Lean For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 17

Ten Best Practices of Lean

In This Chapter

Satisfying customers and delivering value is at the heart of successful Lean practice

Looking at Lean as a journey, not a destination

Keeping things people-focused, simple and visual

This book chronicles the principles, methods, tools, and techniques that comprise Lean. As you embark on your own Lean journey, recognize the following ten best practices. They’ll help you keep your bearings.

But first, a key note: Leadership — not just the unwavering guidance and support from top managers, but also everyone’s everyday personal leadership — is so fundamental to the success of any initiative that it precedes a place on a best-practices list. Leadership is the “zeroth” law of success. Enable it. Encourage it. Reward it.

Feel the Force (of the Customer), Luke

The Lean sensei is calling out to you: feel the force. Do you hear him? Can you feel it? That force is the will of the customer — calling out to you, pulling you, stimulating you, guiding your every action. Your mission is to align all your brainpower, your energy, your resources and your might to answer this call.

Keep the customer at the core; the customer is the center of your ...