Lean Primer - Summary and Review

Lean Primer by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde


This article describes "lean thinking" and the "Toyota Way".  Lean thinking is a proven system that applies product development and production used by Toyota and other companies.


The best way to describe lean thinking is to view the following graphic:

The foundation of the house is management and its long term philosophy.  The "pillars" are two important priorities for Toyota, being "Respect for People" and "Continuous Improvement".  The "heart" is a combination of Product Development and the 14 Principles.  And finally on the top is the roof which represents the successes of this process.


The author sees "lean" as a broad system that spans all groups and functions of a company.  Everything from product development, sales, production, IT and HR.   The chairman of Toyota believes that these tools must be practiced consistently and used every day in order to be effective.


I think this type of lean thinking can be extremely effective if implemented correctly but I feel this implementation would be very difficult.


It feels very rigid to me and doesn't allow for flexibility in thought, management style, skill set or philosophy.  An organization would have to be very strict and rigid in its rules and regulations for this type of "lean" thinking to work.  If it does work however, I think it can be very successful because every part of the organization is working for the same goals and end results.