How an “Action Plan” Succeeds
"Critical to Toyota's success is single-point accountability. One person's name goes up next to each item in an action plan. But in order to succeed, the individual responsible must work…
The Secret
"The lesson — and secret — of the Toyota Way is just as clear as this: it creates bonds among individuals and partners such that they are 'moving to fit…
The Key to Success
"The key to success is to have a production system that highlights problems and a human system that produces people who are able and willing to identify and solve them.…
What a “Good Team” Does
"Your team is far more important to achieving excellence than any new technology and likely more important than brilliant product ideas. We agree with Ed Catmull, computer scientist and president…
The Power of Teams and the Tower of Babel
In my blog post last week Using the Minds of the Many, I described the power available when people THINK as a team. Team thinking is called "collaboration" and requires…
The “AllAboutLean” blog
If you're serious about Lean, consider signing up for the weekly blog by Christoph Roser by going here (The subscription form is at the top of the right sidebar). I…
Use the Minds of the Many
The foundation of Lean is thinking people. Human beings have a set of mental skills that enable them to think thoughts, develop plans, trouble-shoot problems, and experiment with ideas to…
What Kind of BRAIN do I Need?
My last few posts have focused on the role of "thinking" in Lean. I've said that the core of it is "THINKING People." In the Lean Business Culture, we don't…
What is “Scientific Thinking?”
"For the purposes of this book we'll define scientific thinking as a process of deliberately engaging reality with the intent of learning. At the core of scientific thinking is continuous…
The Root Idea of All Lean Thinking
"The root idea of all Lean thinking is kaizen: continuous, small step-by-step improvements done by the people who do the work themselves." Toyota experts call this "Kaizen-mind." It means that…