CCL Blog

Eighteen people met on Zoom on August 4 to get ready for the California Improvement Summit. We split them into three rooms with three different prompts and no way to hear each other. All three came back talking about words. That was not on the agenda, and a week of email later it is still the most interesting thing that happened. Its about language This was the first of four pre-work options for the Summit, held at the Octagon Barn in San Luis Obispo from August 30 to Septemb

By the time Central Coast Lean’s July Lean Coffee got underway, there were almost as many AI notetakers logged into the call as there were people. That felt about right for the morning ahead. For the next seventy minutes, whether the topic was people programs, AI adoption, or metrics, the group kept circling one question: what does it take to trust something — a machine, a metric, a claim of impact — enough to act on it? Balance between evidence and insights Central Coast Lea

We're building the California Improvement Summit without a call for speakers, a keynote lineup, or an open registration page. Instead, everyone who wants a seat answers four questions. Here's why we chose that path, and what the first fifteen sets of answers are teaching us. The context The California Improvement Summit (August 30 – September 1, 2026, at the Octagon Barn in San Luis Obispo) is an invitation-only working session for about thirty practitioners. The central ques

For fifteen years, Central Coast Lean has gathered improvement practitioners every April on the Central Coast of California. Meaningful conversations, real learning, and a community that keeps showing up. This year, we are trying something a little different. We are not holding an April summit in 2026. Instead, we are launching something new: the California Improvement Summit , scheduled for Sunday, August 30 through Tuesday, September 1, 2026 , on the Central Coast. Here is

What we're learning — and where CCL is headed next A few years back, we started asking a question that felt a little uncomfortable: are we teaching lean to the right people? Employees, yes. Leaders, absolutely. But what about customers — the people whose participation, cooperation, and behavior are often woven directly into the processes we're trying to improve? That question became the seed of what we've been calling Customer Lean. What We Mean by Customer Lean We're still

February's Central Coast Virtual Lean Coffee session opened with a question that resonates across every organization attempting lean transformation: "How do you lay the foundation for a culture of A3 thinking?" Central Coast Lean Virtual Lean Coffee With four votes from our diverse group of practitioners spanning manufacturing, government, and consulting sectors, this topic reflected a shared struggle. We're not short on A3 templates. We're not lacking training materials. Wha

After 25+ years in lean education and watching countless organizations struggle to send teams to public workshops, we've learned something important: the best learning happens where you work. That's why Central Coast Lean is transforming how we deliver lean education. Instead of asking you to come to us, we're coming to you. From Fixed Dates to Your Schedule Traditional public workshops lock you into specific dates that rarely align with production schedules, project deadline

Created by Eric O Olsen with assistance from Claude.AI For years, Central Coast Lean has operated under the banner of "Committed to Operational Excellence." It's served us well. But as our lean journey has deepened, we've been searching for language that better captures what we're actually trying to do—and that invites more people into the conversation. So we're making a change. Our new motto is simply: Easier, Better, Faster Why the Change? When someone at a grocery store o

Insights from November's Virtual Lean Coffee "I don't have the answer. Ideally, we would just develop people and not worry about if there's ROI on it. But for the less enlightened people who are out in the world, they're still looking for how do you measure, calculate? How can I justify spending time developing my people?" This question cut straight to a challenge that lean practitioners face daily: proving the value of investing in people when financial spreadsheets demand i

Response to " Transforming Higher Education Through Lean Principles " Date: November 3, 2025 Responding to: Eric Olsen (Central Coast Lean) and Mark Jacobs (University of Dayton) Author: Enar A. Tunç, Adjunct Instructor, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo augmented with Claude.AI Contact: etunc@calpoly.edu Eric and Mark, thank you for your thoughtful exploration of lean principles in higher education—and for making it accessible in both text and aud

"Can you teach people lean by kaizening a form?" The question hung in the virtual space as nine practitioners from across California and beyond considered the challenge. It's the kind of practical question that emerges when theory meets the messy reality of organizational learning—and it sparked one of our most engaging October Lean Coffee discussions. Improving a Form Our monthly Central Coast Virtual Lean Coffee gathering on October 8th brought together educators, consultan

A veteran industrial engineer opened Central Coast Lean Coffee with a challenge born from four decades of experience: "Why do we keep...

"If I stopped running these sessions tomorrow, would you all continue to meet?" The question from our facilitator exposed an...

By Eric O Olsen Every day, I clip on my name badge before leaving the house. Not because I'm heading to a conference or business event, but because I believe something fundamental about human connection: we need to know each other's names to work together effectively. And in the lean world, where collaboration and continuous improvement depend on human relationships, this simple act might be more revolutionary than any methodology. Proud name badge connector When people notic

In a world where organizational change happens at breakneck speed, one question keeps surfacing in improvement circles: How do we create...

In our recent discussion exploring the intersection of lean methodology and academic administration, we identified a critical pattern affecting universities nationwide: the inverse relationship between administrative growth and academic investment. This collaborative reflection examines how lean transformation principles can address these systemic challenges while preserving the core educational mission. Listen to the Full Discussion Prefer listening? We've created an AI-gene

"What if, instead of me telling you what you need, we created a space where you could discover it together with others on a similar...

Our July Central Coast Virtual Lean Coffee ☕️ led to a thoughtful discussion on AI’s role in learning and coaching. We explored whether...

At the last Central Coast Virtual Lean Coffee ☕️ - a monthly gathering where Lean practitioners come together to exchange ideas and sharpen their problem-solving approaches. This time, we got to talking about A3 Thinking. You’ve probably heard the term “A3,” but what exactly is it? Simply put, it’s a one-page, structured approach to problem-solving. But more than that, it’s a way of thinking - one that encourages clarity, focus, and shared understanding at every stage of tack