In the past few months that I’ve been blogging about ROWE, I have been poking at how the two concepts might help to reinforce each other, with the premise that ROWE-thinking could help to enable Lean-thinking by overcoming the tools-based focus that is so prevalent in Lean implementations and, instead, returning the focus to the culture where I believe it belongs. fter stirring the pot and looking for the common ground between the two, I am now wondering if my original theory – that ROWE could enable Lean – was a bit backwards. [Read more]
Results-Only Live: ROWE & Lean discussion today
March 13, 2012 By 3 Comments
TODAY AT 1:00 EASTERN
Lean author, consultant, speaker, practitioner and all-around guru Mark Graban has been a significant part of the discussion on how ROWE and LEAN fit together…or don’t. As a Lean expert with background in large-scale manufacturing at General Motors, and the application of Lean principles in healthcare settings, I thought Mark could offer a lot of perspective on Lean and ROWE. I introduced him to the folks at CultureRX, the company created by ROWE’s founders, and they invited him to be a part of their radio show. Hear Mark today on Results-Only Radio.
Guest post on GoROWE.com, Lean & ROWE radio show, plus the weekly rewind
March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Guest Post on GoROWE.com: My on-going discussion looking for the common ground between ROWE and Lean continues today, with a guest post right at Ground Zero of the Results-Only movement. I have a post discussing where ROWE and Lean tend to differ, and where to find some reinforcing attributes. Clearly, there is a single [...]
The state of the blog (and the blogger). Or, how did I get here & what am I going to do now?!
March 7, 2012 By 2 Comments
March is the 2 year anniversary of this blog. It has had a lot of ups and downs, gone through some periods where I did very few updates and considered killing the site altogether, but I am proud to say that I’m still here. To be honest, I couldn’t image NOT writing this blog. It’s one of the most gratifying things I’ve undertaken and continues to be a terrific learning experience as well. [Read more]
Change your assumptions to change everything else
March 6, 2012 By 2 Comments
We pride ourselves on toughness, but not on eliminating the need to be tough. We praise those who struggle, but do little to eliminate the struggle. If you change that flawed assumption – that life is a relentless series of difficulties, punctuated with intermittent moments of levity – and reversed the equation – that life is an endless series of interesting and joyful events, occasionally interrupted with difficulty – how would your attitude towards everything change?
[Read more]
The weekly rewind
March 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A look back at some articles that caught my eye:
[Read more]
Management Improvement Blog Carnival #159
March 1, 2012 By 1 Comment
March 2012 marks the 2-year anniversary of My Flexible Pencil. Although I’m certain he was unaware of that, I am still honored that John Hunter of the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog is helping me to celebrate this milestone, by asking me to host the Management Improvement Blog Carnival #159.
The Carnival, begun by in 2006, is published 3 times a month and serves to provide a selection of links to posts on a number of blogs. The carnival covers management improvement: Deming, lean manufacturing, six sigma, innovation, customer focus, leadership, systems thinking, continuous improvement, respect for people… [Read more]
LinkedIn Q&A: Few answers for Gemba in the Virtual Workplace.
February 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Last week’s question on LinkedIn followed up on a post I wrote here a few weeks back, asking for insight on how to go to Gemba when Gemba is anywhere:
It is clear that the popularity of virtual work locations and concepts such as ROWE are increasing. Going to Gemba is critical for Operational Excellence, however. How would you go to Gemba if the Gemba is anywhere and everywhere? [Read more]
Mark Hamel dives deeper into ROWE and Shingo; plus thoughts on the person vs. the organization
February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In the second half of the discussion or ROWE in the Shingo context taking place on Tim McMahon’s A Lean Journey blog, Mark Hamel, author of The Kaisen Event Fieldbook and a Shingo examiner, points out some of his concerns with ROWE.
Mark pointedly demonstrates where ROWE has strengths, but might not fully align with the Shingo model, as well as raising questions on a few of the underlying assumptions of ROWE.
[Read more]
Guest post on A Lean Journey, and the weekly rewind
February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Today, I have a guest post appearing on Tim McMahon’s A Lean Journey Site. The Topic: ROWE in the context of the Shingo model. When Tim asked if I’d like to do a guest post on his site, I jumped at the chance. I also reached out to Mark Hamel, a blogger, an award-winning author for his book: The Kaizen Even Fieldbook, and a Shingo Prize examiner, for input. Mark wrote a complete post of his own which will appear on Tim’s site tomorrow. Mark dives even deeper into how ROWE aligns with the Shingo, and how it does not. [Read more]
Recent Comments