Sunday, October 25, 2009

Lean Thinking - is it really alien?

In a recent post on Twitter I asked why people mislike "lean".

It seems that often in life only the lean tools are applied without explaining the principles behind it.

So the question is what mental model is leading people into thinking that "Lean is Alien"?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Ralf,
why do you think, people are anti-lean? Maybe they don't know about a lean tools?

Dirk

RalfLippold said...

Hello Dirk,

Thanks for your questions.

The last reaction was when somebody was asking about my job and what I would do. This was on a public Skype chat and as soon as I stated "Lean Thinking" his reaction was "Oh, now we are going OT". To my surprise OT means "off topic" and he didn't want to keep the conversation public. His first comment while chatting one-on-one was "Lean Management, that are that rationalize everything".

Lean Thinking is in plain English (without any specific tools): doing things easier and with less resources than today.

So, I wonder what is driving people to think about the topic in a negative way?

Ralf

RalfLippold said...

If something is leading to bad or unwanted results, there always is another way - as with everything in life;-)

The question that arises is, "How to reshift the own thinking towards a changed perception?"

Lean Thinking, saving resources in order to produce value (same or more than before), doesn't that sound pretty much like sustainability?

I am quite positive that Lean Thinking is the beginning of sustainability:-) Reframing the inherent thinking about the industrial use of this approach will lead to exceptional results!

What examples of lean in such way have you seen in your life?