Today's episode is a continuation of our conversation that we had with Mike Orzen in Episode 31. So if you haven't heard episode 31 yet, after you listen to this episode go back and check out the beginning or our conversation with Mike.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Mike, he is the founder and President of Mike Orzen and Associates. He has been consulting and coaching improvement efforts for over 20 years. Mike is an Adjunct Professor with The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence and is a faculty member of the Lean Enterprise Institute. He is also a Shingo Award winning Co-Author of Lean IT: Enabling and Sustaining Your Lean Enterprise.

In today's episode Mike and I continue our discussion and we talk about:

The misuse of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust
Lack of true root cause analysis
The misuse of value stream mapping
The function of IT in transformation work
How important the Lean principles are in improvement work and what their role should be.

Interview Links
Mike's Book

Kaizen, The Art of Creative Thinking by Shigeo Shingo

Mike's company's web page

Connect with Mike on Twitter

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn

Sponsor Links
Get a free audio book from audible.com

Schedule a free 15 minute call with Chris to talk about your lean challenges