Chapter 14: Introducing the Enterprise Lean-VSM Practice Leaders

This chapter provides instructions on the leading Lean-oriented practice and methodology leaders, including the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) and LeanFITT™. These two organizations are included because Lean practices evolved separately from Agile, and these are two of the longest operating thought leaders behind the Lean movement.

LEI was founded in 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, Ph.D. and his colleague, Daniel T. Jones. Womack and Jones coined the term value stream in an article published in the Harvard Business Review magazine, From Lean Production to the Lean Enterprise (Womack and Jones, March-April 1994; https://hbr.org/1994/03/from-lean-production-to-the-lean-enterprise). LEI promotes on its website that the organization "conducts research, teaches educational workshops, publishes books and eBooks, runs conferences, and shares practical information about lean thinking and practices...