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.
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 sounds familiar, it’s because it is the exact same error as one that killed…
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 one way of predicting future outcomes of a process (if you have a statistically stable…
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 in his own right. He has a new “ChangeThis” manifesto called Mind of the Innovator:…
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 causes” really are for Lean struggles. Instead of pointing at “who?” what would we find if…
Explosions rock downtown Dallas | Latest News | WFAA.com Working from home with this news on in the background, the massive gas cylinder explosions at a business near downtown Dallas, about 30 miles from my home. What jumped out at…
By Bryan Lund: For the full article, click here for a PDF file The Lean toolbox is brimming with attractive tools and if you are like most Americans, you can’t wait to get your hands on one of those shiny…
This is an incredibly sad, and completely preventable, situation. Three babies are dead, and three more injured, because the wrong drug was administered to them at an Indianapolis hospital. Let’s keep in mind, first, this quote from the World Health…
