We are struggling to form these groups. They are intended to be full-scope system learning laboratories, larger than the internal operations that are the usual domains in which lean conversions begin. There are similarities, however. We’re looking, for example, for a...
Suppose you have made the commitment to make dramatic changes reducing use of resources. Now what do I do personally? What should a company do? Experience with lean operations is good training for the next transition. Our friends in Australia, Ian Young and Anthony...
Innovation is widely regarded as the key to the future. Almost everyone wants to promote innovation, but nearly all of us dislike change disrupting our life. So why must we innovate? Beyond the sheer joy of being cool, why innovate? Promoters of innovation note that...
Why should we establish local issue learning groups? They should become learning laboratories to guide us into practical systems thinking while making headway on local problems. Global problems are too big and diverse for single, actionable treatment. The global...
All industrial societies depend on generated energy. Even the sensors and devices needed for the internet of things talking to each other require energy. The internet of things is coming on fast – and befuddling many of us. To improve quality of life globally while...
Why do we need Issue Learning Groups, which we’ve called by other names: Action Learning Groups or Vigorous Learning Groups? Because we need to learn how to improve systems (or processes) on which we depend while reducing the level of resources we consume. No one can...
Most readers know the Deming Circle, Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA, a problem solving logic that is often expressed in other formats like DMAIC or C4. Likewise, systems thinking is packaged in a variety of flavors but with a common theme of taking big-scope,...
One of the more interesting exposes of the media business is Trust Me. I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator, by Ryan Holiday, who became fed up with the games at which he was a master well before his 30th birthday. We swim in an ocean of this stuff, so books...