Last time out, I discussed Lean’s concept of Waiting as one of the 8 wastes and related it to task delays in the project management world. This time, I’d like to discuss the wastes of Motion and Inventory as they pertain to projects. Motion To recap, Lean’s 8 wastes are: Waiting Motion Inventory Transportation Defects [...]
More Lean(er) project management, part 1
March 7, 2011 By 3 Comments
PDCA doesn’t stand for “Perform Doubtless, Confident Acts”
February 16, 2011 By 4 Comments
Fact of the matter is, the only way of achieving excellence is to allow for failure. That’s done by pushing the limits, even if just a little bit, and embracing humility. [Read more]
Stop sucking up and start helping out
February 8, 2011 By 1 Comment
Usually, their inability to contribute anything original is annoying, and does little to mask their lack of talent. However, these folks tend to do very well for themselves. There are more than enough people with even less ability who who will reward anyone who makes them look good – even if all those folks do is make others look good. [Read more]
Northeast Shingo Conference: What I Heard
October 20, 2010 By 4 Comments
While it will take weeks to fully chew on all that was presented and develop some personal reflections on what I was exposed to at the conference, there were some immediate, powerful take-aways that will leave lasting impressions. I was able to see less than half the speakers due to the many simultaneous break-out sessions that went on, however, here is what I took away : [Read more]
Muda is Bullsh*t!
October 5, 2010 By 8 Comments
A lot of discussions on Lean thinking have pointed to the term “waste” as being misleading or, at the very least, difficult for most audiences to understand. After all, no one likes to think of the work they do as Waste. So, many have endeavored to come up with other terms, or to better define just what Muda is. I believe I may have found a useful alternative that is simple, intuitive, and part of our every day language. [Read more]
The value of lying?
September 20, 2010 By 4 Comments
Those who start out believing lies are OK will find they spend more time creating new ways of lying or, hopefully, they begin un-learning their truth-shading habits. Instead, they have to work on something that children know – trust builds cooperation. In organizations with more than one person, and even hundreds or thousands, lies and power based on positional authority only goes so far. If you want to overcome the competition not just today, but forever, you have to have both employees and customers working with you. If you build the level of trust necessary for them to want to work with you, and not just have to work with you, you will find yourself very far ahead. [Read more]
Why your improvement tools don’t work
September 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I’ve been pouring through Jeffrey Liker‘s 2004 book, The Toyota Way recently, and I discovered yet another similarity between what Lean thinkers and other Organizational Effectiveness proponents espouse: When trying to create a new organizational cutlure, most orgainzations look to others that have succeeded, and are then swept away by the need to implement a similar set [...]
Efficiency Frees the Robots
August 30, 2010 By 4 Comments
I recently had a conversation with someone who asked me to explain the concept of the Lean Enterprise. I quickly pitched my best elevator speech on the virtues of waste and value, to which he sarcastically responded, “Yeah. That works great…..if you want to turn everyone into robots.” It was then that I realized 2 [...]
The Stranded Manager: A lesson in working with people
August 20, 2010 By 4 Comments
Once upon a time. I worked with a manager who had 2 employees: Employee A he absolutely could not work with, since employee A was a complainer. Employee A saw multiple problems in the status quo, and in the decisions of his management to overcome the status quo, and would seek out alternative means of [...]
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