Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement
Episodes
Healthcare Headlines in the UK are Mostly Similar to the US
18 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
How can the NHS reduce waiting times without throwing money at the problem? Are they using Lean to increase capacity and throughput in a way that also...
Reader Question from an MD:
30 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio68 Before I head out on vacation, here is a reader question that I am sharing for your input.I'm sharing this with permiss...
Visual Management for an International Flight,
29 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio67 My wife and I are getting ready to leave tomorrow night for a two week vacation, so it jogged my memory about this stor...
Kaizen Hints from Heloise, or, If Kaizen is Common Sense,
26 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio66 I'm a big nerd in that I love reading newspapers basically cover to cover. I'm a nerd in many ways, I guess. You don't ...
Would the WSJ Blame "Just in Time" for the Stanley Cup
25 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio65 The Wall St Journal loves writing about how "Just In Time" (JIT) is a risky inventory strategy. See my past posts about...
How Would You Respond to This Kaizen Idea?
24 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio64 When I teach about Kaizen and continuous improvement, I try to use scenarios and cases to help people think through how...
I'm Moderating a #LeanStartup Webcast Today:
19 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio63 I've been intrigued by the "Lean Startup" movement since I first saw Eric Ries speak at MIT back in late 2009. I've rea...
Visiting MIT, Learning about "The Good Jobs Strategy"
19 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio62 Last week was an amazing week of learning and networking. I was in Dallas for the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit...
A Lean Guy Reads the Boston Papers: Facts, Respect,
18 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio61 My wife and I were in Boston over the weekend, as it was her fifth reunion from her MIT master’s program. I&rsquo...
First Look: "Management on the Mend" by Dr. John Toussaint
15 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
At this year's Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit (see my summary here) Dr. John Toussaint talked about and introduced his newly released book Mana...
A Tale of Two Clinics - What I Wish My Primary Care Could Be
13 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In American healthcare, there's a growing gap between hospitals and clinics that are being innovative and those who are stuck in the "way it's always ...
Jack Dorsey: It's an "Organizational Failure" if the CEO
29 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Dorsey is well known among tech circles, as a co-founder of Twitter (he's @Jack) and, now, as the CEO of Square. I'm a frequent Twitter user (I'm...
The Leadership Mantras of Don Davis
28 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Don Davis, former CEO of Stanley Works, passed away in 2010 and left an unfinished book in progress. One of my friends (and former colleagues from Del...
Lean: Hit or Myth? Layoffs, Patient-Centered Care, and More
27 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's not uncommon to hear statements thrown around about Lean that are more of a myth than anything resembling reality.I remember the time a professor...
The Joy of (Waste Reduction and) Cooking
26 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
I love to cook and I"m the primary chef in my home. I often get asked a question - sometimes it’s serious and sometimes it’s smart-alecky ...
10 Key Lean Mindsets for Factories, Hospitals, Startups,
25 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Here's my latest post for LinkedIn through their "Influencers" series. It might be old hat to readers of this blog, but I hope what I shared is useful...
Gemba in the NICU: More Notes from our "Kaizen Live"
19 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio53 In my first post about the on-site Kaizen learning experience at Franciscan St. Francis Health, an event I came to call...
U.S. Hospitals Have the Best E.R. Care for Kids,
18 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio52 There's been a back and forth of views about the state of pediatric emergency medicine recently in the Wall St Journal....
Another Experiment That Works in Healthcare: Safety Huddles
13 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Following up on yesterday's post on seemingly successful experiments with ACOs, here's another article, from HBR, on "safety huddles" in healthcare:"H...
An Experiment That Works in Healthcare: Pioneer ACOs
12 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
You might be considered "wonky" for enjoying the topics discussed here at LeanBlog.org... but that's fine. This is a safe environment for being wonky ...
Are Hospitalists Ready to Get Serious About Reducing Waste
05 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio49 I was quoted in two articles that appeared in "Today's Hospitalist":"Discharging Mr. Wood: Time to get serious about wa...
Some Highlights from Last Week's "Kaizen Live" Event
04 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio48 On April 22 and 23, I collaborated with Joe Swartz and a countless number of his colleagues to host 24 visitors from di...
Throwback Thursday: Dr. Deming's Last Interview
03 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio47 One of the many things I admire about W. Edwards Deming is how hard he worked into his 90s. He must have had "pride and...
The Scripps Health CEO is Right About No-Layoffs Policies
20 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Van Gorder, CEO of Scripps Health in California, wrote this article in HBR back in January: "A No-Layoffs Policy Can Work, Even in an Unpredicta...
Why is the Hawthorne Effect Nothing to Brag About or Hope For?
15 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Forgive me for being a bit of an Industrial Engineering geek here in this post. After all, my bachelor's degree is in Industrial Engineering, even tho...
Why Would These Workplace Slogans Be Offensive to Employees?
14 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. W. Edwards Deming advised against relying on slogans and posters as a way of trying to improve quality.Point 10 of his famed 14 points said: El...
Rhode Island's Governor Announces Lean Initiative,
13 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio43 You might know my friend Karl Wadensten, the president of VIBCO, a small manufacturer in Rhode Island. I've interviewed...
Throwback Thursday: 23 Tweets I Might Have Sent in 2002
09 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
have been going through some old papers recently and I found two sheets of paper with hand-written thoughts or "truisms" that I had scribbled down in ...
What's Interesting About This Toyota Executive
07 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio41' I hope you might have access to this interesting article from the Wall St. Journal: "Toyota Veteran Rises to Corporate...
An Invention to Prevent Empty Gel or Foam Sanitizer
06 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio40 Every time I am in a hospital or clinic setting, one of the first things I do is get a pump or squirt of gel or foam fr...
10 More Reasons to Come See Kaizen at Franciscan
31 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio39 Joe Swartz and I have been planning the first-ever workshop (a conference of sorts) where people can come see what a Ka...
We Can't Ignore "Lean Horror Stories" or That Cheeseburger
27 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio38 When people ask me why I do what I do, my first answers are:improving patient safetycreating better workplaces for peop...
Jim Womack on the Term "Lean" & Eric Ries on "Lean Startup"
26 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Last Monday, I had the chance to attend a Lean Startup event in Austin where Eric Ries announced the launch of a Kickstarter project for a new book. 1...
Lean Factories and Lean Hospitals Are Safer and
25 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio36 When we introduce the idea of Lean to healthcare organizations, it's very common for somebody (often a senior physician...
Throwback Thursday: Creating the New American Hospital
19 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's Throwback Thursday is a look back at a 1993 book that I purchased in 2011 on somebody's recommendation. It was probably one of those used book...
Please Help with Research Topics
17 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio34 OK, so it’s not the kind of scientific research that involves lab coats and microscopes, but I’m doing some...
ThrowbackThursday: #Lean Manufacturing Training from 2002
12 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2002, when I worked for a software startup called Factory Logic, I was able to sit in on some Lean training that was created and presented by ...
It's Patient Safety Awareness Week and I Was Surprised
11 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio32 This week is the annual Patient Safety Awareness Week, presented by the National Patient Safety Foundation, a non-profi...
10 Ways that Lean Respects & Supports Healthcare Staff
10 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
One of the two main pillars of the Toyota Way management system is "respect for people." I've blogged about that often over the past ten years, includ...
Womack, Sweatshops, Hospitals, and Surveys
09 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
As often happens, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. Too much WIP (a problem that Jim Bens...
A Call for Partners to Measure Improvement Results
06 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio29 Some of you might know that I'm on the board of a Texas-based non profit, the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation....
Why Kaizen is an Important Differentiator for Japanese Whisky
05 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This article caught my attention the other day, primarily because I like scotch, whisky (and whiskey and bourbon). The Japanese love scotch whisky and...
Kaizen: Giving Seven Days' Grace on a New Idea
04 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Here's another video in the series that Joe Swartz and I shot at Franciscan St. Francis Health back in October. See them all here or via a YouTube pla...
The One Thing Google Should Show When You Search for a Hospital
03 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's post is hosted over at LinkedIn, as part of my participation in the LinkedIn Influencers series.The post is titled: "The One Thing Google Shou...
A Story About a Hospital Putting Safety First
26 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio25 In yesterday's blog post ("Safety is always our top priority" - From lip service to daily practice?"), I challenged hos...
"Safety is always our top priority" -
25 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio24 It's really easy to make statements like "patient safety is our top priority." That same statement can be applied to ho...
"Accountability" Shouldn't Mean Blaming People
23 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"Accountability" is a word that's easy to throw around in an organization. It's often pretty meaningless (or not well understood). What does it really...
Paying Attention to Small Details
19 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, I've seen many examples where businesses don't pay attention to little details. When you see little things going wrong, it makes you wonder ...
Who Ever Asks "Let's Plus/Delta That Visit / Stay"?
17 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's a pretty common facilitation technique to do a "plus / delta" discussion at the end of a meeting, exercise, etc.In the plus column go the things ...
When Will The Federal Government&VA Learn?
16 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio19 This article caught my attention the other day: "Philly VA employees ask for golf shirts in suggestion box for improving ...
Upcoming Kaizen Workshops in Boston and Indy
16 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
I'm planning two different workshops in the coming months:Boston 3/31: "Successful Lean Teams" - Personal Kanban (with Jim Benson) and Kaizen Indiana...
Why don't we do what we know we're supposed to do? Why don't I?
11 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to point fingers at others who don't do what they know they're supposed to do. It's sometimes helpful to be reflective and introspective ins...
The "Productivity Paradox" of Healthcare IT and
06 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What is the "productivity paradox" as coined by Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT and is there also a "Kaizen paradox?" http://leanblog.org/audio17
What Does ThedaCare CEO Dean Gruner, MD Say About Safety?
05 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
I recently re-watched parts of a DVD I helped produce a few years back for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value -- Thinking Lean at ThedaCare DVD...
The Patriots, Coach Belichick, Aspects of Lean Thinking,
01 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
http://leanblog.org/audio15 I have lived in Boston two different times, but I'm hardly a New England Patriots fan. I realize they have been accused...
Audio Parody - "Lean Serial"
30 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
My wife and I were late to the wildly popular podcast "Serial," but we listened to the first six episodes while traveling over the holidays. I ran hot...
"Lean Sigma" is Still Pretty Often Wrong on Lean
29 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Here's look back at a post from 2011 that talks about some of the misunderstandings that are thrown around about Lean and Six Sigma, with some new con...
Looking back at the Toyota Tsutsumi plant tour, part 2
27 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014 (part 2 of episode 11 of this series)....
Looking back at the Toyota Tsutsumi plant tour, part 1
20 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014.
Putting Up Signs and Shooting Down Ideas
19 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's sad and unfortunate when leaders SAY they want a culture of continuous improvement, but don't walk the walk.
Parallels Between Personal Training and Lean Coaching
18 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Working with a personal fitness trainer has helped me see parallels to what I do with Lean... how my clients maybe see the world and things that I can...
The Original Intent of My GM Standup Meeting
15 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing the“Throwback Thursday” theme for the 10th anniversary of my blog, today’s post looks back at and builds upon one of my f...
Strategy Deployment as a Series of Hypotheses - Pt 1
14 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It seems to me that a strategy deployment process can be described as a series of hypotheses that are tested over time. Strategy deployment is a high-...
Fear of speaking up is a broader problem,
13 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A post from 1/13/15. Why are healthcare professionals afraid to speak up, in military medicine or other settings? http://leanblog.org/audio6
Lessons from the Football Coaching and Leadership
12 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A post from 1/12/15, looking at how the two teams in the College Football Playoff championship game are doing some things differently than the way thi...
GM Got Gamed (Or, How to Fudge Your Production Numbers)
11 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A post from 2007... I was thinking back to some first-hand experience I had when I started my career at a GM engine plant, circa 1995. It’s the ...
Throwback Thursday: Presenting Lean to Senior
08 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Looking back at two slides Mark used about 10 years when introducing Lean to healthcare executives http://leanblog.org/audio3
"Four Days With Dr. Deming"
07 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Mark describes some key points from the book "Four Days With Dr. Deming." Learn more at http://www.leanblog.org/audio2
The Little Difference That Turned "No Ideas"
05 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This post is about the small difference that led a nurse supervisor and her team to go from "no ideas" to having lots of ideas. Visit http://www.leanb...