Gemba Academy

Lean Hackathons – Are You Using Them?

By Ron Pereira - July 27th, 2009

Are you on Facebook? I am but that’s not the point of this article. No, the point of this article is that I just watched a short video about how the Facebook development team uses what they refer to as “Hackathons” to quickly bri

Kaizen Song: Hold On ‘Til You See (the Downstream Pull)

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2009

Late last night after dropping a couple of friends off at the airport, “Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special came on the radio. It’s simple but lovely song that holds on loosely to a timeless truth. Those wild-eyed southern

It’s Always Day 1

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2009

I just got done watching this video of Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, where he announced that Amazon has snatched up Zappos. I first saw this over on John Hunter’s blog. And while this is big news for sure… the thing that I loved a

Agile Kanban Journal Day 30: Show the Flow!

By Jon Miller - July 22nd, 2009

When agile kanban meets kaizen, only good things can happen. Yesterday was day 30 of my agile kanban board usage. Having been on the road much of the last month I haven’t had a lot of time to think about appropriate metrics, targ

Three Hoshin Habits for Effective Execution

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2009

One of the people I most respect as a business leader often repeats the phrase “go slow to go fast”. There is a nearly identical Toyota way principle which states that slow and deliberate planning will speed up execution of

Dream Big… Start Small

By Ron Pereira - July 19th, 2009

My youngest daughter, who turns 1 this coming weekend, recently took her first steps and is a much happier little girl as a result. My wife and I think she just wanted to go, go, go as she watched her older brother and sisters run arou

Value Added Percentage Question

By Jon Miller - July 16th, 2009

Yesterday I came across an example of a value stream whose numbers left me puzzled. The value-added percentage was greater than 100. This seemed impossible at first but I now understand how it can happen. The process, the numbers, and

The 1950s Movie Guide to Lean Service

By Jon Miller - July 15th, 2009

Ah, those irony-free halcyon days of naming films for what they were… The challenges facing the service business attempting to practice lean principles bear an uncanny similarity to those confronting the hero of a bad 1950s scien

5 Practical Ways to Climb out of Any Slump

By Ron Pereira - July 14th, 2009

Are you, or have you ever been, in a slump? Do you ever find yourself feeling unmotivated, uninspired, and just flat out crappy? Or maybe you feel a little overwhelmed as there is so much to do and you’re not sure where to start? Sou

When Automation is Stupid

By Jon Miller - July 11th, 2009

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed through this section of Narita airport. Only yesterday did it strike me how stupid this moving walkway was. It is all of 18 paces long. Hardly worth breaking your stride to step onto,

How do You Say “‘No problem,’ is a Problem” in Romanian?

By Jon Miller - July 9th, 2009

A friend of mine recently took a position in an electronics factory in Romania. He sent me an e-mail and the photo above. One day he came in to work to find this sign on his computer. It says “We don’t have a problem, only

The Power of U

By Jon Miller - July 8th, 2009

My Japanese teachers often spoke about making processes flow “like a single brushstroke”. It was and still is a phrase difficult to translate. Often I would mimic picking up a calligraphy brush and sweeping it in a u-shape

One Point Lesson: Kamishibai

By Jon Miller - July 6th, 2009

Prof. Jeffrey Liker uploaded a slideshow from 2005 titled The Toyota Way: A Sociotechnical Learning Organization in Action. The image above is from this presentation in which Liker touches briefly on the kamishibai board and its use. W

Inexpensive (But Powerful) Visual Controls

By Ron Pereira - July 5th, 2009

I love simple visual controls. And I love them even more when they don’t cost a lot of money! Thus the smile that came across my face when watching the “Lean Leadership” interview we recently did with a cell leader from a Washing

Boeing Gets a Grip

By Jon Miller - July 2nd, 2009

…on its supply chain, according to a Wall Street Journal article from July 2nd, 2009. Boeing is in talks to buy Vought and possibly other suppliers in an attempt to gain control over the supply of parts. It’s about time lea

Saluting NUMMI

By Jon Miller - June 30th, 2009

The New United Motor Manufacturing factory in Fremont, California was originally a General Motors plant opened in 1962. For the past 25 years it has been a successful joint venture between GM and Toyota. Bloomberg reports their uncerta

Your Valuable “Lean Feedback” Is Requested

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2009

I am helping some fellow lean thinkers out with a short lean related survey. This survey appeals to me for a few reasons. First, it’s all about lean and second this survey is SHORT! You’ll be done in a few minutes. Th

Agile Kanban Journal Day 8: Do We Need a “Done” Column?

By Jon Miller - June 29th, 2009

I continue to benefit from the use of my Agile kanban board, if nothing else to keep my supposedly most important tasks in front of me (or behind me as it were, per layout of the office). I have faith and confidence that using this met

How clean is clean enough?

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2009

Here’s a question for you. When practicing the 3rd step of 5S – often referred to as shine or sweep – how clean is clean enough? Should the area you’re working in shine as bright as the Texas sun? Should the floor be clean enou

Seeking: Checklist for a Sense of Urgency

By Jon Miller - June 25th, 2009

“The most important factors for success are patience, a focus on long term rather than short-term results, reinvestment in people, product, and plant, and an unforgiving commitment to quality.” This is a quote from R

The Funny Thing About Waste

By Jon Miller - June 23rd, 2009

The funny thing about waste is that it’s all relative to your sense of scarcity. At least that’s how a Wired magazine article by Chris Anderson titled Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It’s Time to Manage for Abundance, Not

Agile Kanban Journal: Kaizens on Day 1

By Jon Miller - June 22nd, 2009

Kaizen emphasizes making small changes every day and retaining the ones that bring positive outcomes. With the help of friends, my agile kanban board evolved on its first day of use. After organizing my projects and tasks on an erasabl

Trying Out My Agile Kanban Board

By Jon Miller - June 19th, 2009

One of the biggest challenges of doing kaizen in office work is to make the work itself visible so that waste can be clearly identified. Much of the time spent in office work is finding files or information, switching between tasks, fi

45 Inches and Sizers

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2009

I recently got an email from American Airlines titled, “Important Reminders About Carry-On Baggage.” Normally I delete these kinds of emails but for some reason I decided to give this one a quick read. Click the image thumbnail to

The Amazing Adventures of Kanban

By Jon Miller - June 17th, 2009

Kanban was born nearly 60 years ago. It’s creator, Taiichi Ohno, intended kanban to combat the evil overlord Overproduction, Mother of All Wastes and her Minions of WIP. The battle is far from won. During those six decades kanban

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