Tribal Knowledge and the 5/67 Rule

Tribal Knowledge and the 5/67 Rule

The 5/67 Rule is a subset of the 20/80 Rule or 80/20 Rule.  We discovered it during our War on Waste.  We were always in a hurry to get projects completed and we didn’t have time to look at 20% of the problem.  But we did have time to look at 5% of the...
“Optimistic Humanism” needs “No Blame”

“Optimistic Humanism” needs “No Blame”

I just saw a 3 minute video of Steve Jobs talking about “Optimistic Humanism.” In the video he is talking about Quality and the role that it should play in a business and acknowledged by customers. His initial point in the video is that “the Japanese...
Using Kan Ban to Manage Business Expansion

Using Kan Ban to Manage Business Expansion

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of meeting William Gore of W.L. Gore Associates. I was scheduled to meet with him over some technical things and toward the end of the discussion he got into how he decided when to split a division into two or more...