Archive for Value Stream
Leading Lean from the Middle
Posted by: | CommentsPaul Yandell of Value Stream Focus was interviewed in the Business901 podcast, Transforming Lean thru Middle Managers. This is a transcription of the podcast.
Paul Yandell is a manufacturing and supply chain specialist with strong skills in identifying and eliminating waste and improving operational performance. His particular strengths are building infrastructure to support turnaround and growth situations, building and leading teams in total quality environments and he is bilingual (Spanish).
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The Uniqueness of Hoshin Kanri
Can Lean be driven by Middle Management?
A Look at Innovation from a Different Angle
Posted by: | CommentsThis is one of the few books that I not only listened to it, but afterwards purchased the hard copy.Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others is simply a good book.
The author of Borrowing Brilliance, David Kord Murray, has an impressive résumé. Not only is he a rocket scientist who worked on numerous projects for NASA and the Pentagon but he’s also a successful entrepreneur, having sold Taxnet, a company he co-founded that specializes in e-filing software, to H&R Block (HRB) in 2005. And in between those items on his CV is a strong hint that he practices what he preaches. When Murray was head of innovation at Intuit (INTU)—the creator of TurboTax, which allows users to e-file—he saw a brilliant idea, borrowed a chunk of it, and made a killing. His book encourages everyone to give it a try. After all, he argues, it worked for Johannes Gutenberg, George Lucas, and the Google guys.
The Good: Practical and simple advice on how to come up with new products and services by cherry-picking, then combining, others’ ideas.
The Bad: Author Murray often repeats his main points—even some of his anecdotes
The Bottom Line: An entertaining, easy-to-read romp through the history of innovation, from Gutenberg to the Google guys, plus a method that appears to actually work.
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Define your Business by Value Stream not Product

