A “lean” company puts processes in place that cause them to improve. While it can be a project, it also is a way of operating. It’s a method for improvement. I look at our company as hundreds of pieces that depend on each other for success. Every day each of us touches something that changes […]

Sometimes it takes severe pain and discomfort before we initiate necessary change. In most cases, before there was severe pain, there were signs of a problem developing. For a variety of reasons it doesn’t get addressed: You don’t want to be an alarmist. You aren’t certain you are right. You are afraid your news won’t […]

One of the most effective lean techniques we can use is asking “why?” five times. The wisdom in the technique is that it causes a pause for consideration. It also stops us from leaping to the first conclusion when studying a problem or an opportunity. I’ve been studying a bit about how people solve problems. […]

I was listening to a guy talking about making cities better. He was describing how cities let big things sometimes get in the way of getting anything done. This was the example. Kids like playing in spraying water, especially when it’s hot. We’ve seen the spraying water systems. Amusement parks have them. Expensive parks have […]