In this except from the LEI webinar, “From Toyota to Tech: Wiring Organizations to Win,” Dr. Steven Spear, management expert and senior lecturer at MIT, and Tyson Heaton, LEI Senior Coach, discuss the potential impact and risks associated with artificial intelligence. Steven, co-author with Gene Kim of Wiring the Winning Organization, called AI a “powerful tool,” of which we have little understanding of “how to use it, where it applies, where it’s useful, where it’s not useful, [and] where it’s actually destructive.” Tyson and Steven suggested that AI can do for knowledge work what mass production and interchangeable parts did in transcending craftsmanship to industrialization.
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AI is quickly becoming popular and valuable. However, I believe it could be counterproductive with respect to the basic principles of lean. In my experience the principal of lean is broken from the very first day of implementation by teaching lean improperly to the participants. Trying to understand and conceive lean implementation, the wrong information can cause confusion and prevent participants from accepting lean principals at all. I’ve seen it happen! So i ask you, what is the goal of lean?