Lean Roundup #111 – August, 2018

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of August, 2018.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.

Why Do CEOs Hate Operations? – Bob Emiliani explains why CEOs have to abandon many of the traditions and benefits that they hold dear and try lean manufacturing to improve operations.

Why I Was Wrong About 2 Second Lean - Dan Markovitz shares what he’s learned about 2 second lean and commitment of leadership to implement lean.

Why I was wrong about 2- second Lean | Dan Markovitz – Michel Baudin responds to Dan’s article and shares why he doesn’t believe a single approach is sufficient in improving a factory.

The Function of Leaders is to Produce More Leaders – Pascal Dennis explains the importance of developing new leaders and why this is role of senior management.

Protecting a Lean Culture Does Not Happen by Accident – Gregg Stocker talks about how do you hold the gains of a Lean Culture and protect the natural tendency to fall back to the way things were before the improvements.

The Best Form of Fire Fighting is None at All – John Hunter says the best form of problem solving is to avoid problems altogether.

Planning: Risk Management to Manage Uncertainty – Johanna Rothman explains that many organizations plan to create certainty but what if we thought about planning as a way to manage uncertainty.

Lean and the Burning Platform – Bob Emiliani says corporate financial distress is usually insufficient to propel a management team to adopt Lean management.

The Cascade of Hoshin -  Jim Womack describes the hoshin planning process he observed at Toyota.

Fresh Eyes Bring Lean Problems into Clarity – Jim Morgan asks could “fresh eyes” input help to improve your products or even your development capability?

React Less and Improve More by Using SPC More Effectively – Mark Graban says we shouldn’t just focus on the waste of frontline workers -- we should also focus on reducing the waste of motion that’s triggered by overreacting to noise in a metric.

Cardboard, Duct Tape, and String: The Do-First Mindset – Mark Reich says if you are responsible for kaizen in your company, strive for quick change in your workplace by finding your cardboard, duct tape, and string.

Ask Art: What's Wrong with Organizing By Function? – Art Byrne explains that while you might be able to survive and be profitable using a traditional functional structure the fact is that you will be leaving a lot of money on the table.

HBR: Managers Think They’re Good At Coaching. They’re Not. – Mark Rosenthal explains how practicing the coaching kata may help build nine critical skills in coaching in an effective way.

You Want Me to Do What!?! – Steve Kane says to put more effort into understanding and removing barriers to continuous improvement than into driving it since improving our conditions–our lives–is inherent.

My Boss Doesn’t Get LEAN! – Paul Akers discusses how to do Lean when your boss or co-workers don’t get Lean.