Should you be making an Issue about Everything

Issue Mapping is the process of crafting an issue map, a way of making critical thinking visible.  An issue map is a graphical network that integrates many problems, solutions, and points of view and shows the deep structure of an issue. Issue maps can be sketched on paper, but larger issue maps are typically crafted Read More …

What would Dr. Deming think of the new Lean Math

When was the last time you had a discussion about designs with more than one blocking variable, such as a Latin Square Design? Or maybe, a midnight discussion on empirical modeling or factorial designs at two levels? Those were the days. Recent publications, spurred by Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup, are Lean UX: Applying Lean Read More …

Do you deserve a Seat at the Leadership Table

In his upcoming book Problem Solving LeadershipTM, Dr. Jeffrey G. Soper challenges the conventional wisdom of current leadership development thought and practice stating that “The problem with leadership can be found in the definition of the leadership problem.” His challenge is not that the focusing upon leadership skills and follower receptivity is wrong, but rather Read More …

The Lean Practitioner Transcription

Ken Rolfes of KDR Associates was my guest on the Business901 podcast, A Lean Practitioner. In the podcast, I asked Ken what he enjoyed most about his work and he replied: Basically, what I enjoy the most is really getting the people energized in companies when they see the possibilities of what they can do Read More …

Moving the CODP towards the Customers Point of Use.

Rob van Stekelenborg is the author of Dumontis blog and a recent article Pushing and Pulling in the Supply Chain. In the blog, Rob discussed Customer Order Decoupling Point (CODP). A brief excerpt: The (customer order) decoupling point (CODP) or order penetration point is one of the most well-known logistical concepts. It indicates the inventory Read More …

Brian Joiner on Lean Quality & Sustainability

In retrospect, I cannot honestly say why I ended up following Dr. Deming more so than Dr. Juran, or Philip Crosby, who I consider the other giants of the quality movement. I am not even sure in my first several readings of Dr, Deming that I even understood how it applied to me other than Read More …