Lean Lessons from St. Patrick: A Saintly Guide to Continuous Improvement
- Leadership
- March 16, 2026

Today’s post marks a bit of a milestone for me, as this post is the 1,000th one since I started this blog back in May 2009. This is a big milestone for me as I’ve never seen myself as a writer and when I started, I wasn’t sure where it would lead. This blog is
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On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on
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Value Stream Mapping is a foundational approach to visualizing your systems to optimize value through focused improvements. My good friend Karen Martin and Mike Osterling present a detailed guide to this approach in their book Value Stream Mapping. Karen and Mike attempt to address 3 common gaps in value stream mapping (VSM): 1) Unfamiliarity with
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Last week on The Lean Edge authors were asked about the role of a sensei: What is your experience of working with sensei, and what advice should we give executives seeking to learn lean deeply regarding senseis? It is a very good question so I wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. Lean manufacturing
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On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on
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A common question by those just starting down a Lean journey is how do you find time for improvement. “You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” – Charles Buxton (Philanthropist and Politician) It is an age-old battle — production time versus improvement time. Two worthy rivals attempting
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