Bringing humanity back into customer support
INTERVIEW – We have come to dread having to interact with customer support representatives, and quite rightly so. Basecamp has made it a mission to bring humanity back to this interaction.
Learning organization
Lean Thinking: ingredients, incubation and diffusion
FEATURE – The author offers an overview of the ingredients that made lean thinking what it is, of the 30 years of incubation it underwent at Toyota, and of its diffusion from 1980 onwards.
Using lean to gain a competitive advantage
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – In the web marketing world, a competitive advantage is a matter of life and death for businesses. The author meets a firm that has been leveraging lean to gain one.
Start your change project with a concept paper
FEATURE – This article offers an exhaustive explanation of how to prepare a Concept Paper and why this is a tool that will help us to succeed in the execution of large change projects.
Drawing inspiration from a factory’s kaizens and dojos
BUILDING BRIDGES – This month, a CTO explains how his software company borrowed the kaizen spirit – and the idea of a dojo – from an avionics factory and put it to good use.
Learning to think holistically about customer value
PROFILE – The leader we profile today has a holistic view of the digital world. He brought Agile to Australia, and after embracing lean thinking he has helped to make REA Group one of the country's best digital brands.
Better learning in Italian high schools using lean and Scrum
FEATURE – Is the traditional teaching model used in our schools obsolete? A high school in Italy has been experimenting with lean thinking and Scrum applied to students’ learning, and the results have been enlightening.
The kind of leadership mindset making lean possible
FEATURE – Using Carol Dweck’s distinction between fixed and growth mindsets, the author discusses how leaders should think and act to make lean possible. Looks like no fixed mindset is beyond saving.
Our editor offers a roundup of our best content of 2017
ROUND-UP – Looking back at the year that just ended, our editor Roberto Priolo reflects on the power and reach of lean thinking, and offers us a round-up of the best content from 2017.
Why we should create a learning environment in our companies
COLUMN – Creating a learning environment that welcomes problems and experimentation and adapts to market changes should be our main objective. So why do we stick to obsolete ways to teach and develop people?
Thinking lean is like playing music: meet the lean fiddler
PROFILE – Persevering, letting people inspire you and committing to continuous learning. These are the things you need to do to successfully embrace lean thinking and, it turns out, learn to play the violin.
A lean plan exists, but it’s not a way to please the boss
FEATURE – Is there such a thing as a lean plan? There is, but it's not an off-the-shelf solution that will appease your boss – and that's why traditional, bureaucratic organizations continue to exist.
To master lean thinking, lead with lean thinking
FEATURE – When lean seems to fail, leaders should persist and work even harder to bring people on the journey - by observing the situation, providing clear success criteria, and learning together on the job. That's what leading with lean is about.
Planet Lean editor looks back at the best articles of 2016
EDITOR’S LETTER – What a year 2016 has been! Many of us will be happy to see it go, but with challenging times comes a great opportunity for reflection. Our editor looks back at the best content of the past year.