I started this blog in 2014 to monitor my research and fellowship time in Germany and EU. I wrote dozens of blogs about what was happening in the realm of public housing and homelessness across multiple EU countries. Since returning to the US, my blog has focused a lot on process improvement. Today I want… Read More Public Housing in New Zealand: Something is a Bubbling Down Under
Over the last couple weeks, my lean work has ranged in several areas ranging from visual management boards to problem solving. The key concept that keeps coming up revolve around bigger picture strategy and where the agency is headed. My lean coach often refers to, “True North“. What is True North at your agency and how… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement: Translating High Level Strategy to Daily Problem Solving
It’s been a while since I posted here but my lean activity at work has been off the charts. We are going through a lean transformation and one of the first things we started working with is visual management. What is visual management? In reality it is something that helps guide you through your day… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement: Use Visual Management to Improve Performance
If you are starting out with lean, one of the first questions becomes, “When should I start trying projects?” That is not always an easy answer as you do need to at least have a basic understanding. But when should you start using your new skill sets? What should you tackle? If you over-reach and… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement: Picking Your First Project
The main point of a Kaizen event is rapid improvement with a specific issue or process your agency is having problems with. You get everyone responsible in a room and work through the process to quickly improve it in a dramatic fashion. A Kaizen event can last a day or 5 days. I suppose longer,… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement: Rapid Improvement Through Kaizen
Is there an issue at your housing authority? Have you tried solving it but cannot quite figure out what the main cause is? Even worse, do you jump to the conclusion without really thinking about what the main reason is. Here is a tool that might help you make some progress. Sometimes it is called… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement: How A Cause and Effect Diagram Can Help Your Agency.
Lean is a process improvement/management methodology that comes from the Toyota production system. Their main drive was to eliminate waste in processes while respecting their employees. The methods worked so well that they have been used in industries as wide ranging from building airplanes to ordering office supplies at a school. Warehouses across the country… Read More Public Housing Process Improvement:Lean Warehouse/Inventory
Get to the Root of It All: If you read anything I write, I am always advocating for public housing authorities to do a better job really analyzing problems before jumping to a solution. Asking why is something that children do at the most basic level but it could also be just what is needed… Read More Public Housing and Process Improvement: How Asking “Why” 5 Times Can Help You Get To The Root Of The Problem
When I first started using lean methodology in my work, I usually looked for ways to deploy lean tools to solve problems throughout the agency. I would use the 5 whys, cause and effect diagrams and process mapping to look at issues as they were brought to my attention. Doing this allowed me to study… Read More Lean Process Improvement In Public Housing: Turning Your Entire Work-Force into Problem Solvers
I will start this blog by saying I think staff at housing authorities or social housing companies in Europe need to get outside of our industry. We need to go to the private sector and see what is happening. We need to learn as much as possible whenever possible to see if there are ways… Read More What Housing Authorities Can Learn from Seattle Children’s Hospital
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