The Thoughts of John Seddon

With the publication of Freedom From Command and Control in 2005, John Seddon arguably made a significant impact on the world of lean and continuous improvement in services by challenging the standard lean orthodoxy and advocating a systems approach to improvement. Considered by some to be controversial, he has dismissed traditional lean thinkers (though the sentiment appears to be mutual) and presents an alternative method for improvement, which he promotes via his consultancy, called the Vanguard Method. However, many lean thinkers have readily embraced several of his powerful concepts and ideas and are content to incorporate them in an holistic approach.

In this video, he discusses what we can learn from Toyota, on ‘undoing’ current thinking, the problems with ‘toolheads’ and the dangers of targets.