2 Second Lean 3rd Edition Book Review

Paul Akers, founder and president of FastCap, has published his first book 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture at Work and at Home. I have been following Paul for several years as he has built FastCap into one of the model Lean Companies in this modern age. So now that Paul has published his story I was delighted to take the opportunity to learn more.

2 Second Lean is different than most books on the marketing written about Lean manufacturing/thinking. This book isn’t really about Lean or continuous improvement but rather the transformation of a leader. The story chronicles one man’s personal journey with the discovery of Lean and how he implemented it in his business and personal life. This personal touch makes the lessons Paul presents more relevant and lasting.

Paul describes his personal journey beginning with a total ignorance of Lean thinking, all the way to being one of Lean's greatest success stories. Paul illustrates the struggle many organizations face when their understanding of Lean is centered only around tools. To quote Paul, “Using Lean as only a tool will leave you disappointed. It is much more than that.” He learns from Domo Arigoto, Vice President of Lexus, “The most important thing for Toyota is people – teaching and training people in a culture of continuous improvement.” This is the turning point for Paul and FastCap.

In 2 Second Lean Paul outlines the steps that he personally used to transform the culture of FastCap. His approach may be a bit unorthodox as he advocates starting in the bathroom but it is simplicity that he is after. Throughout the book Paul breaks down the concepts and thinking into simple easy to understand lessons. 

This book is a very quick read but offers a number of great resources buried within its covers. There are lots of colorful photos and examples throughout the book. If that wasn’t enough Paul even uses QR Codes to link to information and videos on his websites for more detailed learning. The end of each chapter concludes with “The One Thing” which is a synopsis of what you just learned which is followed up by questions to make you act on your own situation. This reinforces the lessons and substantiates the learning for readers. 

There is an audio version of the book that recorded. This is a real treat to listen to since Paul is such a passionate personality. Anyone who knows Paul knows the energy he brings to this topic. Paul goes off script from the book but adds great value. Since the stories are so personal he ad libs throughout the recording adding some new tibits to ponder.

Paul says’, “At the end of the day everyone is a process engineer.” If you want something to stick as a leader you must expect it, inspect it, and reinforce it. Paul has simplified a rather complex process down into a simple phrase: "Identify what bugs you and fix it." Paul shows us that Lean can and should be fun.

In the 3rd edition Paul added 5 new chapters which basically answer common questions he gets. There a is a chapter on Lean Leadership why you want a Lean All-Star. Paul talks about the use of videos to put Lean on afterburners. He also shares his new building and how Lean thinking was incorporated in the design. There is also a chapter on touring his company FastCap.

I highly recommend reading this book and even further endorse the audio portion. You will find 2 Second Lean a fun, memorable, and valuable account into Lean. This story and its lessons is something everyone can benefit from personally and professionally.

2 Second Lean Book Review

Paul Akers, founder and president of FastCap, has published his first book 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture at Work and at Home. I have been following Paul for several years as he has built FastCap into one of the model Lean Companies in this modern age. So now that Paul has published his story I was delighted to take the opportunity to learn more.

2 Second Lean is different than most books on the marketing written about Lean manufacturing/thinking. This book isn’t really about Lean or continuous improvement but rather the transformation of a leader. The story chronicles one man’s personal journey with the discovery of Lean and how he implemented it in his business and personal life. This personal touch makes the lessons Paul presents more relevant and lasting.

Paul describes his personal journey beginning with a total ignorance of Lean thinking, all the way to being one of Lean's greatest success stories. Paul illustrates the struggle many organizations face when their understanding of Lean is centered only around tools. To quote Paul, “Using Lean as only a tool will leave you disappointed. It is much more than that.” He learns from Domo Arigoto, Vice President of Lexus, “The most important thing for Toyota is people – teaching and training people in a culture of continuous improvement.” This is the turning point for Paul and FastCap.

In 2 Second Lean Paul outlines the steps that he personally used to transform the culture of FastCap. His approach may be a bit unorthodox as he advocates starting in the bathroom but it is simplicity that he is after. Throughout the book Paul breaks down the concepts and thinking into simple easy to understand lessons.

This book is a very quick read but offers a number of great resources buried within its covers. There are lots of colorful photos and examples throughout the book. If that wasn’t enough Paul even uses QR Codes to link to information and videos on his websites for more detailed learning. The end of each chapter concludes with “The One Thing” which is a synopsis of what you just learned which is followed up by questions to make you act on your own situation. This reinforces the lessons and substantiates the learning for readers.

There is an audio version of the book that recorded. This is a real treat to listen to since Paul is such a passionate personality. Anyone who knows Paul knows the energy he brings to this topic. Paul goes off script from the book but adds great value. Since the stories are so personal he ad libs throughout the recording adding some new tibits to ponder.

Paul says’, “At the end of the day everyone is a process engineer.” If you want something to stick as a leader you must expect it, inspect it, and reinforce it. Paul has simplified a rather complex process down into a simple phrase: "Identify what bugs you and fix it." Paul shows us that Lean can and should be fun.

I highly recommend reading this book and even further endorse the audio portion. You will find 2 Second Lean a fun, memorable, and valuable account into Lean. This story and its lessons is something everyone can benefit from personally and professionally.

Book Review: Lean Travel

Paul Akers is the founder and president of FastCap, a product development company specializing in woodworking tools and hardware for the professional builder. Paul is an energetic speaker whose core passion is helping people discover their full potential and showing others how to implement Lean in their business and personal life.

Paul learned to embrace adventure and pursue excellence from his father when he earned the rank of Eagle Scout at the young age of 14. About 10 years ago, Paul decided that he wanted to become a world-class giver. From experience in order to have a great travel experience, you must approach it from the standpoint that you are going to treat all the people you encounter with dignity and respect, understanding that they are working hard to help you have a great trip. If you regularly give them your respect, your smile, your encouragement, and your gratitude, your travel will be a blessing!

In addition to being grateful, another way to make your travel experience more fulfilling is to live by the adage that "less is more". In a Lean Travel context, this means travel light. simple two-second improvement can make travel more effective and enjoyable.

Paul is now an avid traveler and shares his advice and tips for making travel easy and efficient in his book “Lean Travel”. He ties everything back to lean concepts and the 8 forms of waste.

To make it easier for readers, Paul includes a section that explicitly summarizes it into just one simple concept. For example, in his first book, 2 Second Lean, the goal was to teach the reader to “learn to see waste.” In his second book, Lean Health, he said he wanted you to “treat your body like you would treat a Ferrari.” With Lean Travel, he wanted to show you how to “travel light and with a grateful heart.”

As you start this book, there are two main parts of his philosophy understand. First, what you give in the travel experience will have a profound impact on how much you enjoy it. Second, the less you bring and the lighter you travel, the more you will be able to feel and adapt to the fantastic trade winds of the travel experience. So travel with a full heart and a light suitcase!

This book teaches you how he applied Lean principals in an edgy way to improve every aspect of the way he travels. If you love travel and adventure you’ll enjoy the stories and tips to make your next trip better. If you are Lean enthusiast like Paul and myself they’ll enjoy the application of lean thinking in a personal way.

Paul offers the book for free online with many resources and videos to support his teachings. If you have a chance to listen to the audio you’ll enjoy the many off script additions that show his personality and make it an adventure.

Lean and Metrics The FastCap Way

Paul Akers from FastCap answers the question from a follower on what Lean is and what metrics you measure in a Lean environment. Paul’s response is a great one and worth repeating. The following key points summarize Lean and Lean Metrics:

1) Make Lean so simple anyone can understand it.
2) Fix what bugs you and improve it everyday.
3) Every employee must make a 2 sec improvement everyday.
4) People fail sometimes and solutions may not valid but you learn from that.
5) Create a routine like: start day with Sweep, Sort, Standardize, then improvement time, then morning meeting.
6) Give people time everyday to experiment, train, and teach.
7) Simple metrics –
           a) 1 improvement everyday
           b) Orders out in 2 hours
           c) Less than 1 mistake a week
           d) Want customers to rave about us
8) Defects are something the customer sees.
9) Develop the skill and capacity to solve problems by everyone everyday.

Here is Paul in his own words:



Paul says he likes Lean compared to other methodologies because it is focused on the individual, respect for their creativity, and brings them into the process on a daily basis.

What do you think? Did Paul Akers get it right?

Lean and 5S at Home with Paul Akers

Followers on this site know I have a fondness for Paul Akers as you can see from all these posts. He has found brilliant ways to simplify and share the message of continuous improvement. With Paul's 2 Second Lean book he is helping people grow and build a fun Lean Culture.

In a recent video by Paul, he again takes us home to share lessons on Lean. He focuses on using 5S elements to organize his home office and bathroom.  These improvements center around making tasks easier therefore saving him time.



Hopefully, you are applying continuous improvement thinking in your life and this will give you some ideas for your home and office.

Goal: 2 Second Improvement Every Day for Life

Paul Akers describes his approach to teaching lean principles of productivity improvement this way: “All I do is ask everybody to make a two-second improvement a day for the rest of their life.” An accumulation of two-second improvements and a relentless emphasis on lean methods have helped build FastCap from a single product—a peel-and-stick cover for cabinetry holes—into a $10-million-a-year business with dozens of tools and products, and with a goal of introducing at least one product a month.

In this video Paul explains what 2 second Lean means and how this works to transform your environment for a lifetime.





What do you think does Paul Akers have the right approach?


Stay connect to A Lean Journey on our Facebook page or LinkedIn group.
Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on Linkedin. 
You can also subscribe to this feed or email to stay updated on all posts.

Paul Akers Shares Tips for Morning Meetings

What's the point of the morning meeting? Paul Akers says it is about building a team. You can not build a team when the leader is talking. The leader must ask employees questions so they talk. When employees talk you are building a team.  What do you ask? Ask them "what bugs you?" Problems are not the employees fault. Management is to blame.

Paul shares a number of tips about establishing your own morning meeting.

Lean Defined by Paul Akers

In this new video by Paul Akers, he takes some time define Lean.  It is not about efficiency or killing muda.  Lean is about 2 elements: 1) Learning to see waste 2) Eliminating waste with small continuous improvement with everything endlessly. You can't be "Lean".  Lean is a journey. The big Muda that starts the waste cycle is over-production, as it causes all the other wastes.

Lean is seeing the eight wastes and then eliminating them through deliberate, consistent, endless, relentless, fanatical continuous improvement of everything you do everyday for the rest of your life to serve your customer. 

Paul says this is the most important video he has produced.  What do you think?