Management Improvement Carnival #29

It's once again my pleasure to host the Carnival for John Hunter and his Curious Cat blog.

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals.

• Coconuts, Bamboo, and Pedal Power (Mike Wroblewski, Got Boondoggle?) “Unfortunately, the castaways did not understand the concept of policy deployment so all this ingenuity was not focused on more important projects like say fixing the hole in the boat or building a raft.”
• JIT and Jidoka are Useless… (Ron Pereira, Lean Six Sigma Academy) “Yes, the two pillars of the Toyota Production System – JIT and Jidoka – are absolutely worthless… if you don't respect people.”
  
• Half Right… No, Not Even (Kevin Meyer, Evolving Excellence) “5S is not a value, it's a tool. One of many tools, and one that is completely useless and unsustainable if the “respect for people” pillar is not recognized.”
• Standard Work for Managers = Go to Gemba (Joe Ely, Learning About Lean) “Get to the workplace. Look. Listen.”
• Don't Use Performance Appraisals (John Hunter, Curious Cat blog) “Performance appraisal is a strange disease: most people agree performance appraisals are not effective and indeed are harmful. Yet, most still don't think anything can be done about it.”
• Management by Kaizen Events (Jon Miller, Gemba Panta Rei) “What if kaizen events were enough to achieve a whole lean enterprise strategy? First of all we need to imagine a scenario under which that would be possible.”
• Did I Violate Federal Regulations Today? (I Hope So) – (Bob Wachter, Wachter's World) “DAMN IT, I RUN A SERVICE OF 120 VERY SICK PATIENTS. IT IS PRECISELY MY JOB TO TRY TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CARE FOR THESE PATIENTS…”
  
• Burden on People, Burden on Earth (Peter Abilla, Shmula) “On average, most business processes are inefficient and create an unhealthy amount of waste…”
• These Machines Used To Be in Two Different States… (Dr. Ted Eytan, Daily Kaizen) “The two formerly separated machines are now in the same room. One performs chemistry evaluations, the other hematology. Why is this important, I asked, if the types of tests are totally different? The answer is that the lab is cross training staff to operate both machines, which allows for leveling of the load.”
  
• Why a To-Do List Just Doesn't Work (Dan Markovitz, TimeBack Blog) “The calendar enables you to “level the production” of your key projects at work.”
• Trainees Report Back and Train Trainers (Paul Levy, Running a Hospital) “…will train over 600 staff members in the techniques of calling out problems and pulling together help teams to solve them.”
• Designing What's Right for Customers (David Pogue, NY Times) “So what goes through the minds of executives who don't sweat the small stuff?”
• Muda, Mura (and Muri) in Health Care (Mark Rosenthal, Lean Thinker Blog) “Key Point: Separate the routine from the non-routine. Separate normal from abnormal.
  
• What's a Leader to Do? (Matthew May, Elegant Solutions) “Bottom line: get people into a learning mode.”
  
• Explaining Lean at a Bar (Mark Graban, Lean Blog) “I asked [the bartender] how it would be if the ice were in the far corner of the bar, requiring lots of walking back and forth all day. She said that would be horrible.”

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