Practicing Lean (ePub)

This is a book about practicing, learning, and sharing our experiences with the Lean methodology and the Toyota Production System.

Doctors don't "implement medicine," they practice medicine.

Lawyers don't "implement cases," they practice law.

Shouldn't Lean facilitators, consultants, managers, and the like, also "practice Lean?"

When most of us start with Lean, the practices and principles are new. We might struggle to make change happen. I know I did. Our initial clumsy efforts hopefully turn into proficiency and mastery over time. We shift from "doing Lean" to "being Lean" and teaching others how to be Lean.

This book is a collection of honest and unvarnished first hand stories about learning, failing, and getting better at leading Lean transformation efforts. What mistakes have been made? What are the lessons learned? How do we "Plan, Do, Study, Adjust" our way to more effective Lean transformation models?

Proceeds from the book will be donated to the non-profit Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. This project has raised $5,000 to date (as of 9/1/2020). Disclosure: Mark Graban is on the board of the Batz Foundation.

We have a diverse set of contributors who come from various industries - manufacturing, healthcare, software, startups, etc.

Authors include:

Mark Graban

Author of the books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, blogger at LeanBlog.org

Nick Ruhmann

Director of Operational Excellence for Aon National Flood Services, Inc.

Michael Lombard

Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Critical Care Specialty Hospital of Southwest Louisiana

Paul Akers

President of FastCap, author of 2-Second Lean and Lean Health

Jamie Parker

15 years' experience in operations management / leadership in retail, service, and manufacturing

Bob Rush

Lean Manufacturing Group Leader for Tesla Motors

Joe Swartz

Administrative Director, Business Transformation, Franciscan Alliance, co-author of Healthcare Kaizen

Jamie Flinchbaugh

Lean advisor, speaker, and author, who has advised over 300 companies on their Lean journey

Lesa Nichols

Founder, Lesa Nichols Consulting and former Toyota leader

The book also contains relevant posts from Mark Graban's LeanBlog.org.