This is the back story to the book Eliminating Waste in Teaching. For more than 15 years I have been a dedicated student of the history of management. The particular years of interest are 1890 to the early 1930s, a time known as the Progressive Era. It was during this era that a new system of … [Read more...] about The Back Story – Eliminating Waste in Teaching
How Many Genbas are There?
Top company leaders are Genba 1. Dr. Emiliani's interest has long been Genba1. Click on image to enlarge. When the world became aware of Toyota's production system in the mid-1970s, there was one genba -- the shop floor. I call this Genba 3. When Lean arrived in 1988, there remained just one … [Read more...] about How Many Genbas are There?
Creating a Lean Culture
Everyone recognizes that creating a Lean culture is the responsibility of the top leaders of an organization, and that creating a Lean culture is difficult. Much has been written by me and others about the need for business leaders to do this hard work if they wish to succeed with Lean management. … [Read more...] about Creating a Lean Culture
Psychological Safety and Lean
Psychological safety has recently become a subject of interest in the Lean community. In her book The Fearless Organization, Professor Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as: "...the belief that the work environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. The concept refers to the experience … [Read more...] about Psychological Safety and Lean
Management Darwinism
Toyota's management system (TMS), and its derivative Lean management (LM), can be viewed as variations in the population of management systems (the "species"). These variations are deliberate, not random, in their origin. These "offspring" resemble their parent, classical management, at the highest … [Read more...] about Management Darwinism
Data-Driven Delays
There are often many challenges, disagreements, and arguments in social media about various aspects of Lean management that center upon data. For example, people will argue about the data on "Lean failure" -- whether it is accurate, reliable, or just plain wrong. Or, something stated as fact is … [Read more...] about Data-Driven Delays
Are You a Lean Expert?
A lot of people say they are Lean experts. But is there such a thing as a Lean expert? Let's assume there is. The next question is, what does "Lean expert" mean? Is a Lean expert someone who has comprehensive knowledge and skills in some Lean methods and tools? Or, is a Lean expert someone who is … [Read more...] about Are You a Lean Expert?
We Succeed When We All Agree
In my decades of analyzing Lean management and the Lean movement, I often discover important problems and, being a university professor, I share my findings with others. My findings are more warmly received by Lean practitioners than my peer group of Lean movement leaders. Why is that? It seems … [Read more...] about We Succeed When We All Agree
Lean, Agile, and Six Sigma
One of the ongoing arguments that people have is that Lean is a system, while other things which have borrowed from Lean or attached themselves to Lean are somehow the same as Lean (and thus, a system). The image at right is an imperfect conceptual model featuring a 1971 Toyota Corolla that … [Read more...] about Lean, Agile, and Six Sigma