This week’s guest is Dr. William Harvey. William and Ron discussed William’s research on Toyota Kata, including his process and what he learned from other lean thinkers. An MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download here.

In this episode you’ll learn: 

  • How William first learned about lean (3:14)
  • His start in the Marine Corps (4:45)
  • A quote from Henry David Thoreau (5:19)
  • How William learned to manage the process (6:06)
  • William’s research (8:27)
  • Karyn Ross’s role (9:07)
  • His process (11:21)
  • A story about Toyota Kata (12:27)
  • Ron’s story about sports and deliberate practice (15:47)
  • What William learned from Jess Orr (22:31)
  • What surprised William during his research (26:43)
  • The Implementation stage (29:51)
  • The Execution stage (31:31)
  • The Sustainment stage (32:41)
  • William’s current and target conditions (40:41)
  • His definition of success (41:31)

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What Do You Think?

Do you have a story to share about kata? What has your experience with kata been like thus far?


  1. Martin

    May 10, 2019 - 5:20 am
    Reply

    Amazing episode! Not that others a less impressive. Yet it blew my mind to find out that this kind of research has started.

    Many thanks Ron and William.

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