Big Results from Small Ideas - the Lean Library

Great article - worth a read:

http://www.leanlibrary.com/big_results.htm

Some excerpts:

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Sure, everyone wants to hit one out of the park with a solution that is so elegant, so profound that it stuns by virtue of its brilliance. But really, how often does that happen? And when it does, how long before the competitor picks up on it? Often, there are more benefits by gathering and implementing small ideas."

"One of the most surprising findings of the Ideas Are Free study was how high-performing companies focused on small ideas while low-performing companies tended to go after big ones"

"Milliken competes by out-managing its overseas rivals. The company's "Opportunity for Improvement" system brings in some 7,000 ideas from workers every day. Because most ideas are small, they're difficult or even impossible for competitors to copy. They amass into superior performance that Milliken has sustained for several decades"

"And it is workers, not managers, who most often spot the little things that add up to big success"