Managing Lean Projects

Lean is a set of disciplines that can result in tremendous savings and profitability for companies. It can significantly reduce cycle times and increase customer satisfaction. Lean, however, must be applied efficiently and effectively to achieve optimum results. This book discusses project management concepts, tools, and techniques as they apply to managing Lean projects. It explains how you can apply the discipline of project management to fully harness the energy and power that Lean offers.

Managing Lean Projects begins by discussing the major concepts and techniques that make Lean so powerful. It details the many benefits of Lean, along with the key challenges that must be overcome to fully reap its benefits. The book then goes on to describe the project management tools and techniques you can use to get the most out of Lean. It explains how the structure of each key project management process helps to keep the Lean project on course.

The book devotes separate chapters to the project management processes for PDCA (plan, do, check, act) and DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) Lean lifecycles. In both chapters, detailed case studies help to demonstrate the concepts presented in a real-world situation. The author includes numerous diagrams, examples, and checklists throughout the book to get you started quickly managing Lean projects.

As Lean continues to pick up momentum across many industries, it becomes imperative that project managers learn how to use it to achieve the desired results. With this book, project managers will be well-equipped to lead, not just manage, their Lean projects to success and to the benefit of their organization and the people who work in it.

Ralph L. Kliem, PMP, CBCP, President of LeanPM, LLC, has more than 30 years of experience with Fortune 500 firms, including Safeco Insurance Companies and The Boeing Company. As a senior project manager with The Boeing Company, he managed several process improvement, maturity model, and Lean projects. Ralph was the project manager for the companywide re-engineering of The Boeing Company’s policies and procedures process during and after the merger with McDonnell Douglas. He was also the project manager for information technology projects that supported the 787 and P8A programs. Ralph was the project manager for a Lean initiative that improved the business continuity processes supporting several of the major airplane programs such as the 747, 767, 777, and 787, and major business units and programs within The Boeing Company.

Ralph teaches PMP certification courses and conducts project management seminars and workshops. He is an adjunct faculty member of City University and a former member of Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington. He is the author or coauthor of more than 15 books and 300 articles with leading business and information technology publications.