What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Lean?

Product development involves an inherent tension between the spirit of the ground-breaking founders and the low-risk processes that intended to ground and stabilize that product.  In a Lean organization, the Value-Creating Architect (VCA) is responsible for the balance between...

The Integrating, Cross-Functional Value Creating Architect (VCA) A traditional manager might not understand the term Value Creating Architect (VCA). Toyota term Chief Engineer or “Entrepreneur System Designer”, ESD, was first coined by Allen Word to designate the person responsible...

Between Destructive Consensus and Constructive Conflicts – A Student Journal Committed to the Chief Engineer ownership, I am currently in the midst of developing a vision and common language (protocol) for the Lean New Global Architecture (LNGA) in the...

Integrating the Role of Chief Engineer in the Development of the Lean Management mindset and basic thinking At Toyota, the individual (or team) known as “Chief Engineer” system is responsible for the product or group of products and the...

The Lean community should respond to the challenge that Toyota presented to itself and to the world: to prove that there are innovative and groundbreaking solutions on the journey to constant improvement and creation of value for the customer....