The KaiZone

Improving the business of life

What Six Lean Experts – and Me – Have to Say About Kaizen

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Friends of the KaiZone

Recently, I was asked to guest post by fellow Lean blogger and Friend of TheKaiZone, Eric Raio, on his Factory Solutions blog.  Eric posed the following question to six of the world’s foremost Lean authors and thought leaders . . . and me, too:

What is one low-hanging fruit you can solve with kaizen?

You can find my thoughts below, and for the article in its entirety, be sure to check out Eric’s site at Factorysolutions.com.

Kaizen: Beware the Low-Hanging Fruit

Almost all new kaizen programs begin with the search for the proverbial low-hanging fruit, and understandably so.  It just makes sense that we start by reaping the biggest reward for the least amount of effort, doesn’t it?  Perhaps not.  While the low-hanging fruit might seem enticing, caution must be exercised not to become dependent on the high-reward, low-effort model of improvement.  Allow me to explain. [Read more…]

 

Recommended Reading: Review of The Lean CEO by Jacob Stoller

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The best Lean books for beginners from The Lean Book Shop

Recommended Reading is brought to you by The Lean Book Shop.  For the learner, not the critic, Recommended Reading provides a concise summary of the key themes, concepts and learning points that will add the greatest value to your Lean journey.  Featured books will include new and significant texts from the world of Lean thinking, as well as other hand-selected pieces that will drive the continuous improvement . . . of you.  

This month’s recommended reading from The Lean Book Shop:

The Lean CEO by Jacob Stoller

The Value-Add of The Lean CEO

Disclosure:  I was provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. 

It’s well-established in the Lean community that most new Lean initiatives rarely meet expectations, and the natural response is to ask why?  Do so, and you’re likely to discover that one theme is cited above the rest:

[Read more…]

 

Giving Thanks by Giving Back with Lean (+ Free Book Giveaway)

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The KaiZone Community Outreach

This Thursday, November 24th marks the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.  I’d like to wish The KaiZone Community a very Happy Thanksgiving!  And a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends in the Great White North!

How will YOU give thanks?

We all have much for which we can be thankful.  For faith, family and friends.  For health and happiness.  And for the truly fortunate, for wealth and prosperity.  The Thanksgiving season provides us with an opportunity to reflect on all of the things for which we are grateful.  But how many of us take the time to express that gratitude to others?  After all, shouldn’t a holiday named Thanksgiving be about actually giving thanks?

This Thanksgiving – instead of mulling over that third helping of mashed potatoes or who is going to win the big game – find time to add real value to your holiday.  Commit to show your gratitude in the year ahead for all that you have by giving back to those who are in need.

And what better way to give back to others than through Lean? [Read more…]

 

Leanable Moment #6: From Managing the Mess to Real Home Organizition

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After nearly 2 years, Leanable Moments are back, taking you inside my personal and family life to show you how I apply Lean-inspired problem solving to take the waste out of life.  Today’s Leanable Moment takes a deep look at a topic that can be a source of stress and frustration for us all: home organization. 

A Scene from My Home

“It’s time to go,” I hear my wife gently call down the stairs.  I gasp.  In my home, no single phrase makes me cringe as much as this one.  That is, except, “What’s this empty tube of toothpaste doing in the kids’ room?”  But that’s a story for a different day. [Read more…]

 

The Best Lean Books for Beginners

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Only the Best Lean Books from the Lean Book Shop

Want to know the best Lean books for beginners?  Before you read any further, I want you to answer a very simple question:  what is Lean to you?  Go ahead and take a minute.  Jot down your thoughts if it helps.

Did you struggle to answer the question clearly and concisely?

The Struggle to Learn

The single, most important concept for you to develop as a new Lean learner is a clear mental model that answers the question, what is Lean?   Unfortunately, this is an area in which our current methods of Lean education are failing . . . badly.

If you are like most most people, your initial exposure to Lean thinking probably came in the form of a death-by-Power-Point, classroom-based “training”.  Consequently, your mental model for what Lean is probably resembles a toolbox.  To be practiced individually, you likely relate gaining proficiency in Lean to learning how to pick-and-choose the right “tools” to meet the needs of your specific situations.

I hate to break it to you, but this thinking could not be further from reality.

The Lean toolbox mental model fails in two very important ways: [Read more…]