My guest for Episode #372 is Karen Gaudet, author of the excellent book Steady Work, which was published by the Lean Enterprise Institute.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a former employee of LEI and they provide a review copy of the book.
In today's episode, we discuss her experience with Lean at Starbucks. It's a fascinating story that includes a transition from the old way (the Seattle HQ figuring out “best practices”) to a new way (where store managers and baristas were taught how to design “playbooks” and to continuously improve the way the work is done in a particular store).
I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Streaming Player:
For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/372.
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Questions, Topics, Quotes, and Links:
- Purchase the book via LEI
- Purchase the book (Kindle, paperback, or Audible) through Amazon
- Please introduce yourself, what's your current role at LEI?
- How did you get introduced to Lean (at Starbucks)
- How was Lean pitched to you and Starbucks associates and leaders?
- Tell us about the old “Seattle HQ figures it out” approach, pushing “best practices,” and teaching people Lean methods that they can use themselves?
- Why do you say “standardization sets us free”?
- What's the idea of a “playbook”?
- Some say “standard work means we always do everything the same way” – but that's not always practical or helpful, so what do you do?
- How do you manage it when standardization that benefits the store and most customers causes problems for some?
Thanks for listening!
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