Real Life Lean 041

Happy Monday lean construction family and welcome to another edition of Real Life Lean. This newsletter is intended to give construction professionals worldwide 4 quick and easy resources to grow and continue on your lean journey.

Todays newsletter is for all of the “Next Year I’ll Try This Whole Lean Thing” people. This is for anyone who has a new years resolution to start implementing lean tools and mindsets on your projects and in your companies. Todays newsletter will be the last one of the year. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We’ll see you in 2024!

Today's Summary:

• Lean Article - Lean Construction 101 Series

• Lean Podcast - How To Start Your Lean Journey

• Lean Event - LCI Communities Of Practice

• Real Life Lean - Getting My Start With A Lean Burrito

Lean Article

Leanconstrutionblog.com has a great Lean 101 series that I find myself referencing often.  This collection of articles is full of different viewpoints and suggestions for lean implementation. When I want to learn about a new lean tool, I always head to the Lean 101 series and see what articles they have on the topic. It is a great place to start your lean journey.

Takeaway - Lean can be a monster to tackle if you are trying to tackle it all at once. Using all the resources at your disposal is the only way you are going to be successful. Having a library full of articles to reference is a great resource as you start your lean journey.  

Lean Podcast

Is one of your new years resolutions to start on your lean journey?  If you haven't already, I really hope it is - it will change the way you deliver projects for the better.  In the podcast episode below Jason talks with a team that is brand new on their lean journey and helps them identify what steps to take to successfully implement a lean mindset in their people.

Takeaway - One of the biggest takeaways I had from this podcast was how real Jason was about how hard the implementation will be. Trying to convince people to change the way they have always done things is hard. Lean implementation is not easy at first. But Jason offers some encouraging words on the benefits of lean implementation and great advice on how to push through the resistance to find success.

Lean Event

I don't know about you, but for me personally, in person events are better than webinars. I often share webinars and other virtual events you can join to grow on your lean journey. With the focus of this newsletter on lean implementation, I thought it would be a good idea to share the link to the LCI Communities of Practice (CoP) page where you can find the chapter local to you. LCI CoP's are the best place to start when looking for in-person lean events.

Takeaway - I recently started to spend time attending events my local CoP was hosting and loved being in person with others passionate about lean construction and design. In one of the events we did the "Airplane Game" and it really helped solidify my understanding of one piece flow.  I don't think I would have had the same understanding if it was a virtual event. I challenge you to find your local CoP and attend a live event next year, you never know what you'll learn or who you'll meet! 

Real Life Lean - Lean practices in the real world

If you listen to the podcast above with Jason, he talks a lot about Paul Akers. I thought it was fitting to share the video that started me on my lean journey (and I am sure many others). The lean burrito is such an easy way to see and understand waste in the world. Using a simple example that we are all familiar with help me see the benefits of lean.  Something clicked in my brain after watching this video and lean just made sense.

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Have a Real Life Lean story you think would be a great feature in an upcoming newsletter? Send me an email at [email protected].