I rarely think about my blog's “birthday” or “anniversary,” but last month Lean Blog turned 11! I started this site in January, 2005. How many of you have been reading from the beginning or nearly that long?
I looked back, as a Throwback Thursday, and found a number of really good posts that were published on this date. That tradition ends this year, because today is basically just recycled content from the past.
Oldies but goodies:
2015: Cool Stuff from KaiNexus – A Quiz, Video, Haikus, Webinar, and Blog Posts
Improvement and helping others improve is very important, but we try to have fun too.
2014: Super Bowl Commercial: American Factories? You Can't Do That! Really?
A nice commercial from WeatherTech made me think fondly of my days in manufacturing (and the importance of that sector to good jobs and the growth of our economy).
2013: Sunday's Dilbert & Deming's Demotivation Curve
Dilbert is usually good for a laugh, but if you don't know Dr. Deming's “demotivation curve,” definitely check out this post.
2012: “Kaizen!” Mention on “Parks & Rec”
Although it's not a Ron Swanson video clip, this really makes me miss the show Parks & Rec.
2011: So What If You Don't Have Stats for Offensive Lineman?
Here's something to think about during the Super Bowl this Sunday… there really aren't statistics that are widely used to rate or evaluate the performance of individual performance of offensive linemen. Even a sack of the quarterback might be a team failure. Some wrongly quote Deming as saying “If you can't measure it, you can't manage it” (when he actually said the opposite). Teams have to evaluate which linemen are good or bad without solid metrics? So, it is possible to manage something that's not being measured?
2010: “Wisconsin Hospitals Adopting Lean“
Not the most excited post ever… it gave me a chance to complain about the primary Lean focus being on cost in some organizations (as I blogged about recently). There was an interesting anonymous comment from somebody complaining about one health system's management not walking the talk.
2009: Idiot Corporation of America?
That blog post title wasn't very nice… but people dying because of a mismanaged food production facility is about as upsetting as people dying due to preventable medical errors. It took until 2015, but the owner of Peanut Corporation of America was actually convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
2008: American-Made Footballs in the Super Bowl
It's always nice hearing about how footballs (or any products) are made in the U.S.A. See this post about football production from 2011, also.
2007: Two posts on GM's bad Super Bowl Ad
I don't remember why I wrote two posts on the same topic that day:
I wasn't referring to “L.A.M.E.” It was just a really off putting GM commercial that featured a suicidal robot. It was more sad than last year's Nationwide commercial about a kid dying in an accident. I think there would have been a social media outcry about the GM ad if people were on social media back then.
2006: Lean Healthcare: Park Nicollet Hospital
This post was barely longer than a tweet before Twitter existed. The article about “auto industry” strategies applied to a hospital is a dead link now and I can't find it online. That happens with old posts.
2005: No Post That Day
OK, that's it for the flashback. Thanks for reading!!!
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