Comments on: Business and Garden-Variety Defects

By: Paul James

Paul James — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:55:53 +0000

I agree with Brian, this is a great post and would work well as an introduction to waste when trying to introduce the concept of lean into an organisation.

By: Brian Buck

Brian Buck — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:08:52 +0000

Pete, this is a great post. I really like the analogy of the garden and find it incredibly apt for Lean. Sometimes explaining the Tourtoise vs the Hare analogy is not as clear as tending a garden. Both explain the need to go at a more even pace but also allows time for development. Your blog always has top-notch thinking and I enjoy it very much. Keep up the good work.

By: Jayadeep Purushothaman

Jayadeep Purushothaman — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:39:44 +0000

I can relate to this very much since we are in the process of setting up a terrace garden. One other thing I am learning while we are setting up the garden is that the soil is a living organism as well – you need to ensure that the soil has the right ingredients for the plant to grow healthily. And in business, it is important to develop and maintain a culture that fosters finding the root causes and fixing them.

Another thing is we cannot push the plants to grow quickly, it takes its time and the most important thing for us to do is to provide the right environment for it to grow. Same applies to business environments as well – pushing is a quick fix for many managers to get things done, which back fires in the long run.