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A Pharmacist’s Jail Cell Interview – What Good Does Blame Do?
Here’s one to ponder and comment on – does putting a pharmacist in jail for six months and ruining his career and life do anything to bring back a two year-old girl? Does it do anything to make future...
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How Checklists Help Me With My Podcasts
Regular followers of my blog know that I’ve been creating audio podcasts since 2006. Later today (at 3 PM), I am publishing #86 in the series, an interview with David Sundahl, PhD of Rule 4 Consulting....
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April Fool: A New Way to Learn Lean? Wii Lean!
Note: I edited the post title on April 3 to make it clear this was an April Fool’s Joke. Comments posted by readers on 4/1 and 4/2 may have been “fooled” – thanks for taking the joke in good spirits. —...
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Two Extreme Sides to Every Story in Politics *and* Lean??
This is going to seem like a political rant, but I promise this is mainly a post about Lean and healthcare, or at least it’s about dysfunctional parallels in both settings. It used to said that...
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What Are Barriers to “Kaizen” in Healthcare?
Regular readers might know that I’m working on a second book project, about “kaizen” (continuous improvement) in healthcare. Sign up to receive more info about the book, “Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging...
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Does Setting a Goal for Number of Kaizens Violate “Kaizen Spirit”?
In discussions of “kaizen” (the Japanese word that is translated to “continuous improvement” or “change for the better”), I often hear of organizations talk about getting goals and targets for the...
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Time & Motion Studies Are Not “Discredited,” Just How They Are Used
First off, a huge thumbs up and thanks are due to Eric Ries and his thought-provoking “Startup Lessons Learned” conference on the “Lean Startup” methodology that was held Tuesday. I am thankful that...
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Links to Dilbert Cartoons on #Lean and/or #SixSigma
I’ve often blogged about Dilbert and “dilbert lean” is a fairly common search term, so I thought I’d do my best to compile all of the Lean or Six Sigma related strips that I could find into a single...
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A Hard Habit to Break
No, this isn’t a post about the the 80s Chicago tune “Hard Habit to Break.” It’s about individual habits related to problem solving that are hard to break. As Charles Kettering (the famed engineer of...
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Just Call it “5S Six Sigma” Instead of “Lean Sigma,” Please
My whole career, I have worked with the Lean methodology (aka the Toyota Production System). I’ve just really never done much with Six Sigma. I’ve read about Six Sigma and I took a Green Belt course...
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Toyota, Respect for People (or “Humanity”) and Lean
A principle that has been often discussed (and hopefully practiced) in the Lean community over the past few years is usually described as “respect for people.” A certain British rabble rouser recently...
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Lean, Deming, and “Accountability”
Today, I’m spending the day with a health system and their quarterly management retreat, which includes about 200 managers from from the C-level on down. One of our topics, prompted by some feedback...
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10 (Actually, 20) of the Most Read LeanBlog.org Posts in 2013
Thanks everybody for reading my blog in 2013! I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read and participate in the discussion and I h0pe you’ll continue visiting the site in 2014… in what...
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Kaizen: What if We Get Bad Ideas from Employees?
In our Healthcare Kaizen books, Joe Swartz and I have tried to make the case that the Kaizen style of continuous improvement isn’t just a nice way to treat employees… it’s smart business and it’s good...
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The One Where a Dog Reviews the Strategy Deployment Metrics Wall
I’ve had some cartoons on the blog before, including a few “Doofus & Leanies.” I can’t draw at all, believe me (although I sometimes do my own simple digital graphics). I’ve been fortunate to...
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Why “More Nurses” Isn’t the Best Way to Solve What Ails Healthcare
There are certainly many serious problems in healthcare. Let’s look at nursing, in particular. It’s a rewarding job, but it’s far more frustrating for nurses than it needs to be. Nurses often don’t...
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Proof That Nelson from The Simpsons is Not a Good Kaizen Coach
If you know me, you know I’m a huge fan of The Simpsons. The show has been on TV for 25 of my 40 years. The cable channel FXX is having an “Every Simpsons Ever” marathon, showing all 552 episodes over...
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To Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement, Put Away the Gavel!
I am giving a new webinar on Wednesday, hosted by the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value (to promote a public registration workshop on Kaizen that we’re doing in October). The webinar’s theme is:...
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Why Lunch Can Be Annoying at the Sensei Cafe
Last week, I published my first cartoon collaboration with a skilled artist (and medical assistant), Carrie Howarth. You might call that cartoon “Strategy Dog-ployment.” None of us expect this to be a...
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Managing With Red/Green Charts is Like Driving By Looking at the Rear-View...
There’s an expression that was used by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, and also by Dr. Don Wheeler, that says managing through metrics (and comparisons to targets) is like driving by looking in the rear-view...
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