I had a speaking engagement yesterday for a large system, with the audience consisting mainly of hospital CEOs and CFOs. I was able to be around for the entire morning, which included a really outstanding kickoff talk by the system…
This week, May 6-13, is National Nurses Week. It’s always important, but it’s especially good to thank and recognize all of the talented, caring, hard working nurses out there. Nursing is important, difficult work. Sadly, the work is made more…
I was fortunate to have three interviews published in the past week, where I was talking about Lean Healthcare and Kaizen, so I thought I’d share them here. Cutting Waste is More Important Than Ever: An Interview with Lean Healthcare…
My guest for episode #170 is Stephen Parry, joining us from England. He is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Lean Kanban North America conference in late April. I will also be a main stage speaker at the event. Parry…
If we're doing trivial Lean projects without addressing patient harm or patient waiting times, we run the risk of "5S-ing the deck chairs on the Titanic"...
As a reminder, I am giving a free Gemba Academy webinar tomorrow (Tuesday 3/12) on “Stories about the Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare.” Click here to learn more and sign up. I’m going to tell some stories from my…
I was preparing for the Gemba Academy webinar that I’m doing next Tuesday (you can still sign up) on: Stories about the Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare. I found this fun picture from about 2008 that I decided to…
I’m going to be giving two free webinars in March that you might be interested in signing up for: Gemba Academy – 8 Wastes in Healthcare On March 12, I’m doing a brand new webinar titled “Stories about the Eight…
I guess that, considering last year’s blog post, this Lean thinker couldn’t really root for Notre Dame and Coach Brian Kelly Monday night in the BCS National Championship Game. Just before kickoff, ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi asked Saban, “Coach, you love…
Here’s a great clip from Thursday’s episode of The Office. One of the new employees shows how he enters customer complaints into the computer and THEN has to fill out green comment cards. He asks why he has to fill…
Yesterday’s PBS News Hour had a piece on the use of Lean and the Toyota Production System at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center:
TL;DR: Many “Lean Six Sigma” programs misrepresent Lean as a set of tools layered onto Six Sigma. Lean is not a toolbox–it’s a management system and culture rooted in flow, quality, and respect for people. When Lean is reduced to…