- Listening, Responding, Refining by Matt Cutts – “But you don’t need blogs or digg-like sites in this picture to respond to feedback; those are just tools. The important thing is the process. It’s a process that many groups at Google use, and that (frankly) every team at Google should consider using.” related Curious Cat post: Dell Innovation
- Deming Revisited by Skip Angel – “The entire organization should look at the processes across the organization and determine if everyone is working towards customer needs in the most efficient way possible.”
- The Power of the Heijunka by Lee Fried – “Each day the team now meets to discuss improvement opportunities. All work is visible and loaded in one hour increments with the work rule that everyone will stay until the work is done. Batches are smaller, productivity is way up, inventory is way down and quality is up in each area.”
- The Model Line Revealed by Ted Eytan – “Since much of this area’s work revolves around information technology, there is integration of IT work into the plan – no surprises when work is requested; IT is not set up to be seen as unresponsive.”
- Is Zero Defects Possible? by Jon Miller and reactions: Zero Defects is Wrong Approach by Peter Abilla – How to Achieve Zero Defects by Ron Pereira – Zero Defects, Zero Sense by Robert Thompson – Deming on Zero Defects by John Hunter
- Top 10 reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster by Alexander Kjerulf – “When you don’t like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain… When you’re happy at work and you run into a snafu – you just fix it.”
- Lean Government in Fort Wayne by Kevin Meyer – “Imagine that… a city that thinks of its citizens and businesses as customers, and focuses on maximizing the value delivered to those customers.”
- Is fast fashion sustainable? by Kathleen Fasanella – “What could be more irresponsible than excess production in advance of demonstrated demand? This is why I tell you to only produce what’s been ordered, aka pull manufacturing.”
- Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity by Peter Abilla – “Multi-tasking leads to higher WIP, longer and longer Cycle Times, which both lead to lower throughput or productivity, and that impacts morale and the performance of the firm.”
- Not such a “Lean” Plant Tour by Mark Graban – “If anything, it was a reminder that not everybody values what Lean can bring to them. I just hope that the company is able to learn about Lean before it’s too late.”
- Why you should insist your employees take vacation by Kent Blumberg – “Insufficient time off can lead to burnout, mental and physical health problems, disengaged employees, mistakes, anger, less creativity and higher turnover.”
- Layoffs, Strategy and the Bimodal Hump by Jon Miller – “The way layoffs are used to improve stock prices in the short term enriches very few people, while causing disruption to the lives of many. In any case, no process is improved.”
- Kaizen Wall of Fame by Mike Wroblewski – “Celebrate your employee’s kaizen improvements by creating your company’s own Kaizen Wall of Fame. While I visited Japan, I noticed several of the companies proudly displayed all the small improvement ideas from their employees.”
- Google Website Optimizer by John Hunter – Google’s free multivariate testing application, helps online marketers increase visitor conversion rates and overall visitor satisfaction by continually testing different combinations of site content.
