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I’ve been thinking about leaning a lot lately, and not of the pressed-wood bookshelf nuisance variety. I talk about Lean with my colleague and President of Rally, Ryan Martens. So when I talk about a leaning bookshelf, I’m referring to my interest in Lean in all its forms. I am talking about the books I’ve been reading that pertain to Lean. And, more specifically, how can I turn my “Leaning bookshelf” into a continuous “learning bookshelf”? How can I think about my evolution of thought and practice with regard to Agile as influenced by Lean? What could be a good, rewarding goal?
And so, through discussions with Ryan and some of my own quiet thought, I came up with a goal of improving my notion of learning. Yes, for me, that seems to be what I am discovering more and more about Lean:
- How to learn
- How to teach others to learn
- How to encourage organizational learning
- How to avoid/eliminate re-learning
And so in this post, I thought I would share what I am reading, have read, or am about to read, and ask you for your comments and recommendations with regard to my leaning—>learning path. Some of the books may not look directly associated with Lean. I just know that they have been part of my lean learning journey.
The Contents of My Leaning Bookshelf:
- Getting the Right Thing Done – Pascal Dennis
- Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management – Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka
- Implementing Lean Software Development: from Concept to Cash – Mary and Tom Poppendieck
- Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit – Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck
- Lean Thinking – James P. Womack amd Daniel T. Jones
- Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise – Bruce A. Henderson and Jorge L.Larco
- Learning to See – Mike Rother and John Shook
- Managing to Learn – John Shook
- Product Development for the Lean Enterprise – Michael N. Kennedy
- Ready, Set, Dominate – Michael Kennedy, Kent Harmon, Ed Minnock
- Scaling Lean and Agile Development – Craig Larman, Bas Vodde
- Scrumban – Corey Ladas
- The Knowledge-Creating Company – Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi
- The Elegant Solution – Matthew E. May
- The Toyota Way – Jeffrey Liker
- Thinking Beyond Lean – Michael A. Cusumano and Kentaro Nobeoka
- The Art of Lean Software Development – Curt Hibbs, Steve Jewett, & Mike Sullivan
- The Goal – Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Looking at my leaning bookshelf and thinking of my focus on learning, I realize I haven’t included any Senge books or others about organizational learning. That will have to wait for another post.
What books are important to you on your leaning/learning path?
Two good Lean for Service books:
John Seddon, Freedom from Command and Control
John Bicheno, The Lean Toolbox for Service Systems
Thank you for the recommendations Alina. Can you tell me more about these books and how they are influencing you with regard to Lean Adoption? I hadn’t heard about either of them before and am eager to find what excites you about them.
Indeed, Senge will be an excellent addition. In particular, the book he co-authored with Dee Hock – “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of the Chaordic Organization” is a great explanation (in its own way) of the deeper truths of Agile.
Israel
Thank you Israel. We agree about the value of the work of Peter Senge with a Lean adoption. I think this can be subtle. However, creating and SUSTAINING learning organizations is truly critical to Lean adoptions that are sustained. This goes back to many of the insights in the book “The Toyota Way”. Which reminds me, I failed to add another book to my leaning bookshelf “Extreme Toyota” by Emi Osono, Norihiko Shimizu, and Hiortaka Takeuchi. In this book, the authors emphasize 6 opposing forces that drive the company. They then devote an entire chapter to “Toyota’s Nerve System–A Human Version of the World Wide Web” which emphasizes the learning and knowledge practices of the company. How are you applying these principles about learning in your own organizations? Thanks, Jean
I just started reading The Living Company by Arie de Geus (http://tr.im/hVL1). Initial impressions: it will be a wonderful edition to Jean’s list.
Israel
Thanks again Israel. Are you willing to comment on where you see Arie’s work fitting in with Lean and learning?
I have not finished reading the book yet. From what I gleaned so far, learning to Arie de Geus is about sensitivity to the surrounding environment and willingness to change to be in harmony with it. A company is more likely to survive for the long haul if it has this capacity. To me this is linked in a fascinating manner to Jared Diamond’s book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. It seems that learning as a survival imperative applies equally well to the individual, the team, the corporation and society.
Hoping to finish the book in my flight tomorrow to the Rally event in NYC. Will comment more then.
Israel
Now that I have finished reading The Living Company, I wholeheartedly recommend adding it to Jean’s list. See (http://tr.im/iCYN) for the idea that impressed me most in this thought provoking book.
Israel
Great Israel! Thanks for the high-level overview. Your comments remind me of two books on my “leaning” bookshelf: Knowledge-Creating Companies, by Nonaka and Takeuchi; and The Dance of Change, by Senge. Or maybe your book is a combination of these two. My thought is that a living company has much in common with a learning, knowledge-creating company.
I always look forward to your recommendations!
Jean
If it only were “my book”…
I did not read the two books you mention (my bookshelf is leaning too…) However, Erik Huddleston recently told me something that can shed light on your thoughts about commonality in these books. Erik believes only a very small number of core problems exists. They manifest themselves however in different ways in various domains. For example, over the years we realized some problems that Erik solved in Supply Chain Management I independently solved in System Management without realizing that he had already done so in his domain. If you accept the premise, I would suggest/speculate that the very same core problem might manifest itself in each of the three books.
Israel
An interesting reading list. I wouldn’t put all the same books as you put there :)
Also, I’d expected three different books to be there. So, perhaps add these still:
- Taichi Ohno – Workplace Management
- Allen Ward – Lean Process and Product Development
- Jeff Liker – Toyota Culture
These three have been very insightful for me. Good luck with your studies!