Improve: The Next Generation of Continuous Improvement for Knowledge Work

George Ellis

Jun 2020 · Butterworth-Heinemann

About this ebook

Improve: The Next Generation of Continuous Improvement for Knowledge Work presents lean thinking for professionals, those who Peter Drucker called knowledge workers. It translates the brilliant insights from Toyota’s factory floor to the desktops of engineers, marketers, attorneys, accountants, doctors, managers, and all those who "think for a living." The Toyota Production System (TPS) was born a century ago to an almost unknown car maker who today is credited with starting the third wave of the Industrial Revolution. TPS principles, better known as lean thinking or continuous improvement, are simple: increase customer value, cut hidden waste, experiment to learn, and respect others. As simple as they are, they are difficult to apply to the professions, probably because of the misconception that knowledge work is wholly non-repetitive. But much of our everyday work does repeat, and in great volume: approvals, problem-solving, project management, hiring, and prioritization are places where huge waste hides. Eliminate waste and you delight customers and clients, increase financial performance, and grow professional job satisfaction, because less waste means more success and more time for expertise and creativity.

This book is a valuable resource for leaders of professional teams who want to improve productivity, quality, and engagement in their organizations.

• Experience the proven benefits of continuous improvement
• 40%–70% increase in productivity from professionals and experts
• Reduce lead time by 50%–90%
• Engagement up and voluntary severance cut >50%
• Dozens of simple visual tools that anyone can implement immediately in their existing framework
• All tools and techniques applicable to both face-to-face and virtual meetings
• Easy-to-understand approach: “simplify, engage, experiment
• Presented with deep respect for the experts; no “check the box thinking or overused analogies to the factory floor

Ratings and reviews

AAA

About the author

George Ellis has worked in product development for 35 years. He first experienced the concept of continuous improvement two decades ago through the Danaher Corporation, one of the world’s foremost lean thinking companies. Danaher transformed itself in the 1980s, modeling its Danaher Business System (DBS) on the Toyota Production System. Ellis has had numerous leadership roles at Danaher, including Vice President of Global Engineering for X-Rite from 2015 to 2018. In 2019, Ellis joined Envista Holdings Corporation, a new spin-off from Danaher for the dental industry, as Vice President of Innovation. There he spends every day immersed in lean knowledge work, deploying, improving, and sustaining new product development workflows in EBS, Envista’s brand of lean knowledge. He also wrote Project Management for Product Development, Control System Design Guide (4th edition), and Observers in Control Systems, all from Elsevier.