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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 […]

Seems to me that “Depression 2.0” never happened, and probably isn’t likely to.
On the Forbes DigitalRules blog, Twenty Reasons for Optimism.
On the Value Acceleration blog, Mitch has noticed busy airports and cities.
And what’s fueling the turn around?  Innovative people like Jeremy Parker, who’s story is told on Mark Cuban’s blog.
I like Tom Peters’ synopsis:
Oracle and […]

Dan Roam of "The Back of the Napkin Blog" discusses a new book on his blog called Problem Solving 101 by Ken Watanabe.  The book was originally written in Japanese, but after great success in Japan there is now an English version selling in the US.  Here’s a brief snippet from the book’s web site:
Problem […]

This post was inspired by my wife and "On being nimble versus visionary" over at the Learning About Lean blog.
Now is certainly a time in the business environment to be flexible.  To be adaptable.  To grab opportunity when others sit back and watch.  And the airport shuttle guy in the airport in Mexico was […]

About to go on a rant…a rant about marketing speak.  I guess this isn’t the first time I’ve done this.  I guess what is probably frustrating for me is that seemingly a lot of people swoon and end up in a trance at the horse and pony show a lot of companies produce.  "Yes, oh […]

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 […]

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 […]