March madness is in full swing, and we are not going to lie. We have basketball on the brain. The level of talent and dedication that players display even when they do not win the game is truly inspiring. As spectators, we see the game. What we do not see are the countless hours of practice, the sacrifice, the workouts, the strategy sessions, and all of the other hard work that goes into competing at this level. We are impressed. A Kaizen event is a bit like a basketball game. In order to win in...
Mar 27, 2017•6 min
It is important in any discussion of standard work to talk about what it is not, as a poor interpretation could mean results that inhibit improvement rather than supporting it. Leaders have an obligation to promote standard work in the correct way, so that staff will both respect the need for it and invest themselves in improving it.
Mar 23, 2017•6 min
Karen and David are the founders of Gimbal Canada Inc, a Lean practice management advisory firm that specializes in the legal industry. For the last three years or so, Gimbal has been working with law firms across North America on improving the way lawyers deliver legal services. They teach, write, and speak about Lean and the benefits of legal process improvement for law firms and in-house legal departments, and they work directly with their clients on improvement projects that focus on legal p...
Mar 21, 2017•9 min
Lean organizations target 8 types of waste in an effort to create the perfect flow of value to the customer. Ideally, no resources are used unnecessarily and every task contributes something for which customers are willing to pay. Of course, achieving this is much more challenging than just saying it. That is why a set of Lean tools and techniques have been developed to aid Leaders who embark on this journey. We would argue that software designed to support this type of improvement is crucial to...
Mar 20, 2017•6 min
In the United States, multiple estimates say over 100,000 people die each year in hospitals as a result of medical errors. There are an estimated 1.7 million care-associated infections each year and adverse medication events cause over 750,000 injuries and deaths per year. Beyond the human cost, if you look at the financial cost of these mistakes, we are looking at almost $20 billion annually.
Mar 17, 2017•3 min
Lean organizations target 8 types of waste in an effort to create the perfect flow of value to the customer. Ideally, no resources are used unnecessarily and every task contributes something for which customers are willing to pay. Of course, achieving this is much more challenging than just saying it. That is why a set of Lean tools and techniques have been developed to aid Leaders who embark on this journey. We would argue that software designed to support this type of improvement is crucial to...
Mar 16, 2017•6 min
When we write the improvement cycle as linear, we start at P, which places the emphasis on the plan (noun) you intend to implement. But if P is understood to mean planning (verb), the emphasis is on first constructing a plan. Thinking of the P in this way, it becomes clear that you must first understand the current circumstances and make an honest appraisal of what can be done, given the way your organization works. In other words, when the cycle starts at Study, your Planning is much more likel...
Mar 16, 2017•8 min
Gemba walks give leaders the opportunity to observe the processes that add value in their natural habitat. After all, talking about what happens on a factory floor or an emergency room in a board room is very different than observing work at the source. But like any other continuous improvement technique, the devil is in the details when it comes to Gemba walks. The best of intentions can be undermined by mistakes in execution. Hereâs how a good Gemba Walk can go wrong.
Mar 15, 2017•5 min
Continuous Improvement in Education has been rapidly growing over the past couple years. Jake Sussman has recently talked about continuous improvement in higher education at KaiNexus, but one group that deserves mention is the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered by Congress in 1906, the Carnegie Foundation is an independent policy and research center that focuses on every level of education. The Carnegie Foundation is committed to...
Mar 14, 2017•5 min
Before they started using KaiNexus, JC Cannistraro used their own internal continuous improvement program, in which they tracked improvements with Google Sheets, but at some point this program went dead, flatlining in the number of improvements adopted over time. To combat this, they started using 5S training to make new improvements. Cannistraro stressed that the important thing 5S gave their teams a shared understanding of what they tried to improve, which in turn allowed them to see more oppo...
Mar 13, 2017•7 min
The education system in America faces an enormously complex set of challenges. Educators find themselves faced with community and government pressure to improve student performance, but often without corresponding funding or influence over policies and expectations. In short, our school administrations and teachers are being asked to do more with less. That is why it is not surprising to find that education professionals are turning to a business management approach that has proven very effectiv...
Mar 09, 2017•6 min
Mark Graban interviews Karyn Ross, coauthor, with Jeff Liker, of the Shingo Award-winning "The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations." Karyn is doing a webinar on March 28 titled "How to Coach for Creativity & Service Excellence." To register, visit www.kainexus.com/webinars.
Mar 08, 2017•12 min
I was not up-to-speed on continuous improvement, or Lean, or any of those concepts. So I was learning with the organization, and basically they said, we are doing Lean, and here are the tools, go do it. Tools work, people use them, we do not really have a lot of overall vision or direction.
Mar 08, 2017•7 min
Those who have been working in and around construction for quite some time will know the construction industry has suffered deeply from a lack of innovation and systems improvement for as long as most can remember.
Mar 07, 2017•6 min
Here at KaiNexus, we believe that each person in our company plays a critical role in the success of our company - and our customers. We’ve grown rapidly over the past couple of years, but we’re still a small team, making each person’s contributions critical. When most people think of a tech startup, they envision a bunch of dudes in the break room wearing virtual reality headsets chugging Red Bull at 3 am. This stereotypical version of a tech startup exists somewhere, but that’s not us. We have...
Mar 06, 2017•4 min
All my life, I have been an avid basketball fan. In my younger days, some would say I was a decent player, though many moons have passed since then. Every time we stepped on the court, one of my team’s goals was to get into a rhythm. The dictionary definition of rhythm is a regular repeated pattern of beats, sounds, activity, or movements. For any non-sports aficionado reading this, imagine a group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal. Each person in this group is moving flui...
Mar 03, 2017•6 min
The best part about being involved in a Lean Community is the community - and we have been thrilled to discover a thriving Lean community here in our own backyard in Austin, Texas. KaiNexus is part of the Austin branch of Lean Construction Institute. Lean Construction Institute (LCI) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1997. The Institute operates as a catalyst to transform the industry through Lean project delivery using an operating system centered on a common language, fundamental princi...
Mar 02, 2017•6 min
If you are considering investing in strategy deployment software to support your organization's efforts to achieve your most important objectives, we congratulate you. Too many leaders talk a big game when it comes to strategy, but fail to provide the company with the tools and information necessary to effectively carry it out. (Hereâs a good example of what can go wrong.) There are a lot of systems out there that could be sold as a strategy deployment solution. You can find everything from gl...
Mar 01, 2017•6 min
If you are considering investing in strategy deployment software to support your organization's efforts to achieve your most important objectives, we congratulate you. Too many leaders talk a big game when it comes to strategy, but fail to provide the company with the tools and information necessary to effectively carry it out. (Hereâs a good example of what can go wrong.) There are a lot of systems out there that could be sold as a strategy deployment solution. You can find everything from gl...
Mar 01, 2017•6 min
n improvement culture cannot be created with a âdrop and growâ approach. A continuous improvement culture also needs careful maintenance to grow strong. However, it isnât easy to measure the health of an improvement culture with spreadsheets or sharepoint files. While a plant gives warning signs in multiple ways, a spreadsheet does not. The only way to know if a culture is failing is that the spreadsheet wonât get filled out. For consultants, bringing a continuous improvement software pl...
Feb 28, 2017•4 min
Have you seen the LifeLock commercial about the bank robbery? A group of robbers comes in with baseball bats and demand that everyone get on the floor. The customers ask the uniformed security officer to do something. Instead, he says, “Oh, I’m not a security guard. I’m a security monitor. I only notify people if there’s a robbery.” He looks at the customers and reports, “There’s a robbery.” The narrator asks, "Why monitor a problem if you don't fix it?"
Feb 27, 2017•5 min
A friend who knows that I am interested in continuous improvement techniques of all sorts was visiting a relative in the ER in a California hospital. She sent me this photo. If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you probably know why this upset me, but I think it is worth listing the reasons it made me cringe.
Feb 24, 2017•5 min
Presenter: Matthew Cannistraro, Operations Analyst at J.C. Cannistraro In this webinar, you will learn: Background of JC Cannistraro and the factors that led to the need for improvement software The importance of and methods for capturing improvement where it happens Examples of bottom-up improvement that you can learn from The role of technology in spreading bottom-up improvement Actionable advice for launching improvement software in your own organization
Feb 23, 2017•59 min
Rapid improvement events are an important tool in the Kaizen toolbox. They are great for ensuring energy gets focused on a particularly challenging problem or one that needs to be solved pronto. We’ve seen them produce terrific, long-lasting results. We’ve also seen them devolve into a disorganized mess. Without clear direction and effective communication, the event can become a demoralizing waste of time. How can you ensure the success of your next rapid improvement event and avoid the pitfalls...
Feb 21, 2017•5 min
During a typical Gemba Walk, a manager or supervisor visits the place where work gets done. He or she observes as processes and tasks are carried out, asks questions, and reflects on what was seen. After careful consideration, they would ask for (or potentially offer) ideas for improvement or begin a PDSA cycle. This is an effective way for managers to get a first-hand look at what is happening with their team and to get vital feedback. But could the approach be used to help employees who are no...
Feb 20, 2017•5 min
Matthew Cannistraro, of the J.C. Cannistraro company, is one of those leaders and customers. He gave an excellent presentation at last yearâs user conference, a talk that was focused on capturing âbottom upâ improvement ideas in the workplace. The talk was so well received that we asked him to expand upon it for a webinar⦠and thatâs coming up on February 23. I had a brief discussion with Matthew the other day and we captured it as a podcast to preview his webinar titled âThe Interse...
Feb 17, 2017•10 min
Readers of this blog know that the Lean approach to business management has taken root far outside of the manufacturing sector. It is used by healthcare organizations, software development firms, financial institutions, and even institutes of higher education. The construction industry likewise has benefited from applying and adapting the fundamental principles of Lean. Construction is a unique industry with each project being unlike the last. That is why agile thinking, effective communications...
Feb 16, 2017•6 min
We are in the continuous improvement business, so it is not surprising that we sometimes talk to HR managers and other leaders who have been sold on the idea that an electronic suggestion box is the way to gather employee ideas for improvement. Physical suggestion boxes have been around probably as long as there have been businesses, so why not modernize the approach by making it digital? We applaud any attempt to get front-line employees involved in improvement, but our clients have told us tha...
Feb 15, 2017•5 min
Mark Graban & Dr. Greg Jacobson In this episode: How did you guys meet? What are some inventive methods to improve senior management visibility and support for continuous improvement (CI)? How can we sustain improvement activities and prevent slipping back to old habits? Do we need to have everybody involved in every aspect of our quality improvement efforts? One trainer said we did... but that's not always practical. What should we do? What are the effective cost control and reduction mecha...
Feb 14, 2017•32 min
Post by Dr. Greg Jacobson, read by Mark Graban Management expert James P. Womack, Ph.D., is the founder and senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc., a nonprofit training, publishing, conference, and management research company chartered in August 1997 to advance a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on Toyotaâs business system. He, along with Daniel T. Jones, founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy in the U.K penned the influential...
Feb 14, 2017•6 min
