Standardized work is often misunderstood as rigidity or control. In Lean thinking, it’s the opposite: a shared baseline that makes problems visible, supports learning, and enables continuous improvement. This archive explores standardized work as a living system—one that evolves through observation, experimentation, and respect for people.
Examples range from healthcare and service work to manufacturing and everyday systems, showing how clear standards reduce frustration, improve quality, and make meaningful improvement possible.
IndustryWeek : TWI Promotes Quick Training, Standard Work Here’s an article about the Training Within Industry program, a key foundation of the Toyota Production System. The article features Jim Huntzinger and mentions his upcoming TWI Summit. You can listen to…
The Blotter: ABC Report on Pharmacy Errors I first stumbled across this 20/20 report when I saw a preview on the ABC investigative reports video podcast. Pharmacy errors are a major problem (see this story): There are as many as…
The New York Times ran an article this weekend exposing the myth of multitasking. Despite the common belief that we have to multi-task to get our work done, and despite the presence of technology that encourages us to do more…
Push for simpler spelling persists This idea iz stoopid. You can’t haf peepole saying “this speling works beter for mee”. Spelling properly is a form of standard work. Try reading the article I’ve linked to. The author is being cute…
I received an email from a blog reader, which asked: I just found your blog on Lean and I am hoping you can offer me some help. I have searched everywhere but cannot find a sample of the format used…
OK, so this isn’t strictly a standard work document, but this is an overview of the Lean Blog. I did update it on 7/19/05, though, in the spirit of continuous improvement. Updated 5/15/18 1) I run this blog strictly as…
