May 4 2018
These students are replacing theses with A3s | H. van der Werk | Planet Lean
“INTERVIEW – In this Dutch university (Avans), lean is not only taught in the classroom. A3s are now replacing the writing of a thesis as the final assignment students are asked to complete. […] This 20-week project is part of the last year’s workload. The company comes up with a problem (based on their needs) that the student will be asked to solve, and we at Avans gauge whether there is enough depth to the problem for it to qualify as a final project. […] The standard tool we use to document the learning and map the project is the A3 methodology. Starting this year, students will no longer be required to write a thesis. The A3 will take its place.”
Sourced through Planet Lean
Michel Baudin‘s comments: This interview raises the questions of whether it is a good idea to replace theses with A3s, and for a university to align itself with Lean.
A3s versus Reports
First, Avans University is not a small institution: it has three campuses in the Netherlands, 30,000 students, and a 200-year history. That it’s doing away with the requirement of a 40-page final report in its graduation requirements is no small matter.
Van der Werk’s rationale for it is that “[these] reports are not something that students will ever be asked to produce on the job.” Be that as it may, does it necessarily follow that they should be replaced by A3s as graduation requirements?
In order to protect my visitors’ data, increase loading speed, and move up the ranks on Google, I recently converted this blog from an unsecured http://… site to a secure https://… site. What happened since, however, is not exactly as expected.
May 5 2018
French TV Show Blames Nurse Suicides On “Lean Management” In Hospitals
On September 7, 2017, France2’s Envoyé Spécial (“Special Correspondent”) had a feature about a suicide epidemic among nurses at French public hospitals and blamed it on the adoption of management practices from the private sector, and singled out “Lean Management” as a method from the car industry that resulted in treating patients like cars and nurses like assembly line workers. It went on to explain that it was Ford’s system “from the 1930s,” dressed up by Toyota with a few Japanese words.
Besides the reporters’ inability to get basic facts — Ford’s system is not from the 1930s and Toyota’s is not a copy of it — I don’t recognize here any of the approaches I have heard from colleagues involved in health care, like Mark Graban, Pascal Dennis, or Katie Anderson, and it doesn’t match my experience as a patient in a healthcare network that has had an active Lean program for four years. Mostly, what I have noticed is less waiting when I show up for appointments, friendlier staff, and enhanced online services, including communications with doctors.
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings 8