Tag Archives: Lean thinking

Building Adoption of Management Improvement Ideas in Your Organization

Continuation of How to Get a New Management Strategy, Tool or Concept Adopted Target something that actually provides a good story. It often helps if there have been failures in attempts to solve a problem in the past. That makes … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Quality tools, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

No True Lean Thinking or Agile Software Development

“There is no true value of any characteristic, state, or condition that is defined in terms of measurement or observation.” – Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The value depends on your operational definition. Once you operationalize management ideas in a real … Continue reading

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Airport Security with Lean Management Principles

The ‘Israelification’ of airports: High security, little bother We [Israel] said, ‘We’re not going to do this. You’re going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport.” … “The whole time, … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Deming, Lean thinking, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Good Process Improvement Practices

Good process improvement practices include: standardized improvement process (pdsa, or whatever) Going to the gemba – improvement is done where the work is done. You must go to the where the action is. Sitting in meeting rooms, or offices, reading … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, quote, Respect, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Management Improvement Internal Experts

Having a group of internal experts in Deming, lean thinking, six sigma, etc. can be an good way to help the organization transform but they must 1) practice respect for people and 2) focus on building organizational capacity. Having, for … Continue reading

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The role of leadership in software development

The webcast of Mary Poppendieck’s talk, The role of leadership in software development, at Google. As usual Mary does a very nice job of providing some good historical background while exploring wise management practices (tied to software development but plenty … Continue reading

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Management Improvement Carnival #101

The management blog carnival is published 3 times a month with select recent management blog posts. Also visit the Curious Cat Management Library for online management improvement articles. Why C level executives don’t engage in lean by Steven Spear – … Continue reading

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Management Improvement Carnival #100

I started the management improvement blog carnival in 2006. At the time the number of blogs posting useful management ideas had already grown to a large number. It took years after I started my Curious Cat Management Improvement site, in … Continue reading

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The Toyota Way – Two Pillars

Toyota is receiving plenty of criticism now, much of it for good reason. There is also a large amount of psychology involved. From what I have seen, the insurance companies still see better claims history (fewer and lower cost claims) … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Popular, Process improvement, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Toyota’s Journey to Lean Software Development

Toyota’s journey from Waterfall to Lean software development by Henrik Kniberg Toyota builds cars (duh). In the past that didn’t involve much software, and the little software that was needed was mostly developed by suppliers and embedded in isolated components. … Continue reading

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