Flinchbaugh

What do you do when one of those little fires pops up? It’s not a big deal, it’s just a small problem. Put the fire out, move on to what’s next. After all there are many important projects to complete. But of course, before you get to them, another fire

One Small Step for Man Are you building plans for 2010? Strategic plans? Goals? Action plans? Even New Year’s Resolutions? Many of you are. You are told to think big, dream big, plan big. I’m couldn’t agree more. Until… you stall. You start thinking about the resources. You start thinking

Creativity103 Are you waiting for your annual GM and Chrysler report? I would assume as a shareholder that we’ll all get one. No? OK, I won’t wait by the mailbox (since technically we’re not shareholders). Fortunately there are plenty of people trying to offer an explanation of progress, or lack

Everybody loves a good meeting. If you think I’m being sarcastic, then you’ve never been in a good meeting. A good meeting is energizing, productive, focused. But of course most of the meetings that organizations hold are frustrating, unproductive, and wasteful. Here are two quick tips. First, consider if you

Happy Thanksgiving. There are no presents for this holiday, but still many reasons for giving thanks. Interested in a little trivia? My birthplace of York, Pennsylvania can be thanking for giving us Thanksgiving as a national holiday. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress declared a Day of Thanksgiving for

This is my last in the 4 part series on A3 problem solving. I’ll be answering more questions on a webinar hosted by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers which I hope you’ll check out and join. On to our final questions. Q8. Is there software that can help me with

I am continuing on with more Q&A about the problem solving process of A3, popularized through the use at Toyota and an effective coaching and development tool. So onto the questions. Q5. What is the best way to start? I think it is best to start on a problem that

Last Friday I started posting some Q&A on the transformation of problem solving using A3 methods. This is in support of a webinar I am leading on the topic. Here we continue to the Q&A. Q3. What advantages does A3 have over other problem solving methodologies? There are some advantages

On December 15th, I’ll be providing a webinar on the topic of A3 problem solving. I’ve been spending a good amount of time lately helping leaders from various organizations improve their lean thinking by utilizing A3 problem solving. In the following few blog posts, I’ll answer some of the common

What’s the least expensive way to education people in your organization? Get them reading. There are now x,000 number of lean books available – I don’t actually know the number, but it’s a lot. At the Lean Learning Center, we buy everything we find for our book shelves as these