The Oregon City Farmers Market reached out to Lean Portland for suggestions on how to offer their year-round market during a pandemic. As Lean Portland has experienced with other nonprofits, their goal is to remove waste and inefficiency in the process unrelated to building relationships, so that more time can be spent in conversation between volunteers, staff and […]
Racism, inclusion and discrimination is not a problem many lean thinkers are called to tackle in their daily lives at work, but that doesn’t mean that Lean Thinking has nothing to say about it. Roberto Priolo interviews Michael Balle, co-founder of the Institut Lean France, and is asked numerous questions, including: If we look at […]
Written by Brion
by Brion Hurley The Lean Government Exchange is an annual one day event of government officials, stakeholders and advocates implementing lean principles (primarily members of the Iowa Lean Consortium, but open to all). I last attended the inaugural Exchange in June 2017 in Des Moines, Iowa. Due to the pandemic, I was actually able to […]
Written by Brion
To get the job done, you need the right tools. Lean Six Sigma students at Wake Technical Community College, based in Raleigh, NC, are learning that JMP statistical discovery software from SAS is a tool well worth carrying in their kits. Wake Tech has been offering a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt […]
Written by Brion
Approving a commodity – a plant or plant products – for entry into the US requires identification of exotic pests associated with it in its country of origin, analysis of those pests and a mitigation plan to control them as the commodity moves along its path to the consumer. To safeguard US agriculture and natural […]
Written by Brion
The Minnesota Office of Continuous Improvement (CI) measures its performance by tracking how much CI principles are embraced and used in the state of Minnesota government. This is captured through two primary metrics: attendance in CI training programs, and completion of CI projects and events. Below are some of the problem-solving success stories they have […]
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Kymberly Epperson and Darlene Schlueter set out to streamline the food event registration process at UC San Diego to ensure campus compliance, food safety and higher customer satisfaction. After research, Kymberly and Darlene found: Users reporting the online registration system to be complex and burdensome, impacting the customer experience. Big dining events, or barbecues are required […]
Written by Brion
The Denver Sheriff Department (DSD) improved the “Inmate Request Process,” through a very visual & innovative solution. Led by JaQuale Brooks and her team at Denver’s county jail, they collaborated with DSD deputies & other DSD units to identify the inmates’ needs through brainstorming sessions, action plans, innovation forms, and consistent management of project check-ins. […]
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by Brion Hurley One of the more popular books related to process improvement in government is “We Don’t Make Widgets: Overcoming the Myths That Keep Government from Radically Improving” by Ken Miller. Ken Miller, who also wrote Extreme Government Makeover, is the founder of the Change and Innovation Agency, a firm dedicated to increasing government’s […]
Written by Brion
New projects for King County mean new grants and new cost centers. But setting up cost centers was taking too long and nothing could proceed without the new cost center. There were customers waiting over 30 days—and some 80 days—to have their forms processed. Megan Rulien, an Administrator at King County Finance and Business Operations […]
Written by Brion