What’s In Store for 2011: Lean Blog and Mark Graban

Again, my apologies for writing about myself today, following up on my post about the upcoming 2nd edition of my book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction, I have a few more updates and coming attractions to mention.

In this post, I'll cover:

• An upcoming video series on Lean Design in healthcare
• An upcoming publication to support relief efforts in Haiti
• What I'm working on
• A new book on Daily Kaizen for healthcare
• My plans for LeanBlog.org

Lean Design in Healthcare Video Series

Tomorrow, I'll have a blog post about the first part in a five-part video series, a discussion about the design of a new outpatient clinic done with Lean principles. Additional video segments will be made available weekly through January. Although I decided to not continue the “Lean Blog Week in Review” video series, I do want to try to use video more frequently in the future as the opportunity arises (such as the Lean Blog Video Podcasts, which the Lean Design videos will be included in, if you already subscribe to that) – again, coming tomorrow…. www.leanblog.org/leandesign will be the URL.

Lean for Haiti

Last year, I met a very special x-ray tech at Akron Children's Hospital, Russell Maroni. He had volunteered in Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake and wrote a journal about his two weeks there, including a very small aspect of his time there that incorporated use of his Lean training from the hospital. I'm working with Russell to publish a PDF of his journal that we're hoping will raise money for ongoing relief efforts. Stay tuned on twitter or at www.LeanForHaiti.org. We are going to ask other bloggers and the Lean community to consider helping promote this effort.

What I'm Working On

I sometimes get asked, “So what do you do, exactly?” Up until June 2009, I worked for J&J and their ValuMetrix Services group. When my wife was in grad school in Cambridge for the next 12 months, I started working full time for the Lean Enterprise Institute, focusing on the expansion of Lean Healthcare education and working on the nascent Healthcare Value Leaders Network efforts.

When my wife graduated, we came back to Texas, as planned. I continue to work for LEI and the Healthcare Value Leaders Network, but have been on just a 50% basis since June 2010. In the remaining time, I have been doing some speaking engagements and have been quietly doing some small consulting engagements under the banner of a company I've started, Constancy, Inc. I have a few details on my MarkGraban.com site. Thankfully, I have been busy and haven't promoted this on the blog. If you're a reader who might be interested in having me work with you, I would be happy to talk with you about that. I'm doing some work solo and some with Pascal Dennis and his team at Lean Pathways.

A New Book – Daily Kaizen for Healthcare

I will share more details on this soon, but I'm also going to be working on a second book, this time with a co-author from a healthcare system. There are already books and materials published on what healthcare organizations are doing with week-long “kaizen events,” but there's not much written on what kaizen is really about – continuous improvement of the workplace and processes, driven by front-line staff and managers. I've signed a contract with Productivity Press, publisher of my first book, Lean Hospitals for this new project, so I appreciate their continued enthusiasm and support. Again, more details will follow…

Plans for LeanBlog.org

Whew, it's going to be a busy year. I also have an upcoming webinar, some radio appearances that I'll blog about, and I'll be attending the upcoming Society for Health Systems conference (hope to see you there).

My expectation is that I'm going to scale back to blogging just two or three days a week, instead of five or six, at least while the book projects are underway. I think I'll move to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, interspersing podcasts and video stuff on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Thanks to all of my loyal readers, listeners, and viewers. As the 6th birthday of my Lean Blog approaches, it's a chance to step back and thank you, especially those who send supportive emails and tweets and thanks to those who give constructive feedback and ideas.

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