Practicing Lean: Learning How to Learn How to Get Better... Better

This is a book about practicing, learning, and sharing our experiences with the Lean methodology and the Toyota Production System.

Doctors don't "implement medicine," they practice medicine.

Lawyers don't "implement cases," they practice law.

Shouldn't Lean facilitators, consultants, managers, and the like, also "practice Lean?"

When most of us start with Lean, the practices and principles are new. We might struggle to make change happen. I know I did. Our initial clumsy efforts hopefully turn into proficiency and mastery over time. We shift from "doing Lean" to "being Lean" and teaching others how to be Lean.

This book is a collection of honest and unvarnished first hand stories about learning, failing, and getting better at leading Lean transformation efforts. What mistakes have been made? What are the lessons learned? How do we "Plan, Do, Study, Adjust" our way to more effective Lean transformation models?

Proceeds from the book will be donated to the non-profit Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. This project has raised $5,000 to date (as of 9/1/2020). Disclosure: Mark Graban is on the board of the Batz Foundation.

We have a diverse set of contributors who come from various industries - manufacturing, healthcare, software, startups, etc.

Authors include:

Mark Graban
Author of the books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, blogger at LeanBlog.org

Nick Ruhmann
Director of Operational Excellence for Aon National Flood Services, Inc.

Michael Lombard
Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Critical Care Specialty Hospital of Southwest Louisiana

Paul Akers
President of FastCap, author of 2-Second Lean and Lean Health

Jamie Parker
15 years' experience in operations management / leadership in retail, service, and manufacturing

Harry Kenworthy
Expert in Lean government after a long career in manufacturing

Bob Rush
Lean Manufacturing Group Leader for Tesla Motors

Samuel Selay
Continuous Improvement Manager for the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton

David Haigh
David works at Johnson & Johnson Canada, the largest consumer healthcare company in Canada

Joe Swartz
Administrative Director, Business Transformation, Franciscan Alliance, co-author of Healthcare Kaizen

Cameron Stark
Physician and Lean improvement leader in Scotland

Harvey Leach
Principal Consultant with The Consultancy Company based near Oxford, England

Andy Sheppard
Author, The Incredible Transformation of Gregory Todd: a Novel about Leadership and Managing Change

Mike Leigh
President and Founder of OpX Solutions, LLC and former Lean leader at General Electric

Jamie Flinchbaugh
Lean advisor, speaker, and author, who has advised over 300 companies on their Lean journey

Lesa Nichols
Founder, Lesa Nichols Consulting and former Toyota leader

The book also contains relevant posts from Mark Graban's LeanBlog.org.