Real Lean: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two) Review

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Real Lean: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two) ReviewBob Emiliani is the author of the excellent "Better Thinking Better Results". In "Real Lean" Volumes 1 and 2 he turns his attention to a series of short essays on a broad range of areas in lean management. His arguments stress that "real lean" comprises both continuous improvement and respect for people (not just the former). He skilfully shows the roots of lean going back 100 years to Scientific Management, as well as exploring the original Japanese texts on lean from the 1980's. Waste in business, for example, is a topic that first received attention in 1925 !. Bob Emiliani also highlights the key elements in successful lean transformation and marks out the potential pitfalls and challenges any implementation may face.
The books provide an eclectic mix of essays covering a very broad range of material. They are all interesting and well written, though, if I have any criticism it is that the books lack a real focus (I would like more on how to counter the barriers identified); and probably dwell too much on the literature of the early 1900's.
The books frequently touch on the undesirable management behaviours of today's "I win you lose" world. He doesn't really give any ideas how to deal with these problems. However, I understand a third volume of "Real Lean" is due out soon and Bob's next book after that will be "Practical Lean Leadership" due in early 2008. I await these next steps with interest.
If you are an academic, student of lean, consultant or practitioner, these books are an engaging, thought provoking and easy read. They will give you a broader awareness of the evolution of lean though there is nothing here about doing lean on the shopfloor.Real Lean: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two) OverviewIn REAL LEAN - Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two), Bob Emiliani helps Lean management practitioners gain a greater awareness of the challenges they face when implementing Lean. In a lively and engaging style, he also provides additional explanation and critical analysis of the purposes, advantages, myths, and misinformation surrounding Lean management. The second volume builds upon the interesting and informative linkages to historical and long-forgotten perspectives that have contributed to the creation of Lean management as we know it today. As with volume one, REAL LEAN emphasizes Lean as a management system and the "Respect for People" principle because both are usually missing from the practice of Lean management today. Managers will find this book easy to read, amazingly insightful, and filled with practical information that will help them better comprehend and put REAL LEAN into practice every day.

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Streamlining Health Care Operations: How Lean Logistics Can Transform Organizations Review

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Streamlining Health Care Operations: How Lean Logistics Can Transform Organizations ReviewImagine picking up a book titled "Streamlining Your Diet for Good Health", and the principle message of the book is: "streamline your diet and you will become healthier". This book is pure rubbish. There is ZERO mention or dicussion of any lean tools, analysis methods or systems. The only mention of LEAN is in the title. Look in the Index and you will not see the term "Lean" anywhere. I can only imagine this author wanted to get attention for his book by including the word LEAN in the title. I hope you won't waste your money. At the time of this writing, 2005, there are only a handful of books which discuss how to apply Lean Production System methods to Healthcare. I cannot recommend ANY of them to the person responsible for implementing LEAN. The only book written that deserves some recognition is Donald Berwick's "Curing Healthcare". If you are a Healthcare practitioner who is responsible for eliminating waste and implementing a lean system, read one of the works written for manufacturing. Wherever you see the word 'manufacturing", substitute "healthcare". You will be better served reading about Lean Systems from someone who has actually done it versus someone "sermonizing" about it. After all, Lean is simply a "recipe" for how to see and minimize waste in an organization. Healthcare is an organization. There really is nothing significantly different about healthcare except for "personalities" and its rigid hierarchical "thinking". Start first with "Lean Production Simplified". Then read a good book on change management like John Kotter's "Heart of Change".
Beyond that, find a real lean "sensei". AVOID using a consultant just because he is near your location. There are still only a handful (literally) of Lean practitioners who really kow what they are doing here in America. Also don't be fooled by those universities who have put their otherwise good name on a group of people (Lean charlatans) who really can offer you nothing of value except a great looking "certificate".
PS Why isn't it possible to indicate a rating of ZERO stars?Streamlining Health Care Operations: How Lean Logistics Can Transform Organizations OverviewUsing the success of other industries as a model, this book promotes methodologies, indicators, and ideas that health care organizations can use to streamline their practices and maintain strong profit margins. Based on the core principles embodied in lean logistics-the systematic process of removing waste and inefficiency throughout the purchasing, supply, distribution, and business operations chain-Streamlining Health Care Operations shows health care leaders how to fundamentally restructure their organizations and effectively balance costs, quality, and patient access to excellent care.

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The Lean Primer: Solutions for the Job Shop Review

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The Lean Primer: Solutions for the Job Shop ReviewTHE LEAN PRIMER fills a void in the plethera of Lean books in the market. The simple explanation of Lean tools, as well as the actual plant examples, allow you to see these tools in action. What I really like about this book is the photos from shops that you can tell are in the midst of implementing Lean. No staged photos here in this book! Great job in making the bridge from all the other books on the tools and concepts to actual demonstrating it through examples.The Lean Primer: Solutions for the Job Shop OverviewThe Lean Primer will allow you to train the organization to understand how critical the implementation of Lean principles and processes are to your short and long term success. It will provide the various reasons why an organization must go Lean, as well as detailing what Lean is. Lean will be explained in the terms of Stabilize, Flow, and Sustain with reference to the following topics of lean vision, waste, value stream mapping, 5S, takt time, buffer and safety stock, continuous flow, standard work, quick changeover, kanban, visual controls, mistake-proofing, leveling, paced withdrawal, visual production control, runners, TPM, and kaizen. Each of these tools will also be explained with digital photos from world-class shops from across the US that shared their best practices.

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Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the Learning Organization Review

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Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the Learning Organization ReviewThe book is extremely refreshing and useful in terms of its different perspective from the conventional manufacturing management assumptions and theories, which still influence the America's management practices today. The book explores key manufacturing infrastructure issues such as capital budgeting, organization structure and performance measurement and demonstrates how these can affect, positively or negatively, the performance of the manufacturing companies in pursuing it sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors.
The book is well structured and the arguments are very consistent with one another. In analyzing different elements leading to a superior manufacturing organization,the importance of learning and adaptation to change are emphasized, while the difficulties of creating the new infrastructure that a company may encounter and the key role that management can play are also emphasized.
The points the authors propose are impressive using reliable case studies. For example, the case histories of the three presentative investment decisions that illustrate the problems with the modern capital budgeting paradigm are instrumental for better understanding. The calculations of total factor poductivity (TFP) for two contrasting products illustrate the TFP performance easurement technique convincingly. The tables and figures in each chapter, provided as further illustrations, also aid in generating neat and explicit explanations.
The author's treatment is complete since the book provides a great deal of information and shows today's managers why it is necessary and how to implement the fundamental changes if they want to create a world-class organization that builds a competitive advantage through manufacturing excellence. It is very comprehensive in addressing issues associated with creating and managing a dynamic, learning manufacturing organization at the corporation level and at the factory level. However, not all the technical details are provided in the sense that the book is more a "know-why" than "know-how" guidance.
The book is directed at managers throughout a manufacturing company, not just the management of the manufacturing function. In my opinion, capital investors, top management, manufacturing managers, project managers, industrial engineers, design engineers, and any other ambitious engineers in manufacturing companies should read this book carefully and keep in mind some insights and principles that the authors address in the book. As advocated by the authors, "learning is the bottom line".
...Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the Learning Organization OverviewIt is management, and particularly managers' willingness to learn and change -- not unfair competition or unsupportive economic policies -- that is at the heart of America's manufacturing crisis, contend Robert Hayes, Steven Wheelwright, and Kim Clark. These world-renowned authorities on manufacturing and technology base their conclusion on studies of hundreds of American and foreign firms. Writing for general managers in this long-awaited successor to their award-winning Restoring Our Competitive Edge, the authors go beyond the structural decisions -- the "bricks and mortar" of facilities and equipment -- to the infrastructure of a manufacturing company: the management policies, systems, and practices that must be at the core of a world-class organization. Most importantly, they address the difficulty of creating that infrastructure, emphasizing the management leadership and vision that are required. This thorough and comprehensive volume points out the weaknesses of traditional management practices, which are built into authoritarian, hierarchical organizations. The authors show dramatically how many companies today are breaking out of this "command and control" mentality and creating a whole new set of relationships involving workers and managers, engineering, marketing and manufacturing, and suppliers and customers, which is giving them a competitive advantage in the international marketplace. Comparing the companies that are winning with those that are losing market position, Hayes, Wheelwright, and Clark conclude that the key differences are that the winners focus on creating value for customers, continual improvement, quick adaptability to change, and extracting the full potential of their human resources. They constantly strive to be better, placing great emphasis on experimentation, integration, training, and the building of critical organizational capabilities. They are, in short, "learning" organizations. Dynamic Manufacturing explores in depth such key infrastructure issues as capital budgeting, performance measurement, organizational structure, and human resource management, demonstrating how they interact to foster productivity growth, new product development, and competitive advantage. The book shows today's managers how to implement the changes that must be made if they want to create a truly superior manufacturing company. Taking concerned, committed managers step-by-step on the path toward better products, lower costs, and increased profits, this seminal work provides a road map for manufacturing firms seeking to build a competitive advantage through manufacturing excellence.

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Theory of Constraints Handbook Review

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Theory of Constraints Handbook ReviewI have had many handbooks over the years. Some were good and most were lacking. This has to be the best handbook I have read. The sections cover topics such as supply chain, quality and project management, just to name a few. There is enough detail from implementation in each section. Even with different authors, there is not overlap of material. The language and diagrams are consistent throughout the handbook, which can be difficult when different authors are involved. Each section is written by a LEADER of TOC. I also like the appendix that points to other books that might be helpful if more detail is needed. I would recommend this handbook for all levels of knowledge of TOC.Theory of Constraints Handbook Overview
The definitive guide to the theory of constraints
In this authoritative volume, the world's top Theory of Constraints (TOC) experts reveal how to implement the ground-breaking management and improvement methodology developed by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Theory of Constraints Handbook offers an in-depth examination of this revolutionary concept of bringing about global organization performance improvement by focusing on a few leverage points of the system. Clear explanations supplemented by examples and case studies define how the theory works, why it works, what issues are resolved, and what benefits accrue, and demonstrate how TOC can be applied to different industries and situations.
Theory of Constraints Handbook covers:
Critical Chain Project Management for realizing major improvements in delivering projects on time, to specification, and within budget
Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR), Buffer Management, and distribution for maximizing throughput and minimizing flow time
Performance measures for applying Throughput Accounting to improve organizational performance
Strategy, marketing, and sales techniques designed to increase sales closing rates and Throughput
Thinking Processes for simple and complex environments
TOC methods to ensure that services actions support escalating demand for services while retaining financial viability
Integrating the TOC Thinking Processes, the Strategy and Tactic Tree, TOC measurements, the Five Focusing Steps of TOC, and Six Sigma as a system of tools for sustainable improvement


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Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development Review

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Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development ReviewWhen I was a C++ programmer in the early 90's Coplien's Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms was a source of interview material when looking for programmers. It's a good bet that this book may fill the same role for those looking to see if candidates for architect roles understand what it means to be an architect in a Lean or Agile Organization. This book dispels the myth that Agile and Architecture don't go together and explains the balance between Agile architecture and too much Big Up Front Design. This book emphasizes the importance of frequent collaboration between stakeholders in defining a good architecture and helps you to understand the importance of architecture to the success of agile projects. With code examples throughout, this book emphasizes that architecture and coding must go together. After describing some general principles of how architecture can add value to an agile project, the authors explain the Data Context, Interaction (DCI) architecture, which provides an framework for building lean architectures. My one minor complaint is that the transition between the general discussions of lean architecture and the focused discussion of DCI was a bit abrupt. But this was a minor distraction from an enjoyable and informative read. Rich with citations, places to go for more information, and historical context, this book will be useful for anyone who is struggling with how to build systems that need to support complicated user interactions (which could describe most non-trivial systems).Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development OverviewMore and more Agile projects are seeking architectural roots as they struggle with complexity and scale - and they're seeking lightweight ways to do it
Still seeking? In this book the authors help you to find your own path
Taking cues from Lean development, they can help steer your project toward practices with longstanding track records
Up-front architecture? Sure. You can deliver an architecture as code that compiles and that concretely guides development without bogging it down in a mass of documents and guesses about the implementation
Documentation? Even a whiteboard diagram, or a CRC card, is documentation: the goal isn't to avoid documentation, but to document just the right things in just the right amount
Process? This all works within the frameworks of Scrum, XP, and other Agile approaches


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Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World Review

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Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World ReviewGreat book! It's not really technical, it doesn't have script examples, and doesn't enter into the use-this-tool vs. that-tool debate. It's not specific to a particular set of tools, which is great. The value of this book is that it focuses more on establishing approaches to SCM. Items include how to attack SCM problems, items to consider, and even how to approach things from a people perspective. Often we get so focused on the technical side we may miss the people side. I will be using what I've learned from this book.
Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World OverviewSuccessfully Implement High-Value Configuration Management Processes in Any Development EnvironmentAs IT systems have grown increasingly complex and mission-critical, effective configuration management (CM) has become critical to an organization's success. Using CM best practices, IT professionals can systematically manage change, avoiding unexpected problems introduced by changes to hardware, software, or networks. Now, today's best CM practices have been gathered in one indispensable resource showing you how to implement them throughout any agile or traditional development organization. Configuration Management Best Practices is practical, easy to understand and apply, and fully reflects the day-to-day realities faced by practitioners. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs thoroughly address all six "pillars" of CM: source code management, build engineering, environment configuration, change control, release engineering, and deployment. They demonstrate how to implement CM in ways that support software and systems development, meet compliance rules such as SOX and SAS-70, anticipate emerging standards such as IEEE/ISO 12207, and integrate with modern frameworks such as ITIL, COBIT, and CMMI. Coverage includesUsing CM to meet business objectives, contractual requirements, and compliance rules Enhancing quality and productivity through lean processes and "just-in-time" process improvement Getting off to a good start in organizations without effective CM Implementing a Core CM Best Practices Framework that supports the entire development lifecycle Mastering the "people" side of CM: rightsizing processes, overcoming resistance, and understanding workplace psychology Architecting applications to take full advantage of CM best practices Establishing effective IT controls and compliance Managing tradeoffs and costs and avoiding expensive pitfallsConfiguration Management Best Practices is the essential resource for everyone concerned with CM: from CTOs and CIOs to development, QA, and project managers and software engineers to analysts, testers, and compliance professionals.Praise for Configuration Management Best Practices"Understanding change is critical to any attempt to manage change. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs's Configuration Management Best Practices presents fundamental definitions and explanations to help practitioners understand change and its potential impact."–Mary Lou A. Hines Fritts, CIO and Vice Provost Academic Programs, University of Missouri-Kansas City"Few books on software configuration management emphasize the role of people and organizational context in defining and executing an effective SCM process. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs's book will give you the information you need not only to manage change effectively but also to manage the transition to a better SCM process."–Steve Berczuk, Agile Software Developer, and author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration"Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs succeed handsomely in producing an important book, at a practical and balanced level of detail, for this topic that often 'goes without saying' (and hence gets many projects into deep trouble). Their passion for the topic shows as they cover a wonderful range of topics–even culture, personality, and dealing with resistance to change–in an accessible form that can be applied to any project. The software industry has needed a book like this for a long time!"–Jim Brosseau, Clarrus Consulting Group, and author of Software Teamwork: Taking Ownership for Success"A must read for anyone developing or managing software or hardware projects. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs are able to bridge the language gap between the myriad of communities involved with successful Configuration Management implementations. They describe practical, real world practices that can be implemented by developers, managers, standard makers, and even Classical CM Folk."–Bob Ventimiglia, Bobev Consulting"A fresh and smart review of today's key concepts of SCM, build management, and related key practices on day-to-day software engineering. From the voice of an expert, Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs offer an invaluable resource to success in SCM."–Pablo Santos Luaces, CEO of Codice Software"Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs have a gift for stimulating the types of conversation and thought that necessarily precede needed organizational change. What they have to say is always interesting and often important."–Marianne Bays, Business Consultant, Manager and Educator

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Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach Review

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Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach ReviewThis a broad and deep book on all things software architecture except the architecting process (for process, one recommended read is "Process Software Architecting" by Eeles/Cripps). Several readerships will benefit from "Just Enough Software Architecture":
- As an experienced IT architect, I do not necessarily agree with everything in the book (this does not come as a surprise, as architects have opinions). That said, I certainly learned a lot that I can apply immediately on my projects and some of the more provocative statements challenge me to leave my comfort zone (or at least consider doing so).
- Junior architects can use the book both as a tutorial and as a reference when/while growing in their profession.
- Developers with a "who needs architects" mindset (hopefully) will understand architects and modelers much better after having read this book, and appreciate the value of archtecture.
Things I liked in particular:
- Overall vision and message of pragmatism sent
- The risk-driven approach increases chances to get accepted both in agile development and in more traditional architecture communities
- There is a lot of practical advice e.g. in Chapters 10, 11 and 15
- The author is in command of a large body of relevant related work (both industra and academia) and puts them in perspective adequately
- Editorial quality: structure, figures, command of the English language (some words and expressions a bit be hard to comprehend for non-native speaker)
Some room for improvements (2nd edition?):
- Not all metaphors and analogies work internationally, e.g. not all IT people are sports fans that follow baseball or know what a rookie is
- The connection between parts 1 and 2 could be a bit stronger, even if loose coupling generally is a good thing; e.g., some more backward references
In summary, I'd say Just Enough Software Architecture is a highly recommended read for every architect in touch with development reality and every developer with a desire to build complex systems that will stand the test of time.Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach OverviewThis is a practical guide for software developers, and different than other software architecture books. Here's why:
It teaches risk-driven architecting. There is no need for meticulous designs when risks are small, nor any excuse for sloppy designs when risks threaten your success. This book describes a way to do just enough architecture. It avoids the one-size-fits-all process tar pit with advice on how to tune your design effort based on the risks you face.
It democratizes architecture. This book seeks to make architecture relevant to all software developers. Developers need to understand how to use constraints as guiderails that ensure desired outcomes, and how seemingly small changes can affect a system's properties.
It cultivates declarative knowledge. There is a difference between being able to hit a ball and knowing why you are able to hit it, what psychologists refer to as procedural knowledge versus declarative knowledge. This book will make you more aware of what you have been doing and provide names for the concepts.
It emphasizes the engineering. This book focuses on the technical parts of software development and what developers do to ensure the system works not job titles or processes. It shows you how to build models and analyze architectures so that you can make principled design tradeoffs. It describes the techniques software designers use to reason about medium to large sized problems and points out where you can learn specialized techniques in more detail.
It provides practical advice. Software design decisions influence the architecture and vice versa. The approach in this book embraces drill-down/pop-up behavior by describing models that have various levels of abstraction, from architecture to data structure design.

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