Archive for August, 2007
The Gemba is the Dojo
In my Wing Chun training, my Sifu emphasizes the “learn as you go” philosophy — that is, I learn the material slowly, but my way of learning is also emerging — that is my capability to learn gets better and my capacity to learn increases. This notion is very much what I also experienced at Toyota and, might help to explain, why so many companies outside of Toyota are now trying to adopt The Toyota Production System — from healthcare to government to ecommerce (such as Amazon.com — Jeff Bezos is a Lean Manufacturing fanatic). Today, I want to explicate on the Toyota notion of how the Gemba is the Dojo.
In my Wing Chun training, my Sifu emphasizes the “learn as you go” philosophy — that is, I learn the material slowly, but my way of learning is also emerging — that is my capability to learn gets better and my capacity to learn increases. This notion is very much what I also experienced at Toyota and, might help to explain, why so many companies outside of Toyota are now trying to adopt The Toyota Production System — from healthcare to government to ecommerce (such as Amazon.com — Jeff Bezos is a Lean Manufacturing fanatic). Today, I want to explicate on the Toyota notion of how the Gemba is the Dojo.
Aza Raskin on Feature Bloat & Clutter
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
Aza Raskin on Quasimodal Design & The ATM
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
Aza Raskin on Poka-Yoke & Humane Interfaces
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
In a previous post on Ethnography, I invited Aza Raskin, founder of Humanized, a company that designs more humane products — from consumer packaged goods to software interfaces — and, son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh and author of The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
Wing Chun & Lean Manufacturing
I recently started studying Wing Chun. I had previously taken martial arts — about 12 years ago. I studied juijitsu and a little arnis; in juijitsu, I obtained my blue belt, but since then, I haven’t done any martial arts. I am very excited to be studying Wing Chun and feel honored to be connected to the Wing Chun lineage of Bruce Lee.
I recently started studying Wing Chun. I had previously taken martial arts — about 12 years ago. I studied juijitsu and a little arnis; in juijitsu, I obtained my blue belt, but since then, I haven’t done any martial arts. I am very excited to be studying Wing Chun and feel honored to be connected to the Wing Chun lineage of Bruce Lee.
Advisory Board at iSixSigma Magazine
I have accepted a board position at iSixSigma Magazine. This is typically a one year, nominated position; I’m honored and look forward to contributing.
If you are not currently a subscriber to the magazine, I’d seriously consider it: compared to other publications on quality, I consider iSixSigma to be above par. The magazine has ~6,000 subscribers and a readership of about ~23,000. There are a lot of companies that subscribe to the magazine.
I have accepted a board position at iSixSigma Magazine. This is typically a one year, nominated position; I’m honored and look forward to contributing.
If you are not currently a subscriber to the magazine, I’d seriously consider it: compared to other publications on quality, I consider iSixSigma to be above par. The magazine has ~6,000 subscribers and a readership of about ~23,000. There are a lot of companies that subscribe to the magazine.
A Lean Case Interview
Suppose you were presented with the following:
"You have been hired to help a fast food franchise, a market leader in the South West Region of the U.S. This franchise collects and reports on a metric they call "scrap rate". Scrap Rate has been increasing for the previous 3 quarters for this 60 store franchise. This problem was costing this franchise ~ $35K/month.
Suppose you were presented with the following:
"You have been hired to help a fast food franchise, a market leader in the South West Region of the U.S. This franchise collects and reports on a metric they call "scrap rate". Scrap Rate has been increasing for the previous 3 quarters for this 60 store franchise. This problem was costing this franchise ~ $35K/month.
Timeline — Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, & Amazon
Back by popular demand, I’ve updated the ajax, draggable timeline of mergers & acquisitions completed by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Amazon.
The timeline only looks at mergers and acquisitions from 2000 on, not before. Click on the image below and Enjoy!
For articles on queueing theory, time-traps, operations, lean and six sigma, please visit the links below:
Back by popular demand, I’ve updated the ajax, draggable timeline of mergers & acquisitions completed by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Amazon.
The timeline only looks at mergers and acquisitions from 2000 on, not before. Click on the image below and Enjoy!
For articles on queueing theory, time-traps, operations, lean and six sigma, please visit the links below:
