The Most Important Part of Work

It is necessary for organizations to standardize and maintain a product development process. It is has been proven over and over again that by doing this will allow for more creative action to take place, not hinder it. A quote from Plato: “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” A project needs Read More …

Starting Lean in Product Development and Design

Many of us get in a hurry with Lean trying to think it is this groundbreaking and another silver bullet. We forget that Toyota started working with Deming in the 1950s and progressed through a series of changes to what evolved into the Toyota Production System today. In my podcasts and my experience with leaders Read More …

How Good of a Team Can You Put Together

I think a Kaizen Event  offers leadership a unique opportunity to “walk the talk.” They can participate in open and frank conversation, promote empowerment and break down many organizational barriers. This may be the first step in developing an ongoing continuous improvement culture. Their expressed enthusiasm for recommendations and recognition of other participants will go Read More …

Say More by Saying Less

Joe McCormack is on a mission to help organizations master the art of the short story. In an age of shrinking attention spans, non-stop interruptions, floods of information, the messages business leaders send out are getting lost in a sea of words. An experienced marketing executive, successful entrepreneur and author, Joe is recognized for his Read More …

The Origins of Cap-Do in My Work: Hansei

I highly encourage you to listen or read this conversation between Michael Balle and myself. It is at the heart of Kaizen, PDCA and Lean. Mike Balle on the Culture of PDCA: Podcast: Gemba Coach talks PDCA, Transcription: Is PDCA the culture of Lean? Reflection on these points may be the most important part of Read More …

The Team is Not Responsible for Teamwork

Successful Lean teams are iTeams When I use this term, it is based on a simple theory that Teamwork Is an Individual Skill. In this book by Christopher Avery he describes a team as a group of individuals responding successfully to the opportunity presented by shared responsibility. Paraphrased from the book: Your ability to create Read More …