

“No fault, just an accident”

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Explosions rock downtown Dallas | Latest News | WFAA.com Working from home with this news on in the background, the massive gas cylinder explosions at...

The Lean Toolbox: Where is the thinking cap?

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By Bryan Lund:For the full article, click here for a PDF fileThe Lean toolbox is brimming with attractive tools and if you are like...

Lack of Error Proofing Kills 3 Babies

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This is an incredibly sad, and completely preventable, situation. Three babies are dead, and three more injured, because the wrong drug was administered...
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