Off Topic Archives | Page 5 of 10

How Do You Fight A Fire With A Garden Hose?

By Steve Kane - June 19th, 2015

By Steve Kane Many years ago, I was visiting a friend’s house in Southern California. It was a 1950’s ranch style house with a straight walkway from the street to the door. There was a tall palm tree where the walkway met the s

The Value of Uber and Airbnb

By Kevin Meyer - June 12th, 2015

By Kevin Meyer The following is not an advertisement, even if it sounds like it. I will admit I am a big fan of Uber and use the service pretty much anytime I travel. Now that they’re in my relatively small town, I might start us

GA 061 | Adventurous Thinking with Sally Dominguez

By Ron Pereira - June 4th, 2015

Press the play button above to listen to the episode. If you’re reading this via email or RSS click the image below to listen to the episode. Today’s episode is a little different, in a fantastic way. As an architect, inven

Knowing What I Know Now…

By Jon Miller - June 1st, 2015

This week lean thinker, friend of Gemba Academy and American innovator Paul Akers shared an 11-minute video of an answer he gave to the question, “What would you do if starting over with lean, but knowing everything you know now?

Stress is Good for You (But Only If You’re Told)?

By Jon Miller - May 18th, 2015

Most would agree that stress is bad for our health and well being. When we are under pressure, when we are tense or when we feel uptight, these are all signs stress. Although people with many things going on in their lives, under a l

Solution-Jumping in the 21st Century

By Jon Miller - May 11th, 2015

This is a brief review of Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty with some longer observations on the problem solving process in the book, from a lean management perspective . It is surprisingly readable for a 570 page

What Do You Demonstrate and What Do You Tolerate?

By Steve Kane - May 8th, 2015

By Steve Kane I attended the AME Regional Conference in Denver last week and had some great conversations with Lean practitioners from a wide variety of organizations. It seems the topic of discussion in Lean circles has gravitated a

Three Tips for More Effective Hansei (Reflection)

By Jon Miller - May 4th, 2015

Hansei is a Japanese word meaning “reflection” or “self-reflection”. It has entered the lean vocabulary through the literature on hoshin planning, and more generally through discussions of what actually happen

Slow… or Just Observant?

By Kevin Meyer - May 1st, 2015

By Kevin Meyer The recent earthquake in Nepal has led me to reflect a bit on the importance of observation. Just over a year ago my wife and I were in Nepal, visiting various locations in the Kathmandu valley as well as Pokhara and B

Thirsty Horses and a Call for Meta-Advice

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2015

Some of the process-related questions leaders ask during their interaction with front line workers include variations on “What is the standard?” and “What is the actual process?” and upon finding a gap “Why is there a gap?�

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