I spent the last week in Bellingham, WA in a training program. I am now a TWI Institute Qualified Trainer for the Job Instruction (JI) program. This is the same program Toyota uses to teach their team leaders and supervisors how to train their staff. I am quite pleased with the training. The TWI Institute is doing a good job replicating the TWI Service's training program. We used the same basic materials, although the guide was well-annotated and included very useful references for trainers.

You might be wondering, "Why did you get qualified to deliver the training?" In June I participated in the course to become a Job Instructor. Since then, I've had the opportunity to develop some training and to see how much more effective our staff has been delivering training TWI-style. Further, Jeffrey Liker's latest book, Toyota Talent, shows how important a reliable method is to the functioning of the workforce and the satisfaction of the employees.

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Inside CRM offers The Manager's Cheat Sheet. Here are three of the best:

11. Only promise what you can realistically deliver.
37. Explain things simply.
79. Identify the positives.

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Peter Drucker said, "What gets measured gets done." Accounting is the principal way we measure business success. But in spite of the advances adopting lean practices, accounting has remained the same. That is except for the enlightened few. For the last five years those enlightened few have been getting together at the Lean Accounting Summit to explore how they can bring lean-friendly accounting practices to their firms.

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Silk and Spinach calls attention to the blame game. While there appears to be too much going around, there are signs to the contrary.

Bad concrete and wrong epoxy are just two of the problems with the Big Dig. ENR ran two stories in the August 5, 2007 issue detailing guilty pleas on criminal charges along with failure to act responsibly with structural design issues. Certainly, the whole project is not bad. But living in Boston, we worry not knowing which parts are bad. While money is always a possible motive, in this case people clearly were not exercising their responsibilities as custodians of public safety. In short, few were speaking up and fewer still were listening.

The Two Great Wastes contribute in significant, yet incalculable ways, to the failings on all projects.

I know first-hand how easy it is to just drive on by safety issues. It's easy to think, "Somebody must be taking care." Last Friday I drove by a police construction detail where a new home was being connected to a sewer line in the center of a state road. There were two police officers along with two flag persons and a 1/2 dozen workers. One man was neck deep in a straight-cut narrow trench shoveling loose gravel. In the situation I describe OSHA requires a trench box anytime a trench is 5 feet or more deep. From my passing view, this worker was just about at that limit. Was a trench box required? I don't know. There was no trench box present. I didn't stop. I should have stopped. But had I stopped, what conversation would I had and with whom? To my knowledge, no one was injured. No incident occurred. But it is really beside the point. I feel terrible for not stopping.

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Chauncey Bell writes,
Why Is Construction so Backward? Is it just construction? Or, are projects backward?

Construction projects get a bad rep…a very bad rep. And the Boston Globe piles on with today's article The Industry that Time Forgot: Just Another Day at the Office for the Most Wasteful, Least Productive Industry in America

It's tough for me to comment on this article. I live in Boston. We've suffered major delays, overruns, inconveniences, and people lost their lives. It doesn't have to be this way. Companies have learned from the best operators in the world and have avoided these problems. In Massachusetts we have burdensome laws and practices. It's tough to do business with the state government. In my town no major project has finished on time or on budget. However, it can change. It must change. The industry knows what to do to change.

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Norman Bodek, godfather of lean, was honored by the IGLC for his contributions bringing the wisdom of lean experts to the world.

Are you getting more than 3 QnEKs per person per month? Why not? Make QnEK team sport.

The Quick-n-Easy-kaizen community website is ready for wide use. Stop by to see what others have posted. Share one of your own while you are there.

Istarted mind mapping in the mid '80s. It was part of a program at my company to accelerate our learning. It was coupled with a speed reading program and rapid recall training. For the most part, all three stuck. But it's mind mapping that has been most useful over 20 years later.

Tony Buzan introduced the world to mind mapping. Essentially, it's an association technique for taking notes or collecting thoughts in a word-art fashion. Ideas are linked one-to-the-other making associations. According to Buzan, and in my experience, mind mapping increases your recall and helps make surprising connections of otherwise seemingly unrelated ideas. It is a great approach to use for planning, in preparation for innovation, and when in the midst of doing something creative.

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