The Hidden Costs of Batching [Lessons from the Road]
Have you ever been on the end of a batched process? Chances are you have, either in your workplace or in your everyday life. If you have ever been discharged from a hospital or experienced a yearly performance review, you were likely “batched”. In the Lessons from Road the Column
Read MorePDCA vs PDSA in Problem Solving
Plan Do Check Act (PDSA) is a well known approach to continuous improvement and problem solving. I propose you consider the PDSA approach that includes study and adjust to truly understand why you are getting the results you are.
Read MoreFearless Problem Solving [Guest Post]
Guest Post: Donald Sweigart worked with “The Body Shop @” which developed the “Star-Link Certified” Lean business model improving Profitability, CSI, and Cycle Time in the Collision Repair Industry. This model is now licensed by a Fortune 100 in it’s Industry-wide Lean Training. His passion is implementing Lean solutions in
Read MoreThis is NOT a tree
This is not a tree. Can you tell me what it really is? Time’s up. It is a picture of a tree. No, it’s not a stupid trick question…there is a point behind it. So often people confuse the real thing with the representation of that thing. This picture of
Read MoreReflect to Improve, and Make it a Habit
How do you get started on the lean journey? Many organizations struggle with how to get started. They see this monumental journey ahead of them and there is so much to do, but where to start? I think a small and simple way to get started is just to
Read MoreInnovation and Rewarding Learning
Over on the Lean Blog Mark Graban wrote a post titled Innovation Is as Innovation Does? Besides channeling Forrest Gump, this makes a great point. Innovation is an outcome, but without a process we won’t get it. And that process includes culture, skill, systems, methods, and so on. Mark makes
Read MorePDCA in Non-Deterministic Systems
When does PDCA not apply? Can we say “not here”? Alan Shalloway attempted to address this for the software community in his blog last week. You can read his full post yourself. Apparently many in the software community (but not all, before you call me out on that) feel that
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