Here is a mini “Lean Carnival” of some interesting blog posts I saw last week:
Here's a nice overview of the 5 Whys and Root Cause problem solving:
Shmula on asking “Why?” 5 times
Mike Wroblewski had an excellent picture of a “Kaizen Wall” in his blog post.
I've seen this method used at a previous company, but most of the pages were from “kaizen events.” I think this method is MUCH more powerful when you are capturing “daily kaizen”, or small improvements that come about through somebody's suggestion.
Taking quick action on the improvement and then documenting that improvement once it's been confirmed as helping (and standardized as part of the new process) is a valid improvement method. We don't have to rely on formal events. I've also started experimenting with this method at a hospital, to post our small improvements (things on the scale of moving a printer so that it didn't shake some nearby test instruments that had been on the same bench).
I don't have children, so I'm not really qualified to comment on Jon Miller's use of an A3 problem solving process to help get his kids to pick up their toys. His post prompted some discussion amongst some parents, mostly positive. Does this problem require something like an A3 method? Is this a good parallel to the workplace problem of employees not following standard work? I know people try to claim their workplace is like a family, do we want to treat our family like a workplace?
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