general

Moving from RACI to RACIC

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 08-18-20

Does everyone on your team understand their role? Do your partners and other functions know there? Does role ambiguity lead to either gaps or overlaps in work? Most of you answered yes, and you are not alone.  Role clarity gaps are one of the easiest ways to drive waste into

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Lean and Personalities

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 08-11-20

Lean systems and processes can help take the personality out of a process. For much of our work, our personal styles and preferences can have a great impact on our work. However, this is based on what suits us based on our personality and not the needs of the work.

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Lean Whiskey Episode #18

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 08-07-20

In Episode 18, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh return to our tried and true format of “just the two of us”, although that won’t last long as Mark will soon have a guest co-host and then we will record an episode live as part of the Colorado Lean Network Summit.

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Throw Away Your Favorite Lean Tool

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 08-06-20

Whether it’s problem-solving, or kaizen, or process optimization, or waste elimination…no matter what you’re trying to accomplish, you must have a firm understanding of the current reality. This doesn’t mean just the results, but the process or work or causes that lead to those results. Every lean thinker understands this.

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Working on the Very Big Problem [from the archives]

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-29-20

This article first appeared on JFlinch on 10-12-09. Problems will always be with mankind, read as Jamie asks some basic yet key questions to help you get to the root of your problems.   Do you have a starting point for your strategic plans? A very short post today, but

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Lean Teams Partnering with other Groups

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-28-20

Your lean team isn’t the only group that supports the company. Others do as well. You hope that you all have a unique value proposition, but there is likely overlap, and perhaps even the potential for greater value. Who should you partner with? How should you partner, and how might

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Your Lean Team Resources

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-23-20

You’ve decided to organize your people to help drive lean. Who should you select? Should you build (grow internally) or buy (hire experience)? How many people do you need? And what are the alternatives? In this 3rd video in the Organizing Your Lean Team series, we explore these questions. Watch

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A Waste Walk on my Morning Routine

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-22-20

While I try to practice a lens for waste in all of my work and passionately eliminate what I can, I haven’t done an actual waste walk on my work in a while. So I thought I would do a waste walk on the part of my work that has

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A Centralized or Decentralized Lean Team?

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-16-20

There is no universally best way to organize those resources who identify as lean or continuous improvement people. Should you have them centrally located in one team? Should you embed them throughout the company in a decentralized way? Should you do a hybrid of both? What matters in making this

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Lean in a Post COVID-19 World

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 07-14-20

The world has changed, how should lean change with it? If you’re a lean professional or lean practitioner, how are you adding value now? How has it affected your lean work? Hear a few of my thoughts on how we must change.  

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