The KaiZone

Improving the business of life

The First KaiZone Lean Song Parody Contest

by 10 Comments

The KaiZone Community OutreachI’ve got a confession to make.  When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of . . .  “Weird Al” Yankovic.  And I do mean a HUGE fan.  I owned just about every CD he ever produced . . . even a few on cassette.  Yes, I said it.  “Weird Al”.  On Cassette.  It literally does not get any nerdier than that.

I’ve got another confession to make.  As an adult, I’m still a huge fan (even if his latest video does describe my writing to a tee).  There are very few things I appreciate in the world of comedy than a good song parody.  And, believe it or not, the lean world has seen it’s share of witty song parodies through the years.  First, Mark Graban brought us Gemba Claus.  Then, Bruce Hamilton upped the ante with Addicted to Lean.  Now it’s your turn!

By the time you read this, TheKaiZone will be on a two-week hiatus, as I enjoy some much-needed down time with my family on a quiet little island in the middle of nowhere.  What a better way to check out then by having a little fun?  So without further adieu, I am extremely excited to announce the kickoff of the first ever KaiZone Song Parody Contest!

Contest Rules

Simply create a parody of a popular song with a lean-related theme.  Enter your parody in the contest in one of three ways: 1.) by creating a music video, 2.) by making an audio recording, or 3.) by writing out the lyrics. Email your entry to  joel@thekaizone.com.  Entries will be accepted between now and Tuesday, September 30th, 2014.  All submissions will be posted on TheKaiZone the week of October 5th, 2014, and (assuming I can figure out the technological details) voting will be open to the entire KaiZone Community.  The winner will receive eternal fame and notoriety, in addition to their choice of any single book from The Lean Book Shop.

If you have any questions, (or if anyone that you know of would be willing to animate a music video for me in exchange for some free advertising), please use the Contact The KaiZone link or email me directly at joel@thekaizone.com.

Please spread the word to anyone else who may be interested in having a little lean fun!

One Last Thing . . . A Very Sincere Thank You

Next week, TheKaiZone will turn 6 months old.  To be brutally honest, I never thought that the site would make it this long.  Before I started this blog, I dreamed for years about creating a place where I could help others on their journeys and where I could contribute to the spread of real lean thinking.  But, because I doubted myself, and especially my lack of Toyota credentials, I never took the initiative to do so for fear of rejection.  One ordinary evening at home, I decided that I needed to set a better example for my three children and, as I said in my very first post, I took the leap.

Now, almost six months later, the blog following is growing slowly but surely, and I consider it all to be my proudest achievement (outside of my family, of course).  I cannot express how much happiness and humility running this site has added to my life.  And I have you all to thank for it.  Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting and thank you, most of all, for supporting my personal lean journey.  You drive me to continually improve the site and to deliver more educational and engaging content, and I hope that shows over the next six months, and well beyond.

Thank you, KaiZone Community!  I appreciate you all more than you know.

And now, as Jack Sparrow once said, “bring me that horizon . . . “

 

Lean(?) Soda Machine

by 2 Comments

The KaiZone Community OutreachLean thinking is a journey of learning.  I believe that we learn best when we learn from each other.  The KaiZone Community Outreach is a monthly series designed to promote interesting, thoughtful and entertaining discussion on a wide variety of Lean-related topics.  By contributing to the discussion, you help us all to move forward on our personal Lean journeys, one comment at a time.  That’s The KaiZone Way.

This month’s Community Outreach topic comes to us from one of the most dynamic and passionate Lean thinkers you’ll find, Paul Akers via his blog at 2SecondLean.com.   Do check out Paul’s site, which contains a ton of great videos focused on what really matters in a Lean organization . . . developing the problem solving skills of the people that do and manage the work.  If you can spare the time, I highly recommend the video “Kaizen – FastCap Style” to demonstrate how small, rapid improvements can transform a process.

Recently, one of the videos posted on Paul’s blog set off quite a debate between a few of my colleagues and me.  The video was contributed by Phillip Cohen from Cohen Architectural Woodworking to provide an example of how their organizations has created a culture of problem solving.  Their motto is, “If you see something that bugs you, fix it!” and in the video below the problem that they are trying to fix is the factory soda machine.

[Read more…]