Gemba Academy

Gemba Academy Enhancements

By Ron Pereira - March 2nd, 2018

We’ve recently made some enhancements here at Gemba Academy that I’m pretty excited about. Asset Browser First up is what we’re calling the “Asset Browser.” While we’re likely best known for videos

Has Anyone Seen My Target Condition?

By Jon Miller - February 26th, 2018

Steve Kane pointed out last week in his excellent blog post how we need to be careful when practicing Toyota kata not to “ambush” each other by demanding to know “What’s the current condition?” or “

As I’m writing this, I’m attending the Toyota Kata Summit in Atlanta. The early keynotes of the conference touched on several important aspects of Lean leadership. Among them were the general topic of respect for people

What is the Most Human Level of Complexity?

By Jon Miller - February 19th, 2018

One of the goals of continuous improvement, or the management of any enterprise, always seems to involve reducing complexity. It is almost an article of faith that simplicity equals beauty and goodness. I’ve always had a vague na

Homo Sapiens Visualis

By Jon Miller - February 12th, 2018

An interesting article suggested that the gap in artistic ability between early modern humans and relative Homo species such as the Neanderthals was due to differences in the way they hunted. The Neanderthals stabbed tamer prey at clos

The Critical Thinking Value of Writing

By Kevin Meyer - February 9th, 2018

Almost three years ago I wrote about the power of writing – by hand. Sure, it’s easy to take notes on an iPad app or on a laptop, but the result is not nearly as beneficial as writing by hand. One of the studies I cited com

Looking Right at the Essence of TPS

By Jon Miller - February 5th, 2018

My friend Reiko Kano began her career as Taiichi Ohno’s interpreter thirty years ago. She then supported Ohno’s disciples, the Shingijutsu consultants, for decades. She recently wrote a book about her experiences. One of he

Learn, Grow, Share

By Ron Pereira - February 2nd, 2018

I had the strangest dream last night. I don’t normally remember my dreams… but I remember this one. I was speaking to a man about continuous improvement. I’m not sure who the man was… but in my dream I see

The Seven Losses of High IQ Leadership

By Jon Miller - January 29th, 2018

Given a choice between a leader who is dumb and a leader who is smart, most of us would choose the smart one. A smart leader will be able to draw on more knowledge, make better decisions, and find solutions to the group’s more di

Big Decisions Don’t Lead to Results

By Steve Kane - January 26th, 2018

The Big Idea January’s the month for resolutions–big decisions to make significant changes in one’s life. Celebration of the new year offers a sense of renewal and opportunity for change. While the month of Januar

Taoism, Lean Thinking and Respect for Humanity

By Jon Miller - January 22nd, 2018

I’ve written before on the parallels between Taoism and TPS a.k.a. lean thinking. It is not surprising that we find influences from so-called Eastern philosophies, as Taiichi Ohno and the others framers the Toyota Way were were f

The Value of Muda

By Jon Miller - January 15th, 2018

I found some wisdom in a surprising place, on the theme of lean thinking, learning, value, and muda. Ichiro Suzuki is a very successful professional baseball player who at age 44 has played the game for 25 years and intends to play int

Lessons from Perfecting the Pour Over

By Kevin Meyer - January 12th, 2018

For years my wife and I had been fans of our Keurig. Pop in a pod and in a minute you had a decent cup of coffee. Simple, clean, and seemingly “lean” since the process was optimized with very little waste. That change

How to Win at New Year’s Resolutions

By Jon Miller - January 8th, 2018

It’s that time of year when we reflect back on the prior 12 months, look ahead to the next 12 and set personal priorities. I’ve heard that by February, 80% of New Year’s resolutions are on their way to failure. This h

The Secret to Your Success in 2018

By Ron Pereira - January 5th, 2018

Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Come clean. Did you? If so, I’m sad to say, you’re probably going to fail. In fact, University of Scranton research suggests that just 9% of people achieve their New Year&

We Have the Highest Quality Standards

By Jon Miller - December 18th, 2017

My career in the field of lean thinking got started twenty-four years ago while helping Japanese consultants communicate with their American clients. There were occasions when it was as much an education in cultural differences and com

Lead with Virtue, Bind with Ritual

By Jon Miller - December 11th, 2017

Confucius is credited with many insights into human nature and moral governance by his followers who recorded his teachings. They still influence culture and society in many Asian countries today. Confucius observed “lead with

Preparing for Reflection

By Kevin Meyer - December 8th, 2017

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey I’ve written before about how I’ve worked hard to develop a practice of reflection… daily, monthly, and a

How to Avoid the Hazards of Habituation with Standard Work and Kaizen

By Jon Miller - December 4th, 2017

In an oddity of human behavior, we pay more respect to the unfamiliar than to the familiar. This is true towards people, processes and situations. When we meet someone new we are more likely to be polite to them than to a friend or a p

Applying the 6 Laws of Tech to Lean

By Jon Miller - November 27th, 2017

Melvin Kranzberg, a professor of the history of technology at Georgia Institute of Technology, came up with six laws to explain society’s unease with technology’s growing power and presence in our lives. This was in the 1980s

Happy Thanksgiving

By Steve Kane - November 23rd, 2017

During this time of Thanksgiving we would like to express to you our sincere appreciation to each and every one of you for reading our blog, listening to our podcast, and watching our videos. Because of you, we are able to do the wor

Wishing Everyone a Granular Thanksgiving

By Jon Miller - November 20th, 2017

Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. The football, the food, the time with friends and family. Part of the tradition is to remember and name things that we are thankful for. It’s an occasion to stop and reflect on our bl

15 Lean Failure Lessons from Software Development, 3/3

By Jon Miller - November 13th, 2017

Some say that as many as 95% of Lean transformations fail. How could this be? An article The Coming Software Apocalypse in the Atlantic Monthly about the software development world offers insights. This post is the third of a 3-part

The Multi-Faceted Power of Walking

By Kevin Meyer - November 10th, 2017

Walking is man’s best medicine. – Hippocrates Walking has become a much larger part of my life over the past few years. It started when I embraced kinhin – walking meditation. Walking slowly on the beach for an ho

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