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.
Hear Mark read the post (subscribe to the podcast series): I don’t normally pay too much attention to TV commercials, but I was working out the other day and had TV streaming through my iPhone. Appropriately enough, a Nutrisystem ad with…
One of the things I do for KaiNexus is produce and host our monthly free webinar series. You can view all of the recordings from the past few years via our on-demand library. They are also available via YouTube and…
The cancelation of a meaningless NFL exhibition pre-season game is probably one of the least important problems in the world. But, it happened recently and the “comedy errors” is interesting to think about. You might notice the headline of my…
On Tuesday, I hosted, via KaiNexus, a webinar with Jon Miller on the important topic of “Practical Problem Solving,” a structured 8-step method for solving problems. I wrote a blog post about this for the KaiNexus blog, previewing the webinar…
There’s no magic about the number five. I’ve seen some people write that five is somehow a “magic number.” No, that’s not really the case. Ask why more than once, probably more than twice…
We don’t just ask why. We start by properly defining and clarifying problems. Jumping straight to Five Whys is like jumping straight to “Learn” in the Lean Startup Build-Measure-Learn cycle.
As is often the case, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. This slows down my Mac (thanks, Chrome!) and it’s mental overhead… So, it’s time for me to…
If you’ve got time over the weekend (or in the near future)… about three hours to be precise… these three four podcast episodes from Gemba Academy are outstanding and they’re well worth the time. Jon Miller, former CEO of Kaizen Institute,…
My wife and I were in Boston over the weekend, as it was her fifth reunion from her MIT master’s program. I’m also an alum, but was considered a “guest” since I graduated 16 years ago from my program and…
Here’s my latest cartoon collaboration with a skilled artist (and medical assistant), Carrie Schurman. You can see the whole series via this link. In the Lean world, we talk a lot about how “firefighting” is bad in an organization. What do…
Happy New Year! Let’s talk about Lean. Let’s talk about Kaizen and continuous improvement and how to get better in 2015. You’re possibly thinking, “Hey, Mark, chill… watch some football… relax… it’s a holiday.” But, you’re reading this, so you…
It’s a bit of a modern management cliché to say, “Don’t bring problems! Bring me solutions!” I think what it’s meant to mean is, “Don’t just complain! Think about improving things!” Why “Don’t Bring Me Problems, Bring Me Solutions” Backfires…
