Lean Tech &
AI Journal

Deployed or Developed: We Have Seen This Play Before 

The choice between renting expertise and building it is a century-old decision, and both experiments have run at scale. Only one of them compounded.

Deployed or Developed: The Purple Unicorn Problem

Everyone is hiring for a skill set that barely exists. The capability you need is already on your payroll. This first article of a three-part series[1] examines the role of forward deployed engineers (how they work and the expense and information ownership associated with these individuals) at companies embracing AI vs. developing AI capabilities inhouse with the people who do the work.

The Reengineering Is Coming

Leadership Negligence, Not Technology Failure, Sets the Stage for AI's Most Expensive Correction

In 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow made an observation that still echoes: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."¹

Insource What Matters: A Lesson from Toyota for Lean Practitioners in the Age of AI

There is a moment in lean transformation work that almost every practitioner has experienced. You have made real progress on the floor, in the office, or in the clinic. Flow is improving. Waste is visible. People are solving problems. And then you hit a wall, and the wall is technology.

Wait, That's My Job | How AI Exposed the Organizational Immune System Nobody Wanted to Talk About

AI isn't just disrupting work — it's exposing the organizational immune system. Tyson Heaton reveals who's blocking progress and who's quietly building it.

When the Gemba Outruns Your Knowledge: The "Third Coach" in the Room

The Boundary Is Moving: AI Changes What We Expect from Leaders