Wading In The Value Stream

Karen Martin, author of Shingo prize-winning The Outstanding Organization, is out with a new book with coauthor Mike Osterling, on a key tool used by “lean” advocates: Value Stream Mapping. (That’s both the tool and the title of the book.) This book clarifies and simplifies something that stymies many people, myself included. For that reason […]

How To Be Outstanding

A few weeks ago, on a typical Monday, a friend asked me how my weekend was. Normally I give a one-word answer like “great!” or “excellent!” The words don’t really mean anything, as they’re along the line of the knee-jerk “how-are-you-good-how-about-yourself” exchange we make with the cashier at the grocery store. This particular Monday, though, […]