Tuesday 12 January 2010

Lean2.0 next steps

Jim Womack, Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. has asked where does Lean go from here ( see link above for his January 2010 e-letter)

My contribution is that I believe that recent events of market crashes, the speed of recessions, booms and busts along with the prevalence of quarterly corporate earning rigours drive us to achieve greater PDCA velocity.

To enable fPDCA (faster PDCA) requires us to:

  • Make use of modern communications to speed up our links with customers and other PDCA groups (think of them as nested PDCA loops within and alongside each other). For example, think how to use Twitter to provide quick punchy feedback
  • Build the skills into everyone so that they can use improvement tools, and have the attitude and confidence to try
  • Give them the authority so that they can exercise PDCA at their own Gemba
  • Make greater use of statistical tools (like six sigma) to turn data into information far quicker, and
  • Encourage experimentation, piloting, trying out new things, firmly embedded in a PDCA cycle