A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of December 2025.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

5 Big Lean Questions with Mark Graban: Purpose, Misconceptions, and the Path Forward – Mark Graban revisits the 5 meet up questions from last year’s A Lean Journey post.

The Unified Approach: Connecting Strategy, Process, and People in Operational Excellence – Mark Graban says true continuous improvement requires a holistic approach synchronizing strategy, process, employees, and leadership.

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? – Ron Pereira shares a story about rowing and what actually moves us forward versus what just keeps us busy.

Lean in Government Is Possible – Alen Ganic shares stories from his time working across several government departments, using Lean tools to solve real problems and improve flow to people at a Lean conference in Europe.

Continuous Means Continuous, not December – Kevin Meyer discusses the arbitrary end of the year activities and a better way to think about it continuously.

Why is Year-End Reflection so Difficult? – Pascal Dennis discusses year end reflection and how we can get better with answering the right questions.

As Long as the Graph Goes up and to the Right – Christopher R Chapman shares a managerial tale and ties this to Deming’s management philosophy.

The Management Brief |  The Lean Transformation Framework throughout 2025   – Josh Howell and Mark Reich use the five LTF questions as our lens, we revisit some highlights from The Management Brief in 2025.

The Design Brief | People First: Are you investing in your human assets? – Larry Navarre explores why people—not ideas or technology—determine the success of innovation and how Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) offers a framework for developing people.

Forget the Ping-Pong Table: How to Truly Put People First – James Morgan shares a leader’s guide to building teams that thrive in Lean product development.

Five NUMMI Tour Lessons That Still Define Lean Thinking – Mark Graban share 5 lessons that still matter today from his NUMMI factory visit 20 years ago.

Strategy – What’s Changed & What Hasn’t? – Pascal Dennis says when it comes to Strategy deployment & execution, what’s changed is AI, and what has no changed is the messy, human work of alignment, and the centrality of Leadership.