Email the Author
You can use this page to email Mark Graban about Practicing Lean.
About the Book
100% of proceeds given to charity! About the book: If we keep practicing, we might get good at it eventually. We all have a starting point in our personal "Lean journeys." Looking back at our first year of work in Lean or continuous improvement methodologies, we probably weren't very good at it. This is a compilation of those lessons and stories.
As of 7/1/2018, $3900 has been raised so far for the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. The book can now also be purchased through the Amazon Kindle Store. It can also be purchased as a paperback book. Or, select the audiobook package here on LeanPub to receive MP3 recordings along with the eBook formats. You can get the book for free, but we hope you'd choose to pay, as 100% of author proceeds are being donated. If you get the book for free and like it, please consider donating directly the Batz Foundation.
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?
We ended up with a diverse set of 16 contributors - manufacturing, healthcare, software, startups, etc. - from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom... a doctor, engineers, business owners, and other great leaders and change agents (although they'd be too humble to call themselves great).
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.
Podcast About the Book:
Listen to Ron Pereira interview Mark Graban about the book as part of the Gemba Academy Podcast.
About the Editor
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, professional speaker, and blogger. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus. For his full bio, visit www.MarkGraban.com.
His latest book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More: was initially published through LeanPub (now available through Amazon).
He is the author of the book Lean Hospitals, which was the first healthcare book selected for as a recipient of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. Mark has also co-authored Healthcare Kaizen and was the editor of the anthology Practicing Lean, which was published through LeanPub.