Article

You Can't Manage a Secret

How did the obeya management system come to be at Toyota? How has it been refined since its beginning as a means of organizing research…

by James Morgan, PhD

Article

How Teaming Produces Execution-as-Learning

Amy C. Edmonson, Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, shares a concept she calls "teaming", a way of working that brings…

by Amy C. Edmondson

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Soliciting Suggestions in Ways That Don't Backfire

Sometimes well-intentioned lean activities like asking for suggestions can backfire; Cheryl Jekiel shares specific ways to prevent mishandling ideas from your people.

by Cheryl Jekiel

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Getting Home: Jacob and Claude Stoller Appreciate the Lean Lessons of this New Book

"Getting Home is a terrific book that puts lean to work on a problem that’s really significant. Let’s hope it’s an inspiration for architects and…

by Claude Stoller and Jacob Stoller

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Keep It Simple: Value-Stream Mapping at the Gemba

A veteran lean coach shares a story showing that even simple and quick value-stream mapping can be hugely helpful when you include the people doing…

by Dave LaHote

Article

The Snowstorm on Your Server

When looking for a place to implement 5S, your company's server or shared drive might not be the first to come to mind. And yet…

by Eric Ethington

Article

Leadership Without Giving Solutions (from a Fire Fighter's Perspective)

LEI faculty member Greg Lane shares a lean coaching story from his own life, in which he finds himself advising a friend on how best…

by Greg Lane

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Putting Financial Value on Lean Transformation

What is the ROI on a kaizen event? How does Lean stack up against other revenue generation or cost-saving initiatives? While Jean Cunningham says questions…

Article

Sharks & Tortoises

"A small number of firms have grown spectacularly in revenue, employees, and stock price by using [lean] to execute crisply on tactics," writes Jeff Morrow,…

by Jeff Morrow

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KAIZEN CHALLENGE: Lean Technical and Social Quiz

In this kaizen challenge, lean coach Jeff Smith invites you to help determine the optimal lot size to run through assembly. Please share your thoughts!

by Jeff Smith

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10 Tips for Getting the Most Value from Value-Stream Mapping

Before you map your value stream, review and keep in mind these tips for ensuring your organization reaps the performance gains it can deliver —…

by Judy Worth

Article

Adopt or Adapt? When Modifying Lean Makes Sense

One of the key decisions every lean coach, consultant, practitioner, and leader makes is when to fully adopt a particular lean practice or when to…

by Karen Martin

Article

Bridging Two Lean Communities

Two very different lean communities came together when Eric Ries and LEI's John Shook participated in the Lean Startup pre-conference webcast, "Putting the Lean in…

by Lex Schroeder

Article

Cleveland Clinic’s Prescription for Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Lisa Yerian, MD, medical director of continuous improvement at the Clinic, talks about a “model area” approach to improvement, how initial “islands” of improvement linked…

by Lisa Yerian, MD

Article

Lean Startups Should Be Lean Cultures, From the Start

Mark Graban reflects on John Shook's talk, "Lean Startup--From Toyota City to Fremont to You," at this week's Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco. Read…

by Mark Graban

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Reducing Wasted Motion at a Conference: Collaborative Note Taking

Mark Graban reflects on the pros and cons of collaborative note-taking at conferences and offers up an invitation/experiment to Lean Transformation Summit attendees.

by Mark Graban

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Personal PDCA and How I Learned It

"In 23 years at Toyota, I had many assignments and different bosses, I managed many people," writes Mark Reich, "but a constant part of the…

by Mark Reich

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Do You Own Your Lean Learning?

LEI COO and Toyota veteran Mark Reich is back with a new series on the role of consultants and OpEx groups in a lean transformation.…

by Mark Reich

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Connecting Lean Thinkers With Nonprofits in Portland, Oregon

Matthew Horvat tells the story of Lean Portland, a lean community of practice connecting lean thinkers with nonprofit professionals in Portland, Oregon.

by Matthew Horvat

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Doing Versus Being – How Mindfulness Supports Better Lean Thinking, Part 2

Most companies don’t get the desired results from lean transformations, according to Mike Orzen, lean practitioner and LEI faculty member. Their people get stuck in…

by Mike Orzen