//podcastplus.net/feed/lean-blog-audio~59b3ab7c Mark Graban reads and expands upon selected posts from LeanBlog.org. Topics include Lean principles and leadership in healthcare, manufacturing, business, and the world around us.Learn more at http://www.leanblog.org/audio Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lean-blog-audio/support Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:05:32 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/54337437/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2022-6-3%2Ffd777502-aee9-2a0b-df43-546c62c3e66c.mp3 Episode #319 -- read the blog post that contains video of the webinar A contractor unplugged my WiFi router. Or was there more to it than that? Instead of blaming somebody else, what mistakes did I make that led to the Q&A section of my webinar being knocked offline? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Sun, 03 Jul 2022 14:21:40 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/54337437/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2022-6-3%2Ffd777502-aee9-2a0b-df43-546c62c3e66c.mp3 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/27872507/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2021-2-4%2F69a8215f-806d-0766-4efb-cff1d4bc28b0.mp3 https://www.leanblog.org/audio312 In this post, I'm going to share some reflections from one of my workplaces, some things that occurred last week. I'm going to be vague, so forgive me for that. It feels right to be less specific in this case, or at least that's the cautious (and maybe respectful) thing to do. When wearing one of my different "hats" with one of the organizations I work with, something went wrong. It wasn't something I did (or I would own up to that in specific ways). But the mistake affected me and the work I was doing. When a preventable process problem occurs, the engineer in me finds it relatively easy to be logical and think through "what happened?" instead of "who messed up?" A few deep calming breaths help, as well. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Thu, 04 Mar 2021 14:10:11 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/27872507/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2021-2-4%2F69a8215f-806d-0766-4efb-cff1d4bc28b0.mp3 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/24579078/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-11-30%2Fd37be8a1-1cfd-ea1b-adff-701b89248b82.mp3 https://www.leanblog.org/audio310 During this "let's try to get people vaccinated" phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost every article that I've seen about the vaccine and its distribution mentions the need to not waste precious doses. There are many opportunities for error with the different vaccines. If some of them aren't stored properly at the correct temperature, the vaccine degrades and gets wasted (or worse, gets injected and gives a false promise of effectiveness). Good process design (lessons I learned as an engineer) means being proactive and thinking about what could go wrong -- and then designing the process in a way that prevents errors or mistakes. The ideal would be "error proofing" that makes it impossible to make a mistake. Or, we could make it more apparent that a mistake has been made (for example, a temperature-sensitive label on a vaccine bottle that would let you know if it's been out of the correct storage temperature too long). A countermeasure like this might prevent ... Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:34:22 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/24579078/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-11-30%2Fd37be8a1-1cfd-ea1b-adff-701b89248b82.mp3 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11298257/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-20%2Fe624e426192c702e53930e296bbf0320.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio300 I had a phone conversation yesterday with an emergency medicine physician after her shift at an unnamed hospital in an undisclosed state. She had a number of frustrations to share and she doesn't really have an outlet (and doesn't want her name out there for fear of retaliation). More importantly, this isn't about one institution. She works in a well respected system. So this lack of preparedness and leadership could be widespread. When I posted my concerns about hospital preparedness for Covid-19 , I guess they weren't unfounded. I'm sharing these concerns in a public way because I think it's important to try to inspire other healthcare professionals and improvement specialists who CAN be on site to drive improvements. I also hope it serves as a reminder to the public to NOT GO to the hospital unless it's a life-or-death emergency right now.  "When should I go to the hospital?" and more questions were be covered in a webinar that was done on Wednesday .... Fri, 20 Mar 2020 13:14:19 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11298257/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-20%2Fe624e426192c702e53930e296bbf0320.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11298257/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2F483e3cb1b546b97769c23f68e50463a2.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio300 I had a phone conversation yesterday with an emergency medicine physician after her shift at an unnamed hospital in an undisclosed state. She had a number of frustrations to share and she doesn't really have an outlet (and doesn't want her name out there for fear of retaliation). More importantly, this isn't about one institution. She works in a well respected system. So this lack of preparedness and leadership could be widespread. When I posted my concerns about hospital preparedness for Covid-19 , I guess they weren't unfounded. I'm sharing these concerns in a public way because I think it's important to try to inspire other healthcare professionals and improvement specialists who CAN be on site to drive improvements. I also hope it serves as a reminder to the public to NOT GO to the hospital unless it's a life-or-death emergency right now.  "When should I go to the hospital?" and more questions were be covered in a webinar that was done on Wednesday .... Fri, 20 Mar 2020 13:14:19 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11298257/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2F483e3cb1b546b97769c23f68e50463a2.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11184463/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-17%2F9c76731337a7bfe82b27906c6af0854c.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio299 I normally love the public radio program "Marketplace" and have listened to it (on radio or as a podcast) for 15 years or so. But, I was very disappointed with this recent piece , which you can read here : "Just-in-time" manufacturing model challenged by COVID-19 Yes, many factories have been shut down in China, which disrupts global supply chains. However, if you're a company that decided to move all of your production to China (to then ship out to customers around the world), that wasn't a "Lean" strategy. It's really difficult to support "just in time" delivery over such long distances. If it were a "Lean" approach to move all of your production to China, then Toyota would have done that. But, Toyota didn't. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Tue, 17 Mar 2020 14:38:28 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11184463/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-17%2F9c76731337a7bfe82b27906c6af0854c.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11184463/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2Fe01194250d47e05829e6e746d45bb0b2.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio299 I normally love the public radio program "Marketplace" and have listened to it (on radio or as a podcast) for 15 years or so. But, I was very disappointed with this recent piece , which you can read here : "Just-in-time" manufacturing model challenged by COVID-19 Yes, many factories have been shut down in China, which disrupts global supply chains. However, if you're a company that decided to move all of your production to China (to then ship out to customers around the world), that wasn't a "Lean" strategy. It's really difficult to support "just in time" delivery over such long distances. If it were a "Lean" approach to move all of your production to China, then Toyota would have done that. But, Toyota didn't. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Tue, 17 Mar 2020 14:38:28 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11184463/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2Fe01194250d47e05829e6e746d45bb0b2.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11157052/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2Fc8ee06797ba03dbd4787bd8ef8157013.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio298 I've been thinking a lot about hospitals and how they're preparing for the expected tsunami of Covid-19 patients who will need ICU beds and ventilators (when it's expected that there won't be enough of either ). There have also been recent preparations (and ongoing actions) to screen patients who arrive at emergency rooms and outpatient clinics. I was at one organization last week that was in the process of installing new protocols and procedures in an outpatient clinic setting and I was able to have a tiny amount of input into that. Now, I'm home and trying to help remotely with the situation. I hope this blog post helps more broadly. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Mon, 16 Mar 2020 18:41:08 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11157052/sponsor/a1t49ra/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-04-09%2Fc8ee06797ba03dbd4787bd8ef8157013.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11157052/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-16%2F04a5f79f79cb8dd2492896978a4d4c37.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio298 I've been thinking a lot about hospitals and how they're preparing for the expected tsunami of Covid-19 patients who will need ICU beds and ventilators (when it's expected that there won't be enough of either ). There have also been recent preparations (and ongoing actions) to screen patients who arrive at emergency rooms and outpatient clinics. I was at one organization last week that was in the process of installing new protocols and procedures in an outpatient clinic setting and I was able to have a tiny amount of input into that. Now, I'm home and trying to help remotely with the situation. I hope this blog post helps more broadly. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Mon, 16 Mar 2020 18:41:08 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/11157052/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-16%2F04a5f79f79cb8dd2492896978a4d4c37.m4a https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/10782875/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-03%2F2c7ee566c74d1bc5dd20deab70fac427.m4a http://www.leanblog.org/audio297 Looking back at a blog post and an article from 2012 and 2014... --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lean-blog-audio/support Tue, 03 Mar 2020 13:55:56 +0000 https://anchor.fm/s/af1c32c/podcast/play/10782875/sponsor/a12m8nu/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2020-03-03%2F2c7ee566c74d1bc5dd20deab70fac427.m4a