The Lean IT Field Guide

Chapter 6

Problem-Solving Scientists

If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.

Albert Einstein

Introduction

For the purposes of this chapter, please assume you know nothing about problem solving and read on as if it were all sparkling new information for you to process! This may seem like a strange request, but here’s why:

Anyone who has read about lean and process improvement has almost certainly come across lofty aspirations such as “Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement and Problem Solving!” and “We’re a Learning Organization.” That’s all well and good, but rarely do we find anything close to this when visiting companies. As an assessor for the Shingo ...