One of the real joys of my role as a lean coach is introducing fresh minds to lean thinking through introductory training.  I start every class with a simple question:  Why are you here?”

The response?  Predictable. Irregardless of how experienced the students are or what industry they are from, the top few reasons are always the same:

 Our Obsession with Tools

Lean tools.  Without fail, the number one reason that people cite for enrolling in lean training is to learn “lean tools”.    (And yes, I really did have one individual who signed up for lean training seeking dietary advice.  But that is a topic for another day . . . .)

It doesn’t matter how many times that I hear it.  If you could look inside my head at the very first utterance of the phrase “lean tools” this is what you would see: [Read more…]