Preface

Sometimes revolutions come with a burst of energy, shaking up the world dramatically. At other times, they arrive in subtle ways. Lean is a revolution that is more of the latter. Like a good after-dinner liqueur, the effects hit gradually, changing one’s perceptions and feelings.

Lean is a revolutionary way of changing how a private or public organization does business, whether at the strategic or operational levels. It changes how decisions are made. It changes how people interact as much as how materials are acquired, processed, and delivered. It changes the priorities by placing the customer in the forefront of everyone’s minds. Above all, it creates as much as it destroys. The last thing one wants in any revolution, even in business, is to devour one’s own children.

Project management is a means to prevent, or at least to soften the impact of, the Lean revolution. It provides the discipline needed to harness the energy and power that Lean offers so that everyone benefits from the gains, despite the pain that often accompanies it. Fortunately, I have been the beneficiary of those gains, such as higher stock prices and greater bonuses. I have also, sorrowfully, found myself a victim of Lean and other process improvement efforts. Success came, but only after falling on my own sword. Yes, Lean can not only devour its own children but its parents, too. I’ve seen people lose their livelihoods while others enriched their own pockets without any consequence, just as in most revolutions.

Project management plays a significant role because it is not just about building schedules, collecting data, using software applications, and maintaining costs. It is also about people. In fact, it is all about people. If applied, project management can serve as a means to obtain ownership and commitment among everyone at all levels of an organization, from the chief executive officer to the rank and file on an assembly line. It can also open everyone’s vision and perceptions about the reason why an organization exists in the first place. It can help everyone to participate effectively, not just efficiently, in satisfying the customer. It helps absorb the pain, and spread the gain, from a Lean project.

This book is not a diatribe about Lean although it does discuss some of the major concepts and techniques that make it so powerful. Rather, its purpose is to help project professionals to apply and leverage the power of their field to help them lead, not just manage, their Lean projects to success and to the benefit of their organization and the people who work in it.