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.
It's good that United's CEO has taken responsibility for system problems. It's great that they are changing some policies. But why does he say they don't have a culture problem if employees aren't empowered? That sounds like "culture" and a "problem" to me.
Last week, I received a few questions from somebody at a hospital system and I thought I'd address one of them here: "Can you suggest any "quick wins" to get staff engaged in a Lean culture?"
As I’m documenting in the comments here, the collaborative eBook Practicing Lean has now generated more than $1000 in donations to the Louise Batz Patient Safety Foundation. Thanks to everybody who has bought the book so far! I thought I was calling the…
I first blogged about this article back in 2009 and it’s still online: “Keen to Be Lean“ The sub headline talks about hospitals being “desperate to cut costs.” Has that changed? I wish the motivation was more often about hospitals…
Mark’s Note: Today’s post is by a new guest contributor, Tom Gormley. I first met Tom in 2009 or 2010 when my wife and I were in Boston for the year. He was in the process of switching into healthcare…
One thing I enjoy is the opportunity to basically be a “value adding” worker in a process. The work is pretty repetitive (but, again, it’s a very enjoyable environment) and it lets me think like an industrial engineer or a “Lean thinker” when I’m not talking with...
This article caught my eye at Becker’s Hospital Review: We asked 13 physicians what they really think of their hospital Even though organizations do formal physician and staff satisfaction surveys, the questions posed here is one that we should ask people frequently…
The BBC radio program “The Science Hour” recently aired a program with a segment where an unexpected person (Dr. Kevin Fong) to an unexpected place (UCLA Harbor Medical Center) to look into “Lean.” You might remember UCLA Harbor from my…
Mark’s note: Today’s post is something that Drew Locher originally published in his email newsletter (sign up here), but he’s allowing me to post it here. I’ve met Drew through the Lean Enterprise Institute, as we’re both LEI faculty members, and…
Later today and tomorrow, I’ll be attending the annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit that’s produced by a non-profit called the Patient Safety Movement. If you’re also at the event, please say hi! Follow the event on the…
It’s far too common to see somebody with just a little bit of understanding about Lean do things that really shouldn’t be described as Lean at all… in terms of the decisions they are making or the approaches they are…
I love what I do and I travel a lot… the travel can sometimes be a drag, such as last Monday’s flight delays with storms in Chicago, arriving in Toronto three hours late (after midnight). But, sometimes things work out…
