Blog

This week in class (I’m running a session of Leading Lean at a client) I asked a question: What’s better between focusing on your strengths or improving your weaknesses? It’s one of those unanswerable questions designed to generate some dialogue and thought. What surprised me, although only a little, is

I witness lean change agents get in their own way all the time. I’m sure I do it too. This is a common example that really can hold back an entire organization on the journey. It is the response to an inflection point. Change agents, of any kind of change,

This week I’ve been commenting on things I’ve found on the web. Often, they are posts I’ve saved in my blog reader Gruml (which by the way is a fantastic Google Reader desktop app if you are a Mac user). I’ve always enjoyed Jon Miller’s posts on Gemba Panta Rei.

Another little gem from the internet is about learning. A lean thinker is all about learning. We recommend small steps, any step, every day. Sometimes you have to squeeze it in the cracks. That’s where grouting comes in. Grout fills in the cracks. How do you fill in the little

I have a new post published on Assembly Magazine. See the full article on that site. The CEO must be the champion and leader of a lean transformation, but the board of directors can have a major impact, too…. Continue reading….

This week I’ll be blogging about various things I’ve found around the internet. Of course, the volume of content continues to increase. I sometimes wonder if the rate of increase of garbage outpaces the good stuff. But there is plenty of good stuff as well. I’m always on the lookout

In my last post on the theme of looking at metrics as either valid or reliable and the balance between them, I wanted to examine the impact on decisions in the board room. So far we have covered the following: Valid or reliable – take your pick Valid or reliable

This week I’ve been writing about the tradeoff between measuring things in a valid way or a reliable means. Two posts published so far are: Valid or reliable – take your pick Valid or reliable – trying to break the tradeoff How does this impact culture? Culture is one of

Yesterday I wrote about how measurements are often in conflict between being valid indicators and reliable indicators in Valid or reliable – take your pick. How can we possibly break this tension so there is no tradeoff? One method, staying within the domain of measurement, is a stronger use of

Last week we had an interesting conversation. It started as a discussion about projects, particularly how you make sure you projects are going in the right direction. Ideally, you should choose how you’re going to be measuring yourself before, during, and after the project. If you wait to the end