Author Archive
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Sunday, August 22, 2010 |
The question asked: What about Jidoka?
I think Jeff Liker and Art Smalley wrote standout responses to the question. Interestingly, both describe Jidoka as operating within an organizational culture of problem solving and getting to the root cause of an issue. Yesterday an acquaintance, Mr. Angelo Lyall of Kaizen Solutions Inc., put it this way:
"A leader can establish, communicate and train his associates to look through a particular pair of glasses so that their perception of problem solving and their mentality towards it is conditioned, thus generating a culture of capable problem solvers. But it is up to the leaders to establish this ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Monday, July 19, 2010 |
The question asked: What are the upsides/downsides of using TWI "Job Methods" as our approach for kaizen?
Just last week I got an email and Powerpoint presentation from a small plant that introduced its first assembly cell. Most of us know the excitement that comes with first efforts to eliminate waste. Not only do the processes operate much better than before, but our eyes also become opened to the potential! At the beginning of a lean effort, eliminating waste works and is exciting.
But after a while -- four or five years into a lean journey seems about right -- those of ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 |
The question asked: What would be our best success stories to illustrate what lean is all about?
You’re asking that question at a moment when the lean community itself is trying to answer it. The thinking about lean, and the definition of it, are evolving.
Also, trying to answer the question by looking at success stories may be too surface-level. To gain a better understanding of what Toyota has been doing to generate its successes, some of us have been looking more closely at the intentions behind Toyota’s visible practices and concepts.
Learning to ask a different question
A comment you often hear when ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Saturday, June 5, 2010 |
How can you convince decision makers that lean is not a program, but a way of doing business to achieve superior performance?
One thing I take from this question and the posts about it here on The Lean Edge is some consensus that Lean is a different way of managing, rather than just tools, workshops and improvement programs that happen within the existing way of managing. Maybe the ways of managing can be summarized like this:
Traditional way:
Establish targets
Describe solutions
Provide incentives
Periodically check results
Lean way:
Establish targets
Develop the capability in people to develop solutions
Changing how you manage an organization is a different undertaking than ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Sunday, May 16, 2010 |
Dennis Sherwood asked: What is the difference between innovation and lean?
I agree with Art Smalley that the answer depends on what definitions of innovation and lean you are using. And from my recent observations I would say that our definitions of both of these terms, i.e., our understanding of the mechanisms behind them, are now evolving.
Better definitions are coming
We have tended to define "lean" more or less as eliminating waste, but by now we can see that this concept is too limited.
And we have tended to think of "innovation" as new solutions and levels of performance that come from ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Saturday, April 24, 2010 |
I think Jeff Liker and Art Smalley give excellent explanations, in their posts above and below this one, of the interplay between process variation, inventory and continuous improvement. As Taiichi Ohno supposedly remarked, “You need enough inventory to hold the system together,” i.e., to match the current amount of variation in the processes in the value stream.
Another key point is that since we cannot plan for every eventuality, how an organization is prepared to react to unexpected disruptions is highly significant. The way we react is, in many ways, the backup system for big disruptions.
But perhaps most importantly... behind Rob’s ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Saturday, April 17, 2010 |
Now there's a revealing conundrum:
Mike Micklewright asks, “Why Is Quality So Rarely Central in Lean?” He sees experts using Lean to increase efficiency and productivity, and reduce costs, without connection to quality.
The word Lean is a name that in the late 1980’s we gave to what we observed at Toyota.
Jeff Liker reminds us that over the last 50 years Toyota has virtually defined quality in the auto industry, and that quality is evident everywhere in the company.
I think the answer to this puzzle is simple in hindsight: We have been focusing on the what, the visible stuff that changes from ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Sunday, April 4, 2010 |
I think these kinds of questions about Lean versus Six Sigma are somewhat tangential, and don’t do much for addressing the more essential issue of, how do we want to manage our organizations?
Several years ago there was a similar debate between “Agile Manufacturing” and “Lean.” Eventually it got quiet around the agile topic, and it seemed to go away. But agile continued on in the software development world and increasingly concerned itself with the question of, by what patterns should teams do work so that the product of that work meets customer needs? Today agile is about using the scientific ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Friday, March 12, 2010 |
What three laws of organodynamics would I suggest? Thank you for the thought-provoking question Dennis. I’m in no position to propose laws, but for the sake of discussion…
Organization = An entity of two or more human beings that work together to achieve a goal.
Organodynamics = The science of getting useful work out of organizations. (Dennis Sherwood)
First (proposed) law of organodynamics:
Humans are equipped to deal with dynamic conditions.
Our human capability for learning allows us to improve, innovate, create and adapt. With its prefrontal cortex and synapses our brain is equipped to learn new rules and patterns.
Second (proposed) law of organodynamics:
The ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Saturday, February 20, 2010 |
Does lean ever become part of the culture? (Question by Jacques Chaize)
As you point out in your question, Jacques, the task is not just to introduce new techniques, principles or solutions, but to establish a culture of continuous improvement, adaptation and innovation. Here's how I see the culture-change issue at the moment:
Changing the culture requires changing mindset. Edgar Schein defines organization culture as the set of shared basic assumptions that operate unconsciously and govern behavior. I think of culture as the personality or character of the organization. Organization culture, in turn, develops out of people’s mindset, which is a subconscious, ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Sunday, February 7, 2010 |
It seems likely that as it grew rapidly, Toyota has gotten off its own track. That is, in its day-to-day management Toyota has deviated too far from the methods and routines, the kata, that made it so successful over the last six decades.
What Toyota may need to do -- it has said as much itself -- is to reapply its basic kata to get itself back on track. And that very same kata is something that we still need to learn about, in regard to Toyota's approach.
Click on the following link for a short elucidation: "What Toyota Lost Sight Of" (enter ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Friday, January 15, 2010 |
Thank you for your question, Peter.
Generally speaking I currently coach leaders in practicing through three increasing levels of capability, in a behavior pattern I call the improvement kata. The levels are awareness, able to do it, and able to coach it. For some details on how, please see pages 243-6 in the book Toyota Kata (foreword by Tom Johnson!).
--> Comment 1:
"Discover," is the right word I think. People can't learn how to lead such change from books, classroom training, etc. They need to experience it for themselves, which means practicing. Brain research backs this up. We naturally prefer and reflexively ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Sunday, January 10, 2010 |
Rob Austin asks: Can lean help operational managers realize targets on schedule?
Well, how should people actually work day-to-day to achieve targets on schedule? Consciously or not, managers everywhere teach people their organization's answer to this second question, which is part of an organization's culture. As Jeff Liker points out below, at many organizations the way to go about achieving desired outcomes is ill-defined, like setting targets and getting out of the way, whereas at Toyota it is stipulated and practiced. Or as Dan Jones says in his post, goals and means go together.
Toyota's highly-effective approach (its Kata) for establishing targets and ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Monday, January 4, 2010 |
Can you teach the lean ideal of respecting people without actually bullying them?
Well, what does respecting people actually mean?
Toyota lists the five key principles that underlie its managerial approach and business methods as Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), Respect, and Teamwork. Interestingly, outside of Toyota lots has been written about the last four, but the one principle that Toyota lists first has been overlooked.
(Link: Toyota Principles Document)
Based on my recent research, what Toyota is doing is very much about challenge. Toyota has developed and teaches an effective means for people to work together through tough obstacles to desired new conditions ...
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By Mike Rother, Author of Toyota Kata and co-author of Learning to See
- Last updated: Friday, December 18, 2009 |
Thank you for the question Rob. But, boy, couldn’t we have started with an easier one?! Not only a classic conundrum, but also two questions in one:
How to avoid “lean” becoming ruthless cost cutting?
How to get people to embrace the philosophy?
The easiest and, who knows, maybe best answer could be to just let things run their course. Over time natural selection among firms will sort things out. Not a very satisfying response for those who would like to see how the movie plays out.
The other response that comes to mind is that we have simply misunderstood what Toyota is doing. ...
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Question of the moment 
Sandrine Olivencia
Operae Partners