Practicing Lean

Doctors don't "implement medicine." Lawyers don't "implement law." They practice.

So why do we talk about "implementing Lean" as if it's a project with a finish line?

Practicing Lean starts from a different premise: getting good at Lean is a lifelong practice, and the most useful thing anyone can share is not how it's supposed to work, but what actually happened when they tried.

This is a collection of firsthand accounts from 16 contributors across healthcare, manufacturing, the military, software, government, and consulting -- people who agreed to write honestly about their early Lean journeys, including the parts they'd do differently. No victory laps. No sanitized case studies. Just the messy middle: the resistance they didn't expect, the mistakes they made, the moments when the plan met reality.

Contributors have worked inside and alongside organizations including Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, the U.S. Marine Corps, the NHS, and Tesla. Some are published authors. Some are sharing these reflections for the first time.

If you're early in your Lean journey and wondering why it's harder than the books made it sound, these stories will tell you the truth. If you're experienced, you'll recognize yourself -- and probably find something you hadn't considered.

Edited by Mark Graban, author of the Shingo Award-winning Lean Hospitals.

All author proceeds are donated to the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, which works to protect patients and families from preventable harm. The stories in this book are about learning from mistakes. That cause is about preventing the most serious ones.