Number 178 – Make Problems Visible Audie Penn, October 28, 2025February 6, 2026 Gather and analyze metrics to make problems visible, and to identify and develop opportunities to create capacity for growth. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic I once asked a CEO this question, “If you discover a problem in February, would you wait until November to address it?” You can imagine his…
Number 113 – Use Standard Work Audie Penn, October 15, 2025February 7, 2026 Use Standard Work for Leadership and Non-production Processes. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This OpEx TopEx immediately calls to mind leader standard work and all the resistance I have experienced over the years. If everything we produce is the result of a process, and we expect process standard work to…
Number 167 – Reduce and Eliminate Excess Metrics Audie Penn, October 10, 2025February 7, 2026 Reduce and eliminate excess metrics that micromanage behaviors and outcomes. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic It is still strategy deployment season, and I am even more deeply engrained in the thinking. As momentum builds and our 3D deployment work continues, number 167 is perfectly fitting. In a recent conversation with…
Number 163 – Larger Business Results Audie Penn, September 29, 2025February 7, 2026 Communicate how specific improvement efforts are affecting larger business results. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Since it is strategy deployment season, OpEx TopEx number 163 fits the season. In a current strategy deployment engagement, with a frequent client, we are exposing the executive team to this new experience in strategy…
Number 144 – Frequent Progress Checks Audie Penn, September 22, 2025February 7, 2026 Set Expectations for Frequent Progress Checks Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic As soon as I read this OpEx TopEx this morning, I recalled a consistent conversation from a client visit last week. Among the many terms that included in those coaching conversations were accountability and responsibility. When we set expectations…
Number 135 – Set Goals for Improvement Efforts Audie Penn, September 9, 2025February 7, 2026 Set Goals for Improvement Efforts Across Value Streams Practitioners: Integrative, and strategic One of my favorite books comes from George Koenigsaecker. His classic work, Leading the Lean Enterprise Transformation, comes to mind when I read today’s OpEx TopEx. One way to set goals for improvement efforts across value streams comes…
Number 129 – Develop Measures to Drive Improvement Audie Penn, September 2, 2025February 7, 2026 Identify and develop measures to drive improvement and signal problems. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic With the strategy deployment season just getting started, number 129 seems an appropriate focus. When we recognize the objective of strategy deployment is to create a condition of readiness, we should be challenged to define…
Number 127 – See the Parts to the Whole Audie Penn, August 25, 2025February 7, 2026 Explain the relationship of “parts to the whole.” Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic One of my favorite topex of study is systems theory. A large part of systems theory is the relationship between parts and to the whole. These relationships play a key role in the SMPL OpEx framework I…
Number 102 – Learn To Use Jidoka Audie Penn, August 19, 2025February 7, 2026 Use jidoka (autonomation) to conduct projects. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This is one of my favorite topex to discuss. Jidoka is associated with automation in machines that detect defects, shutdown to avoid producing a defective product, and alert the appropriate human being necessary to correct the abnormality. The challenge…
Number 77 – Establish and Integrate Standard Work Audie Penn, August 12, 2025February 7, 2026 Establish and integrate standard work across your value streams. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic The problem with standard work is the level of misunderstanding the term carries. The funny thing is we all have them, informally and unofficially, but we all use a standard in some way, shape, or form…