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.
TL;DR: The phrase “you get what you expect and you deserve what you tolerate” appears to trace back to a 1970s Reader’s Digest article, brought into Lean and healthcare circles through Charlie Protzman’s seminars at Johnson & Johnson. I learned…
I had a chance to go back to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX) plant in south San Antonio last week with a group of executive education students at Trinity University. I first visited the plant back in 2010 and…
Mark’s note: Ah, another NFL playoff weekend and time for another football post to follow up my apparent jinxing of the Eagles’ head coach Chip Kelly last week. Today’s guest post from Chad Walters is an intersection between sports, medicine,…
I recently stumbled across a very interesting and well-produced mixed-media presentation that starts with the sounds of snow crackling under a pair a boots… a video clip that illustrates Delvecchio Finley, the CEO of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, making a snowy trip…
Mark’s Note: I’m just getting back from vacation, so we’re wrapping up the guest posts. Today’s post is by Christina Kach and you can read her previous guest posts here. Check out her updated bio at the bottom of the…
Mark’s Note: Today’s post is by a colleague from The Netherlands, Erwin Haas. Erwin is a leader in a Dutch consulting firm, NextChange, a formal partner of KaiNexus. I am the chief improvement officer at KaiNexus. By Erwin Haas A…
Listen: My guests for episode #185 are Karen Dunn Skinner and David Skinner and our topic, for the first time on the Podcast, is Lean in law firms and the legal profession. David and Karen are husband and wife, attorneys,…
I had a chat with somebody from a hospital recently who asked about following one Lean principle, and that led to a conflict with another Lean principle. Here was the gist of the discussion… she said that the hospital centralized…
There’s a great piece, currently available for free on the HBR website, about continuous improvement: The Culture to Cultivate The author, George Halvorson, is the recently retired CEO of Kaiser Permanente and it’s really helpful that he is writing about…
Here’s a fascinating article: “How Toyota brought its famed manufacturing method to India.” The piece starts with a story about a classic Toyota management practice — “Genchi Genbutsu, or on-site inspection, which is at the core of the Toyota Production…
“Approximately 8 to 10% of the individuals who walk through our doors are being hurt by us,” says David Musyj, CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital. That’s one of the first things you hear in this CBC program “Rate My Hospital,”…
I’ve been fortunate to have the chance to visit an Autoliv factory in Utah – a great Lean company that makes air bags and protective devices for cars and passengers. I was really impressed with Autoliv, as were the healthcare…
