The Case for Kaizen Events

One thing that there’s no shortage of in life is criticism about things we don’t fully understand—or haven’t experienced success with. Another thing there’s no[…]

7 Reasons Why Most Organizations Don’t Know Their Customers

It’s difficult to say when and where the concept of “business” was borne. It’s often attributed to ancient Roman law and to British law in[…]

Great Visuals: Subway Maps

I’ve long been a fan of ease, which is a large reason why Lean management has always appealed to me—and why I’m such a fan[…]

Does Lean Really Work?

Yes. It really does. Deployed properly, that is. One of the biggest problems we currently face in the Lean movement is that there are an[…]

The True Meaning of Kaizen

I love learning. Especially when it’s about something I thought I understood already. Enter this gem I received in this morning’s email. This video, produced[…]

Is Lean Dependent on Executive Support?

Unequivocally, YES. But…there’s more to the story. We don’t throw in the towel if we don’t have all of the preexisting conditions in place. Without[…]

Rules Are Meant to Be (Thoughtfully) Broken

When I learned The Outstanding Organization’s publication date, I groaned. The book was slated for release in July 2012, just as summer vacations were getting[…]

Good Reading

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to implement pull in as many places as I can. Early last year I implemented it quite successfully[…]

Developing People: The Bane of “Training”

I frequently receive calls from prospective clients who seek “training” of some sort. The requests include Lean overviews, problem-solving workshops, value stream mapping training, and[…]

Metrics-Based Process Mapping: What & How

Mike Osterling and my new book, Metrics-Based Process Mapping, appears to be striking a cord with many. Yesterday I held a webinar with the highest[…]

The Bane of Organizational ADD

Businesses routinely attempt to accomplish too much and quickly lose focus when the next fire erupts or a new shiny ball appears. When I work[…]

Lean vs. Six Sigma Debate (Sadly) Rages On

As many of you know, I’m a passionate advocate of Lean management practices and the power of Lean in transforming organizations. So I grow weary[…]

Hello Phone: Welcome Back!

A disciplined Lean thinker is always looking to improve his or her own personal efficiency and effectiveness. Lately I’ve had ample opportunity to explore how[…]

Lean is Chaos Reduction

It’s been interesting to see what people have picked up on as I’ve been promoting my new book, The Outstanding Organization. My original title was[…]

Blogging Away…

Earlier this week I learned that my blog posts weren’t being pushed to my subscribers as I thought they had. I was blogging away but[…]

What is Lean?

“What is Lean?” may seem a strange question to be asking 15 years after the approach gained recognition in manufacturing and began its progressive spread to other industries. But[…]