Guest Post: NFL Football and #Lean TAGS: adapt | blitz | blog | christina | coach | consulting | football | guest | kach | lean | learn | liberty mutual | nfl | practice | practitioner | teach | tom brady | toyota Today we have a guest blog post from my friend, fellow Lean practitioner, and fellow blogger Christina Kach. She has been a guest blogger for Lean Blitz in the past, …Continue reading →

Curious Cat Management Blog Carnival Annual Review – Part II TAGS: asq | blitz | blog | bryce harper | consulting | curious cat | detroit lions | dmaic | gary kubiak | george carlin | houston texans | jim schwartz | john hunter | karen martin | lean | lean blog | mark graban | michael jordan | nfl | nick saban | operations | podcast | process | sports | the masters | the outstanding organization | value stream mapping As stated yesterday, John Hunter of the Curious Cat Management Blog hosts an annual review of blogs, penned by other management blog authors. I will cover four blogs total, having started with two …Continue reading →

Waving Goodbye to 2013 TAGS: 2013 | 2014 | asq | beyond lean | blog | consulting | happy | karen martin | lean blitz | lean blog | mark graban | matt wrye | new year | operations | podcast | process | pug | rob neyer | sports In short, 2013 was a pretty tough year, both personally and professionally. Some really great opportunities presented themselves, while I also found there is a great deal of professional growth …Continue reading →

Seth Godin, Lean Thinker TAGS: blog | cell phones | consulting | defect | error-proof | godin | kodak | lean | lean blitz | polaroid | process | purple cow | quality | scuff | seth | seth godin | shoes I concede that I am one of the world’s biggest fans of Seth Godin’s work. For those of you who don’t know, Seth is more than just a marketing and …Continue reading →

Lean Blitz Joins the ASQ Influential Voices TAGS: a lean journey | american society for quality | asq | blog | consulting | influential | john priebe | lean | lean blitz | lean blog | mark graban | memorial day | nicole radziwill | paul borawski | quality | sports | tim mcmahon | voices I first started blogging about Lean and quality in late 2011. As I dug into multiple topics – values, activities, tools, applications – I began referencing content and insights from …Continue reading →

Kicking Off The New Year With Resolutions As SMART Goals TAGS: achievable | blitz | blog | consulting | continuous improvement | goal | lean | measurable | operations | process | relevant | s.m.a.r.t. | six sigma | smart | smart goals | specific | sports | time-bound | weight loss It’s January 1, 2013!! (Well, okay, when this is posted it will be January 2.) That means everyone is going nuts with resolutions for the new year. And in about …Continue reading →

The Holiday Season, Post Updates and a Blog Carnival Shout-Out TAGS: adult kickball | arrest | barack obama | baseball winter meetings | beyond lean | blitz | blog | booth | bud selig | cards | carnival | christmas | consulting | continuous improvement | curious cat | dallas | dump | election | elves | festivus | green bay packers | heisman trophy | integrity | inventory | john hunter | johnny football | johnny manziel | kaizen | kansas state | klein | lean | manti te'o | matt wrye | miami marlins | mitt romney | monday night football | nashville | nfl | notre dame | operations | process | referee | replacement | root cause analysis | roundup | salary | santa claus | seattle seahawks | sports | t'eo | texas a&m | toronto blue jays | trade | trade show Ahh, the holiday season is fully enveloping us. Everybody be happy and peaceful to one another during this stressful time of shopping, traveling, seasonal obligations (like choral activities where folks …Continue reading →

The Filth and Disgusting Health Behaviors at Wrigley Field TAGS: 5S | baseball | big league stew | blitz | blog | chicago cubs | cleaning | concessions | consulting | disdain | disgusting | documentation | espn | everywhere | facilities | fan | feces | field | filth | filthy | five whys | gross | hands | health | indiana | inspector | issues | lean | maintenance | major league baseball | management | opening day | operating | operations | playbook | procedures | process | root cause analysis | set in order | shine | sort | sports | stadium | standardize | standards | strategy | sun-times | sustain | tpm | training | ufe | ufe.com | upkeep | urine | visual | wash | with leather | wrigley | yahoo sports I came across this little op-ed piece on ESPN.com’s Playbook about Wrigley Field being the grossest sports stadium in the four major North American sports leagues, sharing a little bit …Continue reading →

Articles After a Long Layoff TAGS: batteries | beach | blitz | blog | blogging | catch careers | christina kach | coffee | consulting | continuous improvement | control | creamer | easier | hack | hammock | healthcare | lean | leanblog | leanmemess | life | lifehacker | mark graban | meme | networking | non-traditional | operations | process | remote | six sigma | sports | starbucks | vacation | velcro | vessel I concede that my lack of sharing new information over the last couple of weeks has allowed for a slight mental decompression – there have been a lot of new …Continue reading →

Dirk Hayhurst on Positive Banned Substance Results TAGS: author | ball four | banned substance | blog | blogger | bullpen gospels | business | coach | dirk hayhurst | disrespect | garfoose | ignorance | jim bouton | lean blitz consulting | major league baseball | manager | marcus stroman | meetings | mlb | operations | organization | out of my league | ped | performance enhancing drugs | process | six sigma | sports | standardized | tampa bay rays | toronto blue jays | twitter | work | writer Full disclosure: I am a big Dirk Hayhurst fan. Dirk is a former Major League pitcher (who is presumably trying to get back to the bigs), but is probably better …Continue reading →

A Link from ESPN, a Contribution, and Guest Post That Ruffled Some Feathers TAGS: baseball | baseball think factory | ben hill | ben's biz | blog | charleston | collegiate wood bat league | david schoenfield | diamond sports | draft | espn | feathers | home run derby | home runs | insidethebook | lean blitz consulting | leanblog.org | links | major league baseball | mark graban | minor | mlb | mlb.com | operations | pace of game | process | professional | quality | ruffle | scout | south atlantic league | south carolina | sports | statistics | summer | sweetspot | tangotiger | uss yorktown In the last few weeks I’ve been fortunate to provide contributions to some notable blogs and outlets. First, my analysis of the Major League Baseball pace-of-game regulations was shared by …Continue reading →

Stuff I’m Reading – August 8, 2012 TAGS: 2012 | advertisers | anibal sanchez | attendance | attention | ballpark | belly putter | blitz | blog | consulting | david samson | golf | golf digest | hanley ramirez | heath bell | improve | jeff gordon | jeffrey loria | jose reyes | lean | lean wastes | leanblog | lightning strike | london | love | mark buehrle | mark graban | marketing | miami marlins | nascar | nbc | olympics | omar infante | operations | optimization | organization | pocono | policy | process | product | revenue | safety | sailboat | sailfish | seth godin | small business | sponsors | sports | sprint cup | thad greiner | toyota way | weather There are ample opportunities for performance improvement in sports business and small business operations that I simply can’t get to it all as issues occur day after day. In addition, …Continue reading →

Safety, Common Sense, Product Recalls, and Poor Lennox TAGS: agenda | ambiguity | ants | belfast | bison | blitz | blog | bulldog | celebrity | city | cogburn | common | company | consulting | council | diamond | dna | dog | dog warden | domestic | educate | evidence | facebook | facts | feelings | food | foods | foster | french | gaston | gray area | high prairie | honest | huans | humanity | humans | judgment | labrador | lean | legal | lennox | life | lot number | manufacturing | matchbox | minimize | neutral | northern ireland | notice | objectivity | observations | operations | opinions | outbreak | page | pet | peter | petition | philosophy | pink slime | politics | process | processing | production | puppy | recall | relate | rescue | resemble | rob | robinson | rooster | safety | salmonella | save | sense | six sigma | south carolina | spiteful | sports | stillwell | stilwell | subjectivity | supercede | supply | system | taste of the wild | thomas | toyota | tractor | twenty | twitter | venison | victoria | way Through sharing of ideas and content in the Lean Blitz blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter, I do my best to follow some guiding principles and philosophies – present facts …Continue reading →

Video: Rob Neyer’s Mailbag on SBNation TAGS: baseball | believer | blitz | blog | concepts | customer | daydream | dayton | dragons | editor | entertainment | experience | family | implementation | league | lean | mailbag | minor | monkees | music | neyer | operations | process | programming | rob | satisfaction | sbnation | sesame | six sigma | sports | street | twitter | video Rob Neyer, National Baseball Editor for SBNation, shares a video mailbag where he answers readers’ emails. He provides an answer for a question I sent his way about what sports …Continue reading →

Visual Management and Strawberry Jam TAGS: auction | blitz | blog | charity | colored | donate | dots | draft | ebay | first | graban | jam | jars | jelly | lean | leanblog | lukas | management | mark | nfl | operations | paul | pectin | post | process | programming | retweet | round | six sigma | sports | stage | strawberry | sugar | thursday | twitter | uni-watch | visual Every couple of years my mother and I get together to make batches of strawberry jam. She’s made freezer jams for as long as I’ve been alive, and since I’ve …Continue reading →