What books should I read first when starting out in Lean?

What books should I read first when starting out in Lean?

The first and best answer is, of course, Whaddaya Mean I Gotta be Lean? Building the Bridge from Job Satisfaction to Corporate Profit. It is a great place to start.

It was written by Jeff Hajek. The first half of the book is a Lean overview, and the second half contains over hundred detailed strategies on how to make Lean work.

The next decision is whether you want a meaty book or an easier book to start with after you read mine. If you take the first route, a good place to start is with Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones. They are the same guys that wrote The Machine that Changed the World, which is where many people believe the term Lean was first introduced.

If you want to take the latter route, you’ve really got two choices.  For a long time, the only novel style book was The Goal by Eli Goldratt. It follows a manufacturing executive as he struggles with keeping a company alive. He does it with the help of a mentor that he fortuitously runs into along the way.

A similar style book is The Gold Mine by Michael Balle’. This one is more specifically geared toward Lean. Goldratt’s book focuses on his own methods known as the Theory of Constraints.

If you are really wanting to suck on the fire hose, though, you can read any of the stuff written by Shigeo Shingo. His work is really immersive. That is the downside if you are just starting out. Some of it might go over your head. It can be hard to understand the impact of his teachings if you haven’t seen any Lean at all.

The other downside is that his books are extremely pricey, for the most part. The big notable exception is Key Strategies for Plant Improvement which can be gotten used for cheap on Amazon.com.

Now, if I have not mentioned your book choice here, don’t get defensive. I am not saying that these are necessarily the very best books. I do say that mine is best—but the others are more about helping set the hook. These books are great ones to get a person interested in Lean and create a thirst for more knowledge.

After reading these, my hope is that you will uncover specific areas of continuous improvement interest and dive into those headfirst.