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…
Number 58 – Iterations of Improvement Audie Penn, August 4, 2025February 7, 2026 Plan and lead multiple, inter-related improvement projects within a value stream, including iterations of improvement within a single area or portion of a value stream. Practitioners; Tactical, integrative, and strategic The two thoughts that surface first for me when I read this OpEx TopEx are multi-generation-project-plan, and George Koenigsaecker’s rule…
Number 40 – Seek and Provide Feedback Audie Penn, July 30, 2025February 7, 2026 Seek and provide frequent, if not constant, feedback. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic My recent client activity has been focused on strategy deployment, and so my initial thoughts regarding this feedback loop are aligned with the sponsor level. One specific situation involves a regional president and a COO making the…