sclog

My friend Sam Duregger (@duregger) pointed me to an article about the obsessive-ness people have developed with their smartphones.
The article opens with a story about a man who was so engaged with his smartphone he didn’t notice the bathtub water he was filling for his daughter was overflowing onto the floor.  Why is this technology […]

Today’s Alertbox on useit.com discusses how Agile software development is improving the focus on user experiences, and provides summary data showing the internal organizational satisfaction with the methodology.
Here’s the data:

Project Methodology
Integration of User Experience
Satisfaction with the Method

Waterfall
2.5
2.9

Agile
3.1
3.7 […]

robust [roh-buhst]: strongly or stoutly built.
checklist [chek-list]: a list of items.
Struggling to create a process that produces a quality end product every time?
Something as simple as a checklist may be your starting point.  It apparently has worked for hotels.  If you’ve heard about Peter Pronovost, then you’ll know the value it has brought to healthcare.
What […]

Is Iowa the only state with a concerted, identified effort to improved quality, cost, and service, even having a “Lean Day Proclomation”?  Just read a post from Jamie Flinchbaugh on Mark Graban’s blog.  Jamie will be speaking at the Lean Government Exchange in June in Des Moines, IA.  Glad to see Iowa government continuing to […]

Was reading Jim Womack’s latest newsletter yesterday from LEI (linked newsletter content is blank right now, there was a snafu sending out email newsletter also, will probably be fixed later).  In it he discusses the challenge of developing lean leaders, both in the “real world” and through the education system.
Where do the lean managers (the […]

What?!  Yeah, okay, maybe it’s a stretch.  But bear with me.  Maybe I was desperately searching for a way to include this cool video, but if nothing else, you’ll get to see a really cool video.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
In lean manufacturing, people talk about "lowering the […]

John Shook at Lean Enterprise Institute says lean is "just what the doctor ordered" for 2009 and is hoping for a better year.
Brian Buck expects creativity and innovation to arrive on the scene.
Jon Miller talks about how Tom Vilsack might bring lean to the federal level (hooray!).
Kevin Meyer suggests Toyota could use some of its […]

Hopefully making for some more useful conversation, I’m starting to find some more lean people on Twitter.  I’m starting to connect with people around the world that I otherwise would never meet.  Here they are in no particular order:

Mark Graban: http://twitter.com/leanblog.  His focus is on healthcare and you can also read his blog here: http://www.leanblog.org
Ron […]

Lean Enterprise Institute has a blog now.  I was waiting for them to start one up.  John Shook is the primary author (maybe only?).  You can find it at http://www.lean.org/shook/.
Just before Thanksgiving, Kevin Meyer shared this great post (and I’ve been passing along to others) on how American Apparel continues to succeed.  On a related […]

Remember when Dr. Baker on Little House on the Prairie went to the homes of the people who were ill?  That would never work today, would it?
Well don’t tell Jay Parkinson that.  When he finished residency, he was determined to revolutionize health care by personalizing it.  Here’s some of what he has to say:
My goal […]