The Toyota Way
by Jeffrey K. Liker · first published 2004
41% recommend55% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Easy-to-read, anecdote-filled account of Toyota's management principles and lean thinking, going beyond waste elimination. Suits software and operations people who want to understand process, kaizen and kanban.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…Quality: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Deming-Leadership-Principle... - The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Industry-Government-Educati... - The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer: https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Management-Principles-Manu... Deming is really a great thinking in the area of product development…
on “The Toyota Production System (2013)” ↗If you're interested in Toyota's manufacturing principles, "The Toyota Way" by Jeffrey Liker is worth reading.
on “Toyota Manufacturing Principles” ↗…that Changed the World https://www.amazon.com/Machine-That-Changed-World-Revolution... Toyota Production System Beyond Large Scale https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Production-System-Beyond-Large... The Toyota Way https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Management-Principles-Manu... Out of the Crisis https://www.amazon.com/Out-Crisis-W-Edwards-Deming/dp/091137...
on “Applying Lean Startup Principles in Organizations of All Sizes” ↗The Toyota Way - one of the most important books I've read to help understand why companies are dysfunctional. I knew corporate America (and even many startups) were so dysfunctional, but I didn't know what could replace…
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?” ↗For anyone interested in the operations side of business, Jeffrey Liker's "The Toyota Way" is a fascinating read. ERP/Supply Chain software seems pretty expensive and useless compared to simple mechanical or paper kanban systems, coupled with regular time spent together talking about how to…
on “The open secret of (Toyota's) success” ↗For those of you willing to pay for a canonical source on Toyota's philosophy, I heartily recommend The Toyota Way: http://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Jeffrey-Liker/dp/0071392319 It is much, much more than a 'lean system', although one of their major goals is to eliminate waste. I'm also big fan of their 'go and…
on “Lean startups find their moment” ↗I think the classic in this field is 'The Toyota Way': http://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Jeffrey-Liker/dp/0071392319
on “A 0.07-Second Power Problem at Chip-Plant Affect Digital Device Availability” ↗…Read his dry and horribly written book if you want: http://www.amazon.com/Out-Crisis-W-Edwards-Deming/dp/0262541... Or just head straight to something relevant and practical: http://www.amazon.com/The-Toyota-Way-Management-Manufacturer... Moral of the story: Quality (all-encompassing quality, including everything from simple operational effectiveness, to market fit and understanding) comes from systems thinking.
on “The Fire Phone Is Officially a Failure” ↗Here's a short list: Strategy/Ops: • The Innovator's Dilemma - Clay Christensen • The Toyota Way - Jeffrey Liker • The Beer Game - duh :-) Leadership: • High Output Management - Andy Grove • The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz • Love is the Killer App - Tim Sanders GTM: • Start…
on “The Beer Game (1992)” ↗…http://usingcsp.com/cspbook.pdf [3] https://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remember... [4] https://www.amazon.com/Fluent-Forever-Learn-Language-Forget/... ========================================= EDITS: The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker [5]. I grokked Lean from this. Hardware focused, but the concepts can be (and have been) generalized to other process focused fields. This has helped with understanding what business processes…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that inspire or highly influence the way you work?” ↗…their corporate university and his book "The Elegant Solution" offers insight into their innovation process - the principles it is built on and the practices that make it work. Jeffrey Liker - his "The Toyota Way" is a very good introduction to the application of lean methods at Toyota. This is one of the best lean books I have read. Definitely a favourite! This list covers up to around 10 years ago. Please comment…
on “Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, dies at 97” ↗>for manufacturing Japan is world-class. Japanese companies build things really really well, with very few workers, quickly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toyota_Way I bought and read that book some years ago. Found it pretty interesting. There is a lot of detail and statistics in it, but the overall theme is of Kaizen (roughly, continuous improvement), along with…
on “Doing Business in Japan” ↗If you haven't read it, you'd probably enjoy (and anyone interested in process) The Toyota Way by Liker.
on “The Air Force is having to reverse engineer parts of its own stealth bomber” ↗If this has some resonance for you, I'd encourage you to check out one of the Lean Manufacturing books. The Toyota Way and Toyota Kata are two of my favorites. Also great is the "This American Life" story NUMMI: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/n... I bring up Lean Manufacturing because they…
on “The Well Intentioned Commissar” ↗…which they did throughout their lives on things like tonsillectomies for their kids. Some impactful books on the whole field include Factory Physics (focusing on material flow through a factory) and The Toyota Way (focusing on lean manufacturing).
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗