Shmula’s Best of 2014

I always love hearing what my friends did over the holidays. You see, many of my friends are either not married and dating, not married and not dating, or married but with maybe 1 or 2 kids. Needless to say, their holidays are either:

• Quiet, relaxing, and peaceful; eating delectable food; dining at fine restaurants and get to do whatever they freaking want.
• They hate the holidays because they are stuck with in-laws that drive them crazy and they’re tired of hearing from their senile uncle about how life was when they were young 100 years ago.

Now, let’s contrast that with what my holidays are like:

• Wild, crazy, and full of stress – not because I’m wild or crazy, but because my wife and I are raising a household of 9 kids, ranging from 17 years to 5 years old. Yeah, wild, I know. And definitely not relaxing one bit. Not at all. But, it’s my family and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Love them all so much.

Regardless of how you celebrated your holidays, I hope it was a rich one – rich with loved ones, friends, relatives and that as you look back on your 2014, you are proud of what you’ve accomplished and that you take a moment to think about the people you’ve influenced for good. I know you have. And good job for doing so.

As I’ve done my own inventory of 2014, I want to highlight several articles that many readers have told me has affected them positively and helped them become more valuable to their employer.

• How to use SIPOC in your relationships.
• What a Coffee Cup taught me about Poka-Yoke and Error-Proofing
• 5 Whys in Customer Development
• Kaizen for Shaving Your Face
• 9 Emotions Only Kaizen Leaders Understand
• Using Kano Model in finding Product Market Fit
• Nike Application of Hoshin Kanri
• What is PDCA and PDSA?
• How to Eliminate Delays in any business process
• Impact of Language in Lean
• Why do we wait and what can we do about it?
• Why Cycle Time in Service Operations Should be a Priority

The year of 2014 was an epic year for Shmula in terms of interviews I completed with thought leaders in Lean Manufacturing, Lean Startup, and Design Thinking. I want to highlight several:

• Interview with Jason Yip: In Software Engineering Respect for People is Trusting that People are Capable of Their Own Improvement
• Jeff Liker, The Toyota Way, and Unintended Consequences
• Dan Markovitz Interview: How the Shop Floor is Connected to the Customer via the Office and Why Lean Matters to White Collar Workers
• Virtual Kanban Board: Interview with Chris Hefley of LeanKit
• Kanban for Creative Knowledge Work: Interview with David J Anderson
• Lean Sales and Marketing with Brent Wahba
• Lean IT Transformation: An Interview with Cecil Dijoux
• Lean UX Process and Principles: An Interview with Jeff Gothelf
• Art Smalley Interview: Difference between the Toyota Production System and Lean as Practiced in America and Why He Shakes His Head in Confusion
• Improving Healthcare with Lean: An Interview with Mark Graban
• Interview with Matthew May on Elegance, Subtraction, and Lean
• Interview with Matt Long on the Herman Miller Performance System
• Lean-Lite versus Lean-Deep: Interview with Michel Baudin
• Shmula Podcast: Eric Ries Lean Startup Interview
• Lean Logistics and Supply Chain Interview with LeanCor CEO Robert Martichenko
• Lean Publishing Interview with Peter Armstrong
• Kanbanize Visual Kanban Software and Why Managing WIP Matters
• Michael Balle Interview on Lead with Respect
• Bob Emiliani on Lean Leadership, Real Lean, and Fake Lean
• Why Deming: Interview with Keith Sparkjoy Cofounder of Pluralsight
• Laura Busche Interview on Lean Branding: Using Lean Principles to Create Dynamic Brands that Convert
• Lean Content Management: Interview with Michael Jones, Head of Content at eBay
• Interview with Kaizen Institute CEO Jon Miller
• Salesforce App Exchange, Lean, Wear Initiative: Interview with Daniel Debow
• High Performance Organization Model and Lean: Interview with Jonathan Escobar Marin
• Lean Healthcare: How to Engage Employees in Lean at the Nebraska Methodist Health System

I’m very much looking forward to a great 2015. For now, I wish you a very Happy New Year and a wonderful 2015. May you accomplish your dreams and may you become your best self this upcoming year. And, as always, thank you very much for your attention and in choosing to spend some of your time reading Shmula.com – thank you from the bottom of my heart.