Yesterday was a great day. Those wonderful folks at Amazon delivered my order from just before Christmas. (Thanks also to Wayne, whose gift card made me feel less guilty about my book indulgences.) There's a bit of an obvious theme with my book choices this order - it's all about Lean. I've spent the past year immersed in Lean but feel like I'm just scratching the surface.
Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation. This is a new one from Paul Plsek, whose work I've been admiring from afar for a long time. He's actually going to be a keynote speaker at our Quality Summit in May. (And guess who gets to pick him up from the airport? This gal!) This is his newest publication and it explores the "softer side" of implementing Lean at Virginia Mason. That's something that our consulting group hasn't really focused on up til now, so I'm curious to learn more about it. Some of my colleagues have read it and have given it rave reviews.
The Toyota Way Field Book by Jeffrey Liker and David Meier. I have their companion book Toyota Talent, which is about using Training Within Industry (TWI) for learning and development. While I haven't read that book all the way through, I liked the writing style. It seems very accessible. I'm hoping that this one will provide some good examples of what the Lean concepts look like in action.
The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen by Mark Graban and Joseph Swartz. I've been following Mark Graban's blog postings for awhile and find that he explores some interesting ideas. I thought this one would be offer some great insights into what kaizen means in a healthcare setting. There's a focus on developing leadership that I think will be helpful in my upcoming work in creating support for middle management. He also has a section on the role of a Kaizen Promotion Office that should offer some excellent reflections.
The Lean Toolbox: The Essential Guide to Lean Transformation. I wasn't familiar with the authors of this book (John Bicheno and Matthias Holweg) but liked that it went in-depth into the different tools. For example, in our Kanban training we've been taught about 3 types of Kanban systems. This book covers 6 types. I'm not sure how much of it will be relevant but it might offer a different perspective. The authors are based in the UK so might have some different experiences from our US counterparts who have been guiding us on our journey.
One of the things I love about Amazon is that when you search for a book it will give you recommendations for others. I started by looking for the Paul Plsek book and then went from there. I came across some titles that I might not have discovered otherwise. Of course, I have to read them to find out if they're gems or not. Guess my night stand reading pile will be stacked high for the next while!
Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation. This is a new one from Paul Plsek, whose work I've been admiring from afar for a long time. He's actually going to be a keynote speaker at our Quality Summit in May. (And guess who gets to pick him up from the airport? This gal!) This is his newest publication and it explores the "softer side" of implementing Lean at Virginia Mason. That's something that our consulting group hasn't really focused on up til now, so I'm curious to learn more about it. Some of my colleagues have read it and have given it rave reviews.
The Toyota Way Field Book by Jeffrey Liker and David Meier. I have their companion book Toyota Talent, which is about using Training Within Industry (TWI) for learning and development. While I haven't read that book all the way through, I liked the writing style. It seems very accessible. I'm hoping that this one will provide some good examples of what the Lean concepts look like in action.
The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen by Mark Graban and Joseph Swartz. I've been following Mark Graban's blog postings for awhile and find that he explores some interesting ideas. I thought this one would be offer some great insights into what kaizen means in a healthcare setting. There's a focus on developing leadership that I think will be helpful in my upcoming work in creating support for middle management. He also has a section on the role of a Kaizen Promotion Office that should offer some excellent reflections.
The Lean Toolbox: The Essential Guide to Lean Transformation. I wasn't familiar with the authors of this book (John Bicheno and Matthias Holweg) but liked that it went in-depth into the different tools. For example, in our Kanban training we've been taught about 3 types of Kanban systems. This book covers 6 types. I'm not sure how much of it will be relevant but it might offer a different perspective. The authors are based in the UK so might have some different experiences from our US counterparts who have been guiding us on our journey.
One of the things I love about Amazon is that when you search for a book it will give you recommendations for others. I started by looking for the Paul Plsek book and then went from there. I came across some titles that I might not have discovered otherwise. Of course, I have to read them to find out if they're gems or not. Guess my night stand reading pile will be stacked high for the next while!