35 books
—
5 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “This Is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox” as Want to Read:
This Is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox
by
This-is-Lean
Paperback, 172 pages
Published
November 25th 2012
by Rheologica Publishing
(first published 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
This Is Lean,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about This Is Lean
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of This Is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox

This is a great book.
The authors managed to cleanly and concisely define the popular, yet poorly understood, concept of Lean.
I feel like professor Takahiro Fujimoto says it much better than I do. So I'm just gonna quote him here:
"Lean is an apparently easy term to remember, but a rather difficult concept to understand accurately. This Is Lean is one of the most concise, easy-to-grasp, and fun-to-read books on the topic and it will help you understand the essence of this important management phil ...more
The authors managed to cleanly and concisely define the popular, yet poorly understood, concept of Lean.
I feel like professor Takahiro Fujimoto says it much better than I do. So I'm just gonna quote him here:
"Lean is an apparently easy term to remember, but a rather difficult concept to understand accurately. This Is Lean is one of the most concise, easy-to-grasp, and fun-to-read books on the topic and it will help you understand the essence of this important management phil ...more

AMAZING book.
A must for anyone willing to learn more about "Lean". Even if was already familiar with several concepts, this book explains exceptionally well how everything connects, with very interesting information and reflections about the "history" of the buzzy word.
And the "story" is very well written.
I can only highly recommend it :-) ...more
A must for anyone willing to learn more about "Lean". Even if was already familiar with several concepts, this book explains exceptionally well how everything connects, with very interesting information and reflections about the "history" of the buzzy word.
And the "story" is very well written.
I can only highly recommend it :-) ...more

This book is a good introduction to Lean methodology.
A good introduction, and that's it. It's extremely repetitive and somewhat dumb at times. It clearly shows what it's meant to show but nothing more than that.
I was quite impressed by the Toyota interview part. It had a really nice zen vibe. Some of the examples are great but the overall repetitiveness and over-generalisation make this book pretty average. ...more
A good introduction, and that's it. It's extremely repetitive and somewhat dumb at times. It clearly shows what it's meant to show but nothing more than that.
I was quite impressed by the Toyota interview part. It had a really nice zen vibe. Some of the examples are great but the overall repetitiveness and over-generalisation make this book pretty average. ...more

I've learned about flow units and superfluous tasks from a point of view that I've ever seen it.
Very good real life examples to understand perfectly the different concepts, little's law....
Must read ...more
Very good real life examples to understand perfectly the different concepts, little's law....
Must read ...more

Mar 21, 2017
Bressain Dinkelman
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
business-self-help
This really is lean
If you want to know what lean is, this book will show you. Even the book is lean. It includes simple examples and gets to the point. I would heartedly recommend this to anyone attempting to turn their operation into a lean one.
If you want to know what lean is, this book will show you. Even the book is lean. It includes simple examples and gets to the point. I would heartedly recommend this to anyone attempting to turn their operation into a lean one.

I've received a free copy of this book at the Crunch conference in 2015.
Lean has been such a buzzword lately—especially in the IT/startup field—that I can't help but agree with the authors: some kind of guiding is needed to effectively sort the references available in abundance. This attempts to be such a handbook.
It explains what lean is, and even more importantly what lean is NOT, using easy to understand everyday examples. It builds concepts up step by step from processes to methodologies. It ...more
Lean has been such a buzzword lately—especially in the IT/startup field—that I can't help but agree with the authors: some kind of guiding is needed to effectively sort the references available in abundance. This attempts to be such a handbook.
It explains what lean is, and even more importantly what lean is NOT, using easy to understand everyday examples. It builds concepts up step by step from processes to methodologies. It ...more

Gives you a nice overview of what Lean is all about and tries very hard to dress up their core idea in pretty and attractive things so that people will better understand it. Personally, some of that annoyed me, but I'm perhaps not the target audience for this book as I'm already working in the Lean/Agile world and to me this core idea was neither foreign nor alien.
In fact the book helped me by equipping me with concepts and words to better phrase my own thoughts (as a good book should do) so al ...more
In fact the book helped me by equipping me with concepts and words to better phrase my own thoughts (as a good book should do) so al ...more

This book is a easy read book and fine introduction to lean philosophy. It goes through the concept quite well. Still, the writers should've gone more into the ideas about Muda. The book could easily be cut in half, and still deliver the same amount of value creating words. Most of the first seven chapter is not very interesting or value adding, and I several times while reading these chapters thought of stop reading it. The idea of having a whole chapter of what LEAN is not, is a total waste. I
...more

"The one book to read on Lean." Quick and concise, like the book, that statement was definitely true.
...more

Could by even five stars.. Really nice and easy to read presentation of "lean" business strategy. Rather short though and doesn't go deep enough, so I'll give four stars.
If lean strategy interests you, you should read this book. It's a quick read, communicates the concept clearly, and gives some interesting ideas to think. I think the book is deceivingly simple. The authors have done spectacular job in summarizing the core philosophy of lean, and its tradeoffs.
Some interesting points:
* You can ...more
If lean strategy interests you, you should read this book. It's a quick read, communicates the concept clearly, and gives some interesting ideas to think. I think the book is deceivingly simple. The authors have done spectacular job in summarizing the core philosophy of lean, and its tradeoffs.
Some interesting points:
* You can ...more

* Resource efficiency (focus on organization's internal needs via resource utilization) vs flow efficiency (focusing on how fast a flow unit is served, so on customers)
* Flow efficiency is value adding activity in relation to throughput time
* Process laws: Little's law (throughput time = flow units in process * cycle time), the law of bottlenecks (throughput time increases if there are bottlenecks), the law of the effect of variations on processes (throughput time increases as variations increas ...more
* Flow efficiency is value adding activity in relation to throughput time
* Process laws: Little's law (throughput time = flow units in process * cycle time), the law of bottlenecks (throughput time increases if there are bottlenecks), the law of the effect of variations on processes (throughput time increases as variations increas ...more

Excellent, practical, and clear summary of what lean is, and what lean is not. The authors summarize lean as an operations strategy that prioritizes high flow efficiency over resource efficiency with the goal of continually improving both efficiencies by eliminating, reducing, and managing variation and waste. The book shows how this operations strategy can be implemented at various conceptual levels through Values (how we should behave, e.g. Respect and Teamwork), Principles (how we should thin
...more

Slow start, but great end
I am very familiar with Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, as conveyed in The Goal.
I thought the early discussion of flow efficiency versus resource efficiency and bottlenecks, oversimplified and perhaps slightly misrepresented TOC.
However, later discussion contextualized and clarified so much of how to understand Lean and the TPS that I am forced to give it five stars.
This book teaches you some of the concepts of Lean, but much more importantly teaches how you can under ...more
I am very familiar with Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, as conveyed in The Goal.
I thought the early discussion of flow efficiency versus resource efficiency and bottlenecks, oversimplified and perhaps slightly misrepresented TOC.
However, later discussion contextualized and clarified so much of how to understand Lean and the TPS that I am forced to give it five stars.
This book teaches you some of the concepts of Lean, but much more importantly teaches how you can under ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

"Everything good is lean, and everything lean is good" - is a commonly popularised idea that the authors of this thin volume set out to dispute. Given how much literature there's out there about lean, this book outlines the origins of lean thinking and then defines what the core of it is - as a strategy to optimise process flow. It's a short, easy to read book with good examples. This was pre-reading for my Business Processes MBA course and as assigned readings go it was an excellent intro to th
...more

The book got better half-way through, after the very repetitive first half. Stories and graphs help illustrate what lean is (and what it's not). The structure of the book is very well thought through. However, the book's biggest flaw is its writing style which I found too repetitive at times, disrupting the reading flow (pun intended, haha). With a little bit of editing and cleaning up, I'd have given this book five stars. That said, this is a very good book on lean and I can highly recommend it
...more

Addressing a topic as broad as organizational design and as deep as the Toyota Production System is a difficult task. This book takes a business buzzword and swiftly places it in historical context. I appreciate the way it distills the central themes of “Lean” into succinct chapters without unnecessary fluff. The goal is to present the facts about Lean, and the book lets you convince yourself of its merits.

A great book to understand Lean
I immensely enjoyed this book. It was extremely concise without compromising on the content/message. The book is a must read for any operations manager or consultant. It will help you build your own perspective with which you can drive continuous improvement. More than just a cursory read, book helps you think deeply about some of the concepts and I hope you take out time to do just that.
I immensely enjoyed this book. It was extremely concise without compromising on the content/message. The book is a must read for any operations manager or consultant. It will help you build your own perspective with which you can drive continuous improvement. More than just a cursory read, book helps you think deeply about some of the concepts and I hope you take out time to do just that.

Decent semi-entertaining read.
Authors give good deeper insights how to take your business into pieces and assess the efficiency. What types of questions to ask yourselves. They give good ideas what to focus on and why. A lot of it is based on Toyota's ideology.
Optimising and making your business more effective is a dynamic never-ending process. ...more
Authors give good deeper insights how to take your business into pieces and assess the efficiency. What types of questions to ask yourselves. They give good ideas what to focus on and why. A lot of it is based on Toyota's ideology.
Optimising and making your business more effective is a dynamic never-ending process. ...more

Well, I definitely got a serious and clear definition of “lean”. That’s great! I wish the graphs and illustrations were better, someone with a better skillset should help the author explaining the various abstract approaches in a nice visual way.
Quick read for quick readers. I needed a time to let every page sink in. Recommending it!
Quick read for quick readers. I needed a time to let every page sink in. Recommending it!

A short and easy to read book shines some light on a very often misunderstood topic of Lean (manufacturing or services). It explains the principles of Lean, but not the way you expect - there are no tools described in the book. It simply teaches you think the Lean-way.
A good starting point on your Lean journey.
A good starting point on your Lean journey.

This book introduces a very practical framework - the efficiency matrix, a 2x2 grid across flow and resource utilisation. The way the book starts with explaining the impact of flow efficiency is quite impactful. Also, the book focuses on lean as an operational strategy talking about why and how to approach - Values, Principles rather than what to do - Methods, Tools & Activities.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
great book | 1 | 6 | Apr 26, 2014 02:51PM |
Goodreads is hiring!
News & Interviews
As dedicated readers already know, some of the best and most innovative stories on the shelves come from the constantly evolving realm of...
4 likes · 2 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“lean is not a static state to reach. It is not something you complete. It is a dynamic state characterized by constant improvement.”
—
1 likes
More quotes…