About the Author

Ralph L. Kliem, PMP, CBCP, president of LeanPM, LLC, has more than 30 years of experience with Fortune 500 firms, including Safeco Insurance Companies and The Boeing Company.

Ralph started his business career as methods analyst for Safeco Insurance Companies, performing time and motion studies and executing process improvement responsibilities for an information technology department. Later, as a senior project manager with The Boeing Company, he managed several process improvement, maturity model, and Lean projects. Ralph was the project manager for the companywide re-engineering of The Boeing Company’s policies and procedures process during and after the merger with McDonnell Douglas. He was also the project manager for information technology projects that supported the 787 and P8A programs; several of these projects had the purpose of achieving specific maturity levels according to Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) model. As a corporate internal auditor, he also led several process improvement projects, one of which evaluated the effectiveness of direct shipment and transition to just-in-time delivery of paints to the 777 program. He also led numerous audit projects that evaluated the performance of other major business and information technology projects and programs including some for Boeing’s Executive Council and Audit Committee. Ralph was also the project manager for a Lean initiative that improved the business continuity processes supporting several of the major airplane programs such as the 747, 767, 777, and 787, and major business units and programs within The Boeing Company.

In addition, Ralph teaches PMP certification courses and conducts project management seminars and workshops. He is an adjunct faculty member of City University and a former member of Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington. He is also an instructor with the continuing education program at Bellevue College, Cascadia Community College, and Everett Community College in Seattle, Washington. He is the author or coauthor of more than 15 books and 300 articles with leading business and information technology publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]; (206) 963-5246; or via www.theleanpm.com.