Why TPS is not "Lean for The Masses" ....hint, the answer is in the name! Administrator *Confession of a Lean Heretic* The Machine That Changed the World book cover At the risk of being branded a heretic, I'd like to propose that, in their seminal books on Lean (The Machine that Changed ... Dec 26, 2020
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Administrator That quote from Albert Einstein has a particular resonance today, given the recent troubles of one of our (Irish) national political parties, Fine Gael and it's handling of the "Alan Shatter affair". ... Dec 26, 2020
Confusing Common Practices with Best Practices Administrator I work quite a bit with helping senior management teams improve the performance of their organisations and one of the most common issues I come across is the confusion between "common practices" and "... Dec 26, 2020
When Fixing What's Broken Doesn't Work Administrator *Don't Improve Your Legacy Business System, Shed It!* For over 30 years now I have been engaged by organisations in the service and knowledge-work sectors to help them improve their performance. In al... Dec 26, 2020
Joined-Up Thinking and the "Germ Theory of Management" Administrator If I hear another commentator, while bemoaning the ills of our country (any country but in my case Ireland), say that "what we need is some joined-up thinking" and say it as if it's some "as-yet-to-be... Dec 26, 2020
Today's Problems Come From Yesterdays Solutions. Administrator The above quote from Peter Senge's great book "The Fifth Discipline" is one of those profound pieces of wisdom that, even when said out loud,, doesn't always capture the depth of the insight. Edward D... Dec 26, 2020
What is Lean Enterprise Excellence & Operational Excellence Administrator Great stories have a * p * *... Dec 26, 2020
Why "Cause" beats "Urgency" every time. Administrator I admire John P Kotter, I have been an avid reader of his books and an evangelist for his message about leading change. In his book "Urgency" Kotter says he believes that "the single biggest error peo... Dec 26, 2020
Transforming Lean: Is Leans Roots in Japanese Religion and Culture holding it back? Administrator Christian Wittrock from Aarhus University in Denmark wrote an interesting paper* in 2015 tracing Leans roots in Japanese religion and culture. The abstract from his paper states: "James Womack, Daniel... Dec 26, 2020
Service Sectors Biggest Problem Solved: How Long is a Piece of String? Administrator Anybody familiar with fractals will know that the answer to the question is "infinite". Fortunately most teams in service and knowledge work organisations don't need to calculate the length of your co... Dec 26, 2020
Easiest Way To Improve Performance? Step 1: Stop Making Things Worse! Administrator I work with service and knowledge work organisations and it's often quite surprising to them how much they can improve performance by just stopping making things worse. Of course, its not that people ... Dec 26, 2020
"Whistling Past The Graveyard" of Bad Performance Measures in Organisations. Administrator In Ireland, where I come from, we have a tradition of folklore, mystery, tall tales, "sayings" and proverbs that cover every possible life situation, one of which is "whistling past the graveyard". Ac... Dec 26, 2020