Wastes Hides in Plain Sight

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In Lean Management, the phrase “learn to see” was not coined by accident. John Shook and company chose a great term to describe the transformation that happens when individuals and organizations learn the difference between value, waste, and they begin to see old things in new ways.

Waste hides in plain site. Yet it hides well – very well. What needs to change is how we see. We must learn to see ¹.

The current Lean movement, however, is overly-focused on tools, value stream icons, etc. But, there is an art of Lean as well as a science to Lean.

For example, Socratic dialogue is often how Lean is taught, with the aim of stretching the student. But, there’s an art to that approach – being sensitive enough to what the student needs, what he needs to learn, and when to back off and when to step in.

Yes, Waste hides in plain sight. We must learn to see and allow that new Lean Thinking mindset to spur us to action.