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Lean concepts that help you eliminate waste and create flow in your own work

By Dan Markovitz

June 25, 2013

Lean Enterprise Institute faculty member Dan Markovitz, an expert on improving personal performance, explains how the lean principles of 5S and visual management make you more productive as a knowledge worker.

You are a factory. A small factory, but still a factory.

“The lean tools you can use in a factory or production shop are the same ones you can use,” says Lean Enterprise Institute faculty member Dan Markovitz, author of “A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance.” You take raw materials, which in this case are information and data, and turn it into knowledge.”

He tells LEI Communications Director Chet Marchwinski how the lean principles of 5S and visual management make you more productive as a knowledge worker.

Learn how to do better work faster: https://www.lean.org/Workshops/WorkshopDescription.cfm?WorkshopId=86

Written by:

Dan Markovitz

About Dan Markovitz

Earlier in his career, Daniel Markovitz held management positions in product marketing at MarkBuilt Construction, Sierra Designs, Adidas, CNET and Asics Tiger. He also has experience as an entrepreneur, having founded his own skateboarding footwear company. He left the business when he realized that he’d need tattoos and body pierces in really painful locations to fit into the industry. Dan helps individuals and teams improve performance by applying lean concepts to knowledge work through his company TimeBack Management. His new book, A Factory of One, was published by Productivity Press in December 2011. Dan has also published articles in the Harvard Business Review blog, Quality Progress, Industry Week magazine, Reliable Plant magazine, and Management Services Journal, among other magazines. He is a faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute and teaches frequently at the Stanford University Continuing Studies Program. He also leads a class on A3 thinking at the Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business. Dan holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.