Customer Reviews

A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance

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Traditional Work: How you work is probably how you worked.

When I looked at that line in my notebook (after reading Daniel Markowitz's book, A Factory of One) I thought about the busy-ness that many people talk about as they relate to their workday. As you consider what you get done in a typical 8 or 10 or 15-hour shift, do you stop to consider HOW you get that work done?

Over the 145 pages of this well-written - and well-documented - book Dan shows very specific methods you can use to apply "Lean Principles" (traditionally reserved for manufacturing and production lines to remove wasted movements thereby increasing overall productivity) to the "Knowledge Work" that keeps so many of us busy and focused on working overtime.

I was pleased to see Dan write about Parkinson's Law of work: Namely, that the work you have will generally fill the time you have available to do that work. If something is due in a week, it'll take about a week. If it's due later today, well you get the point.

The point of applying Lean Principles to improve personal performance is two-fold:

1. Create a flow of working: so that once you get there, you stay there and produce something (a thought, a product, etc) of value

2. Reduce the stress of wasted movements to focus on more meaningful activity

If you're thinking of getting this book, here's just one of the themes you can expect to explore while you're reading:

Dan asks you to define your "value;" the value of your service or product to the market. Once you've identified that value, then you can work on making things as efficient as possible in order to make that value available to those that matter: clients, community, organization, family, friends, etc. Oh, it might be helpful to know how Dan defines value. I'm walking away with three indicators:

What does the customer pay for?

What are you doing to transform the product or the service?

What activity seems to be done "correctly?"

Of course, you'll walk away from reading this with your own ideas of what "value" means to you, your business, your work. I loved this prompt, though, as it made me think a bit longer about all those "extra to-dos" that have piled up around my own work station lately:

"Should you do better what doesn't deserve doing in the first place?"

Consider what you do, as an entrepreneur, manager, associate of the business you're in. What are the specific activities that you "do" that provide value? The ideas that Dan gives you on (a) how to think about those activities and (b) what to do to make those activities as efficient as possible may be exactly what you need to take not just what you do but HOW you do it to the next level. Imagine being MORE productive without having to buy new technology, hire more staff or change (radically) your business or product.

What WILL you have to change? Your approach to work. To get you think about what that might look, sound and feel like, identify very specifically WHERE your time goes:

fixing

delegating

waiting

over-doing

reviewing

re-doing

explaining

etc

Once you identify WHERE your time, energy and focus is "spent" during the day, then it's time to apply Lean Principles to YOUR work. I hope you enjoy reading (and thinking about) this book as much as I did!

In today's crazy-busy work environment, personal productivity is the key to success. In A Factory of One, you'll discover numerous strategies you can immediately use to cut through the clutter, create order from chaos and get more done. Dan does a great job of showing normal human beings how to benefit from lean thinking.

JILL Konrath

Author, SNAP Selling & Selling to Big Companies

"A Factory of One" is an important addition to the Lean literature. Important because Dan Markovitz adds some deep insight to a common problem: How do Knowledge Workers improve their work habits?

Dan accomplishes this feat through two key features in this book.

First, he looks at the application of Lean to the information which Knowledge Workers process, not the hardware they use. Far too many approaches to the "lean office" get too hung up on proper placement of the desk stapler or the in-box. Dan, however, emphasizes finding and locating waste in processing information. Why does the Purchase Order take so long to get approved? Why is the engineer chained to her pile of email? Why are projects stuck for so long? In particular, I found his 4D's (p54) and his discussion of personal kanban (p105) enlightening and applicable.

Second, Dan's writing style is refreshing. He writes with both wit and edge, using both effectively throughout. Far from a stultifying technical recitation of process intuitions, Dan writes as if he was coaching, sitting in the same room, cracking a joke at times, kicking me in the butt at times. This book simply reads better than most books about Lean.

I recommend the book highly for any knowledge worker.

Full Disclosure: Dan asked for input and stories from me and used several in the book. I did not do any editing on the book, however.

These concepts will be very familiar to people familiar with continuous improvement and more specifically Lean and Six Sigma. However, you do not have to be a practitioner to understand or read the book. When trade terms are used they are explained in simple everyday language without losing a beat. The author demonstrates an in depth knowledge of the Lean Principles. There may be others with his depth of knowledge but I have seen few transfer it into such simple, practical and useable terms. I found myself reading a "how to" book like a novel, reminding myself more than once to bend a corner or mark a page for future reference.

My favorite part of the book was the part on living in your calendar versus your inbox. Quick look at your screen and see what is open! That comment in itself added more than a few minutes to my day of productivity. Another example is his description of a personal A3 for problem solving was absolutely flawless in its description and the use of it.

Are you going to get 2 hours a day of time saving tips from the book? I doubt it. What you will get is more productivity and feeling better about what and how you accomplished it. It was my New Year's Day read and I have picked it up every day since then. Not saying you won't be able to put it down but at this point it looks that way for me.

As a veteran of 25 years in real estate sales and a salescoach, I was fascinated by the lean thinking ideas in this book for the single entrepreneur. The book caused me to reframe my personal systems and enlightened me to where my own thinking could be simplified and focused. A delightful read, filled with real methods that can be implemented right away.

Most personal productivity books will tell you to stop checking email so frequently, or not to multitask. Dan Markovitz's book goes beyond the platitudes and explains a comprehensive theory of how to become more effective as a business professional. Drawing on his thorough knowledge of Lean principles - popularized by Toyota and embraced by factories - Markovitz shows how asking similar questions can help individual executives determine their priorities and eliminate annoyances, hassles and waste from their everyday activities. His book tells you both the "how" and "why" of productivity - and in the process, will make you a better business leader.

This book is a worthwhile read on two levels. From the strategic perspective, the author challenges you to think hard about the value you're creating or providing in your job. He pushes you to make sure you're creating value rather than spinning your wheels and being busy. (Yes! This is an extremely important conversation that should take place all of the time.) On the tactical front, the author shares some powerful tools and suggestions to improve your personal productivity. I started trying some of them immediately, even before I finished the chapter. And I'm glad I did as I'm already working more efficiently. As an added bonus, Dan is an entertaining writer with lively, colorful examples.

All for now. I need to get back to work and make monthly appointments with myself to do my "5S Maintenances." Yes, the lessons are sticky.