COVID-19 is having a remarkable impact on business -- not in terms of shutting businesses down, but what business leaders are doing to adapt and survive. A principal strategy is to shift to various forms of e-commerce to deliver the goods and services that people need. The "process improvement … [Read more...] about Move Over Lean!
Wonder No More
Do you ever wonder about these things: Why do most Lean transformations struggle or fail? Why it is so difficult for bosses to accept Lean management? Why does classical management maintain its grip on leaders? Why are CEOs so resistant to change? Why do people get in trouble with bosses for … [Read more...] about Wonder No More
The Back Story – Improvement
This is the back story to the book Improvement. Improvement is the fourth and final book in the series The Triumph of Classical Management Over Lean Management (2018), Irrational Institutions (2020), and Management Mysterium (2020). It adds to this body of work by examining the principal … [Read more...] about The Back Story – Improvement
Betting It All On Leadership Behaviors
In a recent blog post, "Ahead Yet Still Far Behind," I lamented the continuing hope that the only solution to widespread adoption of Lean management is to change leaders' behaviors. This is the same magical thinking bet that has been placed by untold numbers of leadership researchers, educators, … [Read more...] about Betting It All On Leadership Behaviors
Confronting the Arguments Against Lean Management
In previous work, I explained in extraordinary detail why leaders resist or reject Lean management. Unfortunately, leaders will never explain their dislike for Lean as I described it because it gives away too many of their deepest secrets. Instead, they will justify their dislike for Lean using … [Read more...] about Confronting the Arguments Against Lean Management
Tired of Hearing About Toyota?
I know I am. But that is because we have been hearing the same old things about Toyota -- their production system, obeya, coaching, gemba walks, A3 reports, value steam maps, LPPD, and so on. All the stuff that is easy to package and sell by various parties. You don't hear much about Just-in-Time, … [Read more...] about Tired of Hearing About Toyota?
What Happened to Lean?
Leading authors and luminaries in the Agile community have, after only 19 years, begun to publicly question its de-evolution from something grand (Agile Manifesto, to improve software development) to something "misdirected, misattributed, ineffectual, and misshapen." They are calling Agile a failing … [Read more...] about What Happened to Lean?
Recent WTFU Articles
Karl: What you are trying to do is get people to wake the fuck up. Isn't that right?Bob E. Yes, that's right.Karl: People need to wake the fuck up. Lean management, TPS, or any effort with the wholesome intention of "change for the better," is destined to struggle or fail if people won't wake … [Read more...] about Recent WTFU Articles
Ahead Yet Still Far Behind
Nothing disappoints me more than to see my impassioned colleagues labor to advance Lean management using arguments that go back 100 years and which are known to be ineffective. What the purpose of doing that? Is it stubbornness, ignorance, clinging to an outdated worldview, or an inability to … [Read more...] about Ahead Yet Still Far Behind