Now that according to Marc Andreessen “Software is eating the world,” more and more companies look for Agile as the rescue to address the challenge of digitalization. This makes complete sense, because if every company becomes a software company (also if it doesn’t know it yet) and if Agile is the approach for software development, why not taking Agile to the company […]
Have you ever experienced burnout at work? The Chances are that you probably have without even knowing it. Occupational burnout has become such a regular occurrence in the lives of knowledge-work professionals, particularly considering today’s ever-increasing demands. Many of us aren’t even aware of how close we might be to burning out, or – worse […]
Part 1 of this article provided some practical tips about the very basis of practicing Lean management – applying the 5 principles of Lean in practice. In part 2, you’ll learn the characteristics of an effective lean team, and how to achieve them. Characteristics of an Effective Lean Team All managers know that there are […]
One of the key benefits of Lean is that teams are largely autonomous and self-organizing. The assumption is that every team member knows what is expected of them and when, and are able to work independently on tasks and deliver quality work with little oversight. However, this basic assumption of autonomy and self-sufficiency does not […]
How does it happen that all living beings, from a single cell organism to a human body, know how to grow, adapt to an environment, simply keep living? Even if each cell is a complex and relatively independent piece of machinery, a synchronization at a higher level (tissues, organs) is achieved by receiving and processing […]
When I was a senior manager, fresh ways to look at old situations were always welcome. Now that I’m a consultant and coach, approaching new situations in a Lean way is a key part of the job! Let me introduce three organisational perspectives that I have found helpful: Right to left Outside in Upside down […]
The term continuous improvement is fairly self-explanatory. It almost seems too simple, but this industry buzzword is about continually improving your business, processes, and way of working. How you go about studying, planning, implementing and evolving that improvement is where it gets more complicated. You need to encourage a philosophy of constant, logical, and sustainable improvement […]
Project managers have a lot of people to keep happy. There’s senior management and there’s the client. Then, there are those folks too often overlooked in the project success equation: the team of contributors who are on the ground doing the work. Trying to juggle all these interests, agendas, and priorities can result in a […]
Lean is focused on delivering value to the customer, but never at the expense of the employee. Lean systems believe that empowered employees, treated with respect, are essential for delivering value. This means that the Lean principles not only can be employed by whole companies or whole teams, but can even be adopted at the […]
Organizations generally adopt Lean to move the needle on specific indicators. They want to be more productive, improve the health of the organization, or increase revenue. But the Lean concept isn’t simply about improving metrics; it is about changing the culture. And changing the culture begins with leadership. Everyone from the top down needs to […]