Lean and the Law of Cosmic Laziness TAGS: flexible | indiana | kaizen | knox high school | law of cosmic laziness | lean | lean blitz consulting | matt aukerman | money | operations | process | save | sports | strain | time | waste activities My seventh grade math teacher at my little school in Indiana was a fellow named Matt Aukerman. In addition to being a great teacher and funny guy, he introduced us …Continue reading →

What Mr. Bean Can Teach Us About Problem Solving TAGS: big sale | blitz | consulting | continuous improvement | dynamite | fireworks | lean | learn | mr. bean | mythbusters | operations | paint | problem | process | solution | solving | sports | teach I think the IMDb.com page for the British comedy show Mr. Bean gives the best synopsis of what you need to know. Life is a difficult challenge for Mr Bean, …Continue reading →

A Visit to TEDxColumbiaSC TAGS: blitz | columbia | consulting | continuous improvement | global | grumpy cat | ideas | lean | non-profit | operations | process | sharing | six sigma | south carolina | speakers | sports | spreading | technology | ted | ted conference | ted talks | tedx | tedxcolumbiasc | worth I had the great thrill of attending the TEDx event TEDxColumbiaSC on Monday. For those of you unfamiliar, TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a non-profit organization …Continue reading →

Trust TAGS: blitz | business901 | catfish | consulting | continuous improvement | customer expectations | football | hoax | joe dager | kaizen | lance armstrong | lean | manti te'o | notre dame | operations | oprah winfrey | process | robert guillame | six sigma | sports night | trust | trustworthiness | trustworthy Our trust in the athletes we’ve grown to admire was certainly tested this past week. Any way we look at trust – reliability, faith, integrity, consistency, honesty, strength – is …Continue reading →

Articles After a Long Layoff TAGS: batteries | beach | blitz | blog | blogging | catch careers | christina kach | coffee | consulting | continuous improvement | control | creamer | easier | hack | hammock | healthcare | lean | leanblog | leanmemess | life | lifehacker | mark graban | meme | networking | non-traditional | operations | process | remote | six sigma | sports | starbucks | vacation | velcro | vessel I concede that my lack of sharing new information over the last couple of weeks has allowed for a slight mental decompression – there have been a lot of new …Continue reading →

Future State? Blow Up the Current State. TAGS: anchors | bias | blow | continuous improvement | current | downstream | future | game changing | ideal | improvement | innovations | kaizen | lean blitz consulting | machine | map | mushroom cloud | operations | optimization | process | six sigma | sports | start over | state | steps | system | tasks | up | upstream | vamoose Sometimes when we look to create an ideal future state of a process or situation, we are so heavily anchored in the non-ideal current state that our biases and familiarity …Continue reading →

NFL Replacement Officials and Quality Defects TAGS: aaron rodgers | blitz | consulting | errors | football | golden tate | green bay packers | hail mary | judgment | lean | lockout | monday night football | national football league | nfl | principle | replacement | roger goodell | russell wilson | seattle seahawks | stop to fix problems | strike | the toyota way Principle #5 from The Toyota Way states “Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.” Through three weeks of the NFL football season …Continue reading →

NFL Replacement Referees and Lack of Standardized Work TAGS: accuracy | agreement | bargaining | blitz | book | collective | consulting | continuous improvement | denver broncos | error | experience | four timeouts | john fox | knowledge | lean | lean wastes | national football league | new orleans saints | nfl | operations | players | process | referees | replacement | rules | seattle seahawks | six sigma | sports | standardized work | training | union | work instruction So, NFL, how are these replacement referees working out for you? Between snagging one off the street who turned out to have significant New Orleans Saints allegiances to the lack …Continue reading →

Football Fans Falling from Stadium Upper Decks TAGS: alcohol | answers | arrowhead | atlanta falcons | barriers | baseball | blitz | chick-fil-a | chiefs | colorado rockies | consulting | continuous improvement | coors field | death | drinking | escalator | facilitate | fall | field | football | georgia dome | harness | hazards | houston | kansas city | kickoff | lean | nc state | nets | operations | osha | process | reliant stadium | safety | sports | stadium | tennessee | texans | texas rangers | upper deck | walls The 2012 football season was barely a week old when two fatal falls from stadium upper decks took place. First, a fan fell from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadium …Continue reading →

2012 Summer Olympics: Women’s Gymnastics Vault Problems in Sydney Olympics TAGS: 2000 | 2012 | all-around | allana slater | annika reeder | audit | australia | bad | blitz | consulting | david haviland | defect | elise ray | error | error-proofing | five whys | fulltwist.net | gymbits | gymnastics | height | horse | ignored | judges | khorkina | lean | london | mckayla maroney | medal | officials | olympics | operations | poka-yoke | process | root cause analysis | russian | setting | specifications | sports | svetlana | sydney | table | unsafe | vault | women's gymnastics Many of you watched women’s gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so you got the chance to see the gymnasts perform the vault event using a vaulting table. However, twelve …Continue reading →

2012 Summer Olympics: Fencing Technology Glitch TAGS: 2012 | appeal | attack | blitz | britta | cameron smith | consulting | epee | expedited | fail | federation | fencing | german | germany | gold medal | heiderman | individual | lam | lean | london | mechanism | nbc | official | olympics | operations | organization | piste | playing surface | process | protocol | semifinal | shin | shin a lam | silver medal | six sigma | south korea | sporting | sports | systems | technology | timing | touch | yahoo sports Remember what I wrote about processes needing to supercede systems and technology? Failing to do so meant that a chance to win a gold medal was taken away earlier this …Continue reading →

2012 Summer Olympics: Jordyn Wieber and “Dumb, Stupid Rules” TAGS: 2012 | ali | aly | athletes | blitz | business | champion | china | company | competition | consulting | defending | douglas | dumb | fast | fastcompany | final | gabby | gabrielle | gymnastics | insider | jordyn | lean | london | nations | nbc | olympics | operations | powerhouse | pride | process | raisman | rule | russia | six sigma | sports | states | stupid | summer | tape delay | the customer is always right | u.s. | united | violates | wieber | women's | world Congratulations are in order for Gabby Douglas, the U.S. gymnast who won the Olympics women’s gymnastics all-around gold medal today, marking the third straight all-around gold medal for the United …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #14: Become a Learning Organization TAGS: balboa | blitz | classroom | consulting | continuous | improvement | lean | learning | operations | organization | perfect | philadelphia | principle | process | reflect | reflection | relentless | rocky | six sigma | sports | stairs | steps | teach | toyota way (This is part of a series looking at the 14 Principles of The Toyota Way.) This is the final principle, the one that ties the previous thirteen together. No organization …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #13: Decide Slowly Through Consensus, Implement Rapidly TAGS: achieve | analysis | benefits | blitz | cause | change | consensus | consider | consulting | decisions | defects | delay | errors | evaluate | failure | five whys | fix | haste makes waste | implement | lean | management | operations | options | principle | problem | process | quick | rapidly | reap | root | sigma | six | slow | solve | sports | toyota | way One of the risks of implementing changes or new ideas in processes is the failure to consider all options and the potential for an outcome not otherwise projected. A lot …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #9 and Notre Dame Football TAGS: 2012 | alford | bcs | bearcats | blitz | bob | brian | central | championship | charlie | chippewas | chuck | churn | cincinnati | coach | consulting | cooks | coordinator | dame | davie | defensive | denbrock | diaco | expectations | exposure | fan | football | george | grand | jack | kelly | kerry | lean | management | martin | michigan | mike | nation | notre | o'leary | offensive | operations | optimization | personnel | philosophy | process | program | retain | six sigma | sports | state | success | swarbrick | tony | toyota | tradition | turnover | tyrone | university | valley | way | weis | willingham | winning The 2012 college football season will be the third for Brian Kelly as the head coach of the University of Notre Dame football team. Prior to his hire at Notre …Continue reading →