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Briefends
Each Friday, I typically call a friend to catch up. I reach out to them, re-calibrating memories of old stories when camera phones...
Apr 27, 20243 min read
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Unable to relate to "in progress"
I am not able to take it any more. That’s it! Stop using that phrase. I do not want to hear actions framed in that context anymore. The...
Apr 21, 20242 min read
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Applying my first lesson from Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge failure
The FBI has recently opened a criminal investigation on the container ship that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in...
Apr 16, 20243 min read
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A 9 3/4 mindset going into your shutdown
Imagine your production line is winding down after a productive month, and now it is time to allocate time for your monthly repair turn...
Mar 23, 20243 min read
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How did the stop sign get there?
There are some days when I am just in a lousy rut. Some days, I find myself looking at an assignment, an action item, or a blank screen...
Mar 10, 20243 min read
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When to use an extra life
If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, you most likely know what the green mushroom provides the gamer in Mario Brothers. If you played the...
Feb 25, 20244 min read
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The antithesis of Gemba
This morning was 14 degrees Fahrenheit, yet the sun showed off its superpower by making the recent 4 inches of snow sparkle in every...
Feb 18, 20243 min read
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Establishing your Norm.
No sitcom will ever eclipse the number-one ranking that I give to Cheers. Combining the humor and witty dialogue within a diverse group...
Feb 12, 20243 min read
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Some assembly is required. This is the way.
You may have recently completed a Lego set gifted to you for Christmas. In our case, The Mandalorian Helmet sits on a shelf with the...
Jan 28, 20242 min read
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Ideas are not rare.
Imagine you are in a small house in the Beacon Hill neighborhood in Boston. Starring out the window, you see rows of red-brick houses,...
Jan 14, 20243 min read
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The emotions of machines.
Charles Darwin is known for his insight into evolution and natural selection. In the mid-1800s, Darwin began to challenge how organisms...
Jan 6, 20243 min read
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Zugzwang moments within performance goals
Performance goals Performance goal season is wrapping up. With a few days remaining, you summarize your annual performance to each goal...
Dec 29, 20232 min read
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Canceling a PM can impact your metrics differently.
Within practically all computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), there are mechanisms to do preventive maintenance (PMs). These...
Dec 10, 20233 min read
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Idioms for when both options are bad.
A decade ago, I vividly remember facing a dilemma where neither option was good. A department I was responsible for had a basement with...
Dec 5, 20233 min read
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Leveraging a new hirer's superpower.
During onboarding activities of new employees, I remind each new hirer that they have a superpower. It is a superpower that the current...
Nov 14, 20233 min read
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A katharologist gives a damn about safety.
I have been on a housekeeping mission as of late. It has not originated from a whitepaper that talks about 5S strategies for millennials....
Nov 3, 20233 min read
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And down goes a fan.
The score was 8 to 1 in the middle of the fifth, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were losing. Not exactly surprising considering the team’s...
Oct 8, 20233 min read
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Remove the obstacles preventing creativity.
Have you ever been stuck in a good rut? Have you caught yourself in the middle of an incident investigation, and the root cause continues...
Sep 10, 20233 min read
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Fremdschämen
Two weeks into a new job a decade ago, I was given the results of a third-party audit. Handed to me by the lead auditor in a nicely...
Aug 26, 20233 min read
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When does improving OEE become a waste?
OEE, overall equipment effectiveness, remains one of my favorite key performance indicators and is commonly used throughout manufacturing...
Aug 13, 20233 min read
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Entropy and the puzzle
What is your approach to solving a puzzle? I assume it starts with flipping over each cardboard-brown piece to make the patterns face up....
Aug 6, 20233 min read
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Stagnation is the middle name.
Mastering a presentation takes time. Intensively interrogating each slide to enhance the message of the slide deck can take months and...
Jul 23, 20233 min read
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F.U. grammar check.
I have been writing blogs for almost two years, and each organically emerged from something I experienced, witnessed, or discussed. Each...
Jul 15, 20233 min read
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The designed route, may not be what is typically taken.
There is an office complex over 100 years old just outside of Chicago. Still occupied, it is an office complex for a leadership team that...
Jul 2, 20233 min read
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