I captured the first 100 words of each bloggers' postings in the related pages beginning with the title Days 1-5 to make it convenient for you to refer back to this series. You'll find these pages listed in the upper left column. Enjoy!

Kaizen is the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement that is increasingly being applied to manufacturers, hospitals and transactional processes around the world.

Over five days on the week of December 5th through the 9th, 2005 the "Gang-of-Seven" bloggers who are experts in kaizen, project management and innovation will contribute on their blogs each day to the theme of Kaizen for Project Teams.

The Gang-of-Seven bloggers are:

• Norman Bodek, Kaikaku
• Joe Ely, Learning about Lean
• Chuck Frey, Innovation Weblog
• Mark Graban, Lean Manufacturing Blog
• Hal Macomber, Reforming Project Management
• Jon Miller, Gemba Pantarei
• Bill Waddell, Evolving Excellence

And one very special additional contributor: Kathleen Fasanella, Fashion Incubator.

The compilation of postings, reader comments, additional essays and an appendix on kaizen will be published as a handbook with the working title Project Kaizen: A Handbook for Project Teams in 2006.

Visit these blogs on the week of December 5th through 9th for seven different perspectives on 5 topics on the theme of Kaizen for Project Teams.

Project Kaizen Co-Blogging Themes
Hal Macomber

The Gang-of-Seven is about a week away from co-blogging on kaizen in project settings — project kaizen. It took us awhile to agree on the themes. With so much we could say, but just five days to do so, we want to give our attention to those few topics that can be immediately useful to the largest group of people. On Monday, December 9, we'll start with answering the most basic question, "Why do project kaizen?" Each day the seven of us will continue from one topic to the next. We selected the themes to meet people in their usual project circumstances. The themes are:

Monday: The Case for Project Kaizen

We'll answer why do kaizens when you are doing a one-of-a-kind project or when the project team members won't be working together on a regular basis.

Tuesday: Workgroup Kaizen

Our attention will be on making improvements for sub-team members performing the same type of work.

Wednesday: Workstream Kaizen

We'll look at making improvements across a subset of a value stream. This often crosses organizational boundaries.

Thursday: Quick 'n Easy Kaizen

These are improvements that affect the ease of one person doing a job and within ones authority to make a change.

Friday: Kaizen Blitz

These improvements are focused on the whole project. A blitz takes time and preparation. It is intended to produce a big result.

I mentioned in the announcement that there is not much written on project kaizen. My research since that post leads me to believe that we are breaking new ground. As such, our commentary is prospective even if it is well-grounded in the experience of seven advisors and practitioners. Engage with us as we think and share.