In a previous post, I talked about Steven Spear’s observation about how a sensei saw a process and the problems. Jeffery Liker, Mike Hoseus and David Meier have done a good job capturing how a sensei teaches and summed it up in a diagram in the book Toyota Culture. (for those of you following at [...]
Now and then something comes across that makes it all worth it. And nothing is more “worth it” to me than to know something I said or did contributed to someone’s insight or impetus to do something spectacular. Yesterday Earl sent me an email that is one of those times. I was going to edit [...]
John Shook’s latest column on LEI’s site is about coaching and whether it is better to give them the answers or just ask questions. Asking questions in a way that actually teaches is a skill that we, as a “lean” community do not foster very well. Certainly in U.S. corporate culture, we are expected to [...]
Following on from the buzz created by the last couple of posts, I would like to go back in time a bit. In 2005 Steven Spear wrote a working paper called “ Why General Motors Lost and Toyota Won.” A reader can clearly the see emerging themes that were developed into his book Chasing the [...]
A frequent topic in the lean.org forums is some version of “what is the difference between lean and ____” where the blank is one of the industry buzzwords. Some of the common ones are various prefixes to “Sigma.” Others are old standards such as TQM, SPC, TOC, etc. These discussions are always interesting as the [...]
When real effort is spent getting to the cause of problems (vs. a reflex to find someone to blame), ambiguity often enters into the picture. Problem solving is a process of asking questions and clarification. Is a “defect-free” outcome of the process specified? Does the Team Member know what “success” is? Is there a way [...]
Get to the root cause by “Asking Why?” five times. We have all heard it, read it. Our sensei’s have pounded it into us. It is a cliché, obviously, since getting to the root cause of a problem is (most of the time) a touch more complicated than just repeatedly asking “Why?” Isn’t it? Maybe [...]
Steven Spear told an interesting story in our session with him. A Toyota sensei, very senior, was looking at a process unlike anything in his previous experience base. The researchers watching expected him to do “analysis by analogy” – to take what he observed, find a matching analogy in his deep experience, and then draw [...]
As I mentioned in the last post, this is the third time I have been through one of these events. The first time was in 1998, then again in late 2000, now in 2008 – so it has been a while. As you may or may not know, the company that was Shingijutsu back in [...]
“How do I get the leaders involved?” How often have we all heard, or even asked, that question? Of course the actual answer is “you can’t.” At least you can’t force them to. But there are things that might help the leader decide to get involved. I think the biggest mistake people make is to [...]