Gemba Academy

Finding Process Improvement Opportunities

By John Knotts - March 17th, 2023

Large organizations that employ process improvement departments and teams often have a list of process improvement projects (typically called the “1 to n list”). These potential projects are prioritized, and practitioners simply ha

The Pearls and Turds of Continuous Improvement

By Kevin Meyer - March 3rd, 2023

My wife and I watched the documentary Stutz for the third or fourth time last weekend. It’s a unique story that always provides something new each time we watch it. The movie features actor Jonah Hill interviewing his therapist P

The Six Types of Working Genius: What Makes for a Great Team & Marriage!

By Ron Pereira - February 27th, 2023

Patrick Lencioni, the author of the best-selling book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” has introduced a new concept called the Six Types of Working Genius in the book by the same title. I recently learned about these diff

Conducting Engaging Virtual Meetings

By John Knotts - February 17th, 2023

In process improvement, it is always best to involve a team. This helps get different points of view and perspectives on a problem. Also, having a team means that you have more people to help you do the work — especially when it

Building Habits to Support Lean Initiatives: A Guide for Business Leaders

By Ron Pereira - January 31st, 2023

In the world of lean and six sigma, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on the importance of habits and processes. After all, a company’s success depends on the collective actions and habits of its employees. Here are some tip

Measuring The Pig In The Python

By John Knotts - January 20th, 2023

Data collection and analysis are critical in process improvement. Data shows progress in process improvement over time and serves as a barometer of process effectiveness and efficiency. Measuring a straightforward process that takes se

Quick Way To Time A Process

By John Knotts - December 16th, 2022

Understanding and measuring process time is one of the most important aspects of process improvement. Much of the waste (muda) in a process causes a process to take longer than it should. When a process takes longer, customers are wait

RIP Steve Player, Budget Destroyer

By Kevin Meyer - November 22nd, 2022

We all know a couple people who have changed the direction of our lives and careers, even with very brief interactions. Something they said created an a-ha moment that changed our perspective or provided the catalyst that helped draw

Going To The Electronic Gemba

By John Knotts - November 18th, 2022

Going to Gemba — where the work is done — is a pretty simple concept. Go where the work is being performed and watch what is happening. What happens when the process is all online? Where everything that is happening, is o

The Good Karma of Lean

By Kevin Meyer - October 24th, 2022

Our Gemba Academy team was at The Association for Manufacturing Excellence annual conference in Dallas last week, the largest lean conference in the world. By all accounts it was a great success, with over a thousand people excited a

Making Big Problems Into Little Problems

By John Knotts - October 21st, 2022

Over the last couple of months, I have talked about how the Process Improvement Project is different than just a regular Project. This is because, when you start a process improvement project, you do not know what is really happening

Lean, Chess, and Techno-Solutionism

By Kevin Meyer - September 30th, 2022

Those of us somewhat interested in chess, or perhaps curious thanks to blockbuster shows like The Queen’s Gambit, have been following the chaos in the world of grandmaster-level chess, particularly the feud between world champion

A Simple Plan for Starting Your Lean Journey

By Steve Kane - September 23rd, 2022

There are many ways to lead a continuous improvement journey in an organization. A frequent question we get at Gemba Academy is, “Where do I start?” One strategy is to simply start eliminating pain-points in processes. R

How The Project Charter Evolves

By John Knotts - September 16th, 2022

A Project Charter is a contract that clearly explains what the process improvement project is all about, while also clearly stating when the team intends to accomplish the objectives of the project. The Project Charter should be carefu

Root Cause to Solution Identification Simplified

By John Knotts - August 19th, 2022

The one thing that differentiates process improvement projects from regular projects and project management is the methodical way a process improvement practitioner arrives at the root cause and then devises solutions or countermeasure

The Four Types of Measures and Why Each is Important

By John Knotts - July 15th, 2022

Last month, we talked about the Three Most Important Metrics in a Continuous Improvement Culture. They were Workload Volume, Process Cycle Time, and Process Defects. Data is key to process management and improvement and The Continuou

Three Most Important Metrics in a Continuous Improvement Culture

By John Knotts - June 17th, 2022

How many things do you measure in order to tell you how you are doing in business? I have seen organizations that measure everything and anything. Many times, what is being measured is not something the business can do anything abo

Speed Will Come

By Steve Kane - May 27th, 2022

The US Navy SEALs are credited by many with coining the expression “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” The idea here comes from training people to perform technical tasks correctly in an environment where there is no room

Why Traditional Measurement Approaches Do Not Change A Culture

By John Knotts - May 20th, 2022

If you are a student of business, then you have probably heard all the quotes around measuring what you do. The bottom line is if you are not measuring what you are doing, you cannot improve it. Trust me…many organizations that I

The Hierarchy of Action

By Steve Kane - April 22nd, 2022

Ryan McCall is a continuous improvement engineer at FECON. He and I have been collaborating on continuous improvement and leadership over the past couple of years. We’ve explored the works of Mike Rother, Simon Sinek, Jocko Willi

Engaging Partners and Suppliers on Your CI Journey

By John Knotts - April 15th, 2022

In my first blog on the subject of Continuous Improvement, I highlighted the proverb, “many hands, make light work.” The concept of a culture of continuous improvement is to orient everyone in the organization toward one common g

Have Faith & Trust the Process

By Ron Pereira - April 1st, 2022

My family and I are going through a difficult time right now with a personal situation. Thankfully everyone is healthy…but we have been dealt a blow. After I shared the situation with a close friend, who knows me very well, they

Why Lean Programs Don’t Work

By Jon Miller - March 22nd, 2022

While reading a Knowledge@Wharton article on the subject of why employee wellness programs don’t work, I found myself thinking about why lean programs don’t always seem to work. Management professor Iwan Barnakay found, “Well

Developing Leadership Through Tours

By John Knotts - March 18th, 2022

In my last article, we had a great discussion, in our continuing series, regarding Continuous Improvement Development for Leadership and Professionals. Leadership development is extremely important if you are trying to change or create

Top 8 Reasons Teams Abandon Their Visuals

By Jon Miller - March 7th, 2022

Reader Dan made a great suggestion in a comment to a recent article on using artifacts to make thinking visible, “Next you might delve into why visuals are sometimes abandoned by teams.” Abandoned visual controls, outd

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