I am finding good resonance with my management training sessions. Rather than doing an overview of the “tools of lean” I go in depth into the fundamental things that the leaders need to Learn to do, and do. Ensure are done. in order to build this on a solid foundation. But “resonance” seems to mean [...]
The key points addressed today (Day 3) at the Toyota Kata seminar were: The PDCA cycle – small experiments that the “learner” develops to advance toward the target condition. The coaching cycle (or kata) – an introduction to the role of the coach, and how coaching is structured in practice. A fairly brief discussion on [...]
I am taking the Toyota Kata seminar this week in Ann Arbor. There are two programs offered: A one-day classroom overview of the concepts in Toyota Kata. The one-day classroom overview followed by two days of practice on a shop floor, for a total of three days. I am taking the three day version. Impressions [...]
As I work with clients to get a “problem solving culture” embedded, one common challenge is the distinction between the short term work-around to remove the obstacle, and the long-term countermeasure that actually improves the process. I addressed this at a conceptual level in the “Morning Market” post a while ago. Last week I was [...]
When you are at the gemba, you are watching the work. We like to say you are “looking for waste” and list seven, or eight, or ten different categories of waste that you are supposed to look for. I think it is simpler than that. An ideal workflow is smooth. The product moves smoothly, without [...]
This post rambles a bit, and wraps up a few concepts. It was, however, inspired by a recent interview of Mike Rother on Lean Nation. (See below) One of the many good points that struck me was that you can’t rally around an ROI. Yet companies try to do just that. They set something ROI [...]
Vance left a really good comment on the recent Travel Tales post. He said, in part: Having worked in the airline business, it’s really a matter of having employees that CARE (most due to their own pride, not by management) We many times had weather and mis-connected passengers to deal with. It only took a [...]
One of the advantages of having a business performance blog is I have a ready place to rant complain share my customer experiences with the air travel industry. It all started Monday. I had a flight from Seattle to Raleigh-Durham NC, connecting in Newark. It was only a two day trip, so I was traveling [...]
Happy New Year for the Year of the Dragon to all of my Chinese friends around the world. January 23 is the New Year. This message is timed to appear at midnight, Beijing time, as the fireworks are reaching a crescendo. I look at the time I spent in China as a period of great [...]
On Monday MIT hosted a webinar with Steven Spear on the topic of “Creative Experimentation.” A key theme woven throughout Spear’s work is the world today is orders of magnitude more complex than it was even 10 or 15 years ago. Where, in the past, it was feasible for a single person or small group [...]