Bashed Up Bits

I usually shy away from predictions, but I think two new trends I am seeing more of recently are worth mentioning: post-materialism culture and self-navigating quadro/multi-copters . Post-materialism Since about three or four years ago, I've been seeing a slowly strengthening trickle of articles and personal stories on topics like the "tyranny of stuff" and "paying for experiences instead of things". The first well constructed expression of this trend I read was Bruce Sterling's "Last Viridian Note". While such a change in lifestyle in the past was driven by more external reasoning like "save the earth", this discourse has a more personal flavor to it. Up until the Great Recession (and a little after), there was in the U.S.A., and certain other emerging and developed economies, a relentless cultural drive to have luxurious things and, often, more than one of a particular luxurious thing. Doing so signaled high status. Today, howev

A Brief Primer on LEAN © 2014, Adam S. Keck Based on: Chasing The Rabbit by Steven Spear Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production by Taiichi Ohno Understanding A3 Thinking: A Critical Component of Toyota's PDCA Management System by Durward K. Sobek II and Art Smalley Four Capabilities of Accelerating organizations Specify precise approach to every task with built-in tests to detect failure and stop on error. Swarm to solve problems – immediate RCA. Share new knowledge throughout organization. Leaders lead by developing above capabilities in every single employee. Work Flow and System Design LEAN is a framework for successfully designing complex systems and work flows. A system is a collection of related work flows. A company can be viewed as a single complex system that  provides value to customers in return for money. LEAN is a way of working: Every employee uses LEAN work flow every day to both follow and improve the processes for which