Reading list
Lean and Kaizen books: a reading list by what you want to learn
In short
Four books are our starting points for Lean and Kaizen: Taiichi Ohno's Toyota Production System for the origins, Masaaki Imai's Kaizen for the idea itself, Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones for the principles, and John Shook's Managing to Learn for problem solving. The full list below has nineteen books in six groups, so you can start from what you want to learn.
This is KaizenProof's editorial selection, not a ranking. Each entry gives the full title, the authors, the year of first publication, the original language where the book is a translation, and the page we checked those facts against.
How were these books chosen?
We chose them; nobody paid to be listed, we earn nothing from any link, and the order inside a group is the order we would read them in, not a score. KaizenProof has no connection with the authors or publishers of these books, with Toyota, or with any organisation named on this page; none of them has reviewed or endorsed this list or KaizenProof. A book is here when it meets all four of these tests.
- It is a source for an idea this site teaches: either the first account of it, or the account later writers build on.
- Its title, authors and year of first publication could be checked on a publisher's page, a library catalogue record or a reference page, which is linked under the entry.
- It can be read by someone who does not work in a factory, even where its examples come from one. Where the examples are all from manufacturing, the entry says so.
- It teaches a way of thinking or working, not a product or a consulting method sold under a trademark.
The descriptions are written in our own words and say what a book argues, not whether you will like it. Most of these books were written about factories. For the same ideas in office terms, start with the free course, beginning at Kaizen in the office, and use the list to go to the sources.
Which books explain the origins and the Toyota Production System?
Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
Ohno, the engineer most closely tied to the system, gives its history and the thinking behind it. He sets out just-in-time, the wastes to be removed, and the habit of asking why five times, with the stopped-machine example that is still quoted. It is short and written by the practitioner, so it suits anyone who wants the source and not a summary; every example is from manufacturing.
On this site: 5 Whys examples from office work; The 8 wastes in office work.
Checked against: Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production (Routledge, publisher's page); 5 Whys, citing page 17 of this book (Lean Enterprise Institute, Lean Lexicon); Taiichi Ohno (Wikipedia).
A Study of the Toyota Production System: From an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint
Shingo takes the system apart as an industrial engineer: production as a network of processes and of the operations inside them, why improving the process comes before improving a single operation, and how production without stock is made to work. It is dense and technical. Read it after Ohno, for the mechanics, and keep in mind that Shingo taught at Toyota as an outside consultant, so this is an analyst's account.
On this site: Lead time vs process time; Poka-yoke in the methods reference.
Checked against: A Study of the Toyota Production System (Routledge, publisher's page); The Japanese original, 1980 (National Diet Library, Japan, catalogue record); Study of 'Toyota' production system, 1981 (Open Library catalogue record); Shigeo Shingo (Wikipedia).
The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production
The report of a five-year study of the world's car makers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It compares craft, mass and lean production plant by plant, and it is the book that made the phrase lean production widely known. Read it for the evidence and the comparison; it is about one industry and says little about how to start.
On this site: Kaizen vs Lean vs Six Sigma; History of Kaizen and Lean.
Checked against: The Machine That Changed the World (Wikipedia); A Brief History of Lean (Lean Enterprise Institute).
Which books are about Kaizen itself?
Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success
The book that brought the word kaizen into Western management. Imai presents kaizen as improvement that does not stop and that involves everyone in the organisation, managers as well as workers, and he gives the plan-do-check-act cycle as its working routine. It is for managers who want the original statement of the idea.
On this site: Kaizen in the office; PDCA cycle explained.
Checked against: The journey of Kaizen Institute (Kaizen Institute); Kaizen, the key to Japan's competitive success (Open Library catalogue record); Kaizen (Lean Enterprise Institute, Lean Lexicon).
Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management
Imai's second book moves from the idea to the workplace. Its case, in the words of its first subtitle, is a commonsense, low-cost approach: go to where the work is done, keep the workplace in order, set standards and remove waste. It suits a team lead who wants to know what to do on Monday.
On this site: Gemba walk for office work; SDCA vs PDCA; Standard work template.
Checked against: The journey of Kaizen Institute (Kaizen Institute); Gemba Kaizen, Second Edition (McGraw Hill, publisher's page).
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
A psychologist applies the small-steps idea to personal habits. Maurer argues that a step small enough to feel trivial gets round the resistance and fear a large change sets off, and builds the book around small thoughts, small actions, small problems and small rewards. It is not about workplaces or Toyota; read it to understand why small changes are easier for people to accept.
On this site: Kaizen event vs daily Kaizen; Kaizen in the office.
Checked against: One Small Step Can Change Your Life (Open Library catalogue record); One Small Step Can Change Your Life (Hachette Book Group, publisher's page).
Which books teach Lean thinking?
Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation
Womack and Jones reduce what they saw at Toyota and elsewhere to five principles: specify value, map the value stream, make the work flow, let the customer pull, and pursue perfection. Company stories from several industries show the principles applied. It is the book we would hand first to a manager who asks what Lean is, as opposed to how Toyota works.
On this site: Value-added vs non-value-added work; The wastes that slow office work.
Checked against: A Brief History of Lean (Lean Enterprise Institute); Lean Thinking, 2nd Edition (Lean Enterprise Institute); Lean thinking: banish waste and create wealth in your corporation (Open Library catalogue record).
The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer
Liker describes Toyota's management as fourteen principles, from long-term philosophy through process and people to problem solving. He presents them as one system for people to keep improving their own work, something to learn from and fit to your own conditions and not to copy piece by piece. It is for managers, and it adds an eighth waste, people's unused skills, to Ohno's seven.
On this site: The 8 wastes in office work; Blame the process, not the person.
Checked against: The Toyota Way (Wikipedia); Muda, citing page 28 of this book for the eighth waste (Wikipedia); The Toyota Way, Second Edition (McGraw Hill, publisher's page).
Learning to See: Value-Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate Muda
A workbook that teaches one skill: drawing a map of how material and information move through one value stream as it is today, then drawing the flow you want. It works through a single fictional factory. Read it before your first mapping session; the method carries over to office work, the worked example does not.
On this site: Value stream mapping in the methods reference; Lead time vs process time.
Checked against: Learning to See (Lean Enterprise Institute); Mike Rother (Wikipedia); Learning to see, 2003 edition (Open Library catalogue record).
Which books teach problem solving and A3?
Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process to Solve Problems, Gain Agreement, Mentor and Lead
Told as a story in two voices printed side by side: a manager working a problem through an A3, and the supervisor coaching him. Shook's point is that the sheet matters less than the conversation it forces, and that an A3 is a way to develop people as much as to fix a problem. It is the book to read before you ask someone to write their first A3.
On this site: A3 problem solving; A3 problem solving template; Lean coaching questions.
Checked against: Managing to Learn (Lean Enterprise Institute); Managing to learn (Open Library catalogue record).
Understanding A3 Thinking: A Critical Component of Toyota's PDCA Management System
Where Shook tells a story, Sobek and Smalley write the manual. They explain the thinking an A3 is meant to show, and treat the report for solving a problem, the report for a proposal and the report on status as three different documents. It suits someone who will write or review A3s regularly and wants the reasoning behind each part.
On this site: A3 problem solving; How to write a problem statement.
Checked against: Understanding A3 Thinking (Routledge, publisher's page).
Four Types of Problems: From Reactive Troubleshooting to Creative Innovation
Smalley argues that organisations go wrong by using one problem-solving routine for everything. He separates quick troubleshooting, closing a gap from a standard, reaching a new target condition, and open-ended innovation, and says which approach fits each. It helps a team that has learned the 5 Whys and now reaches for it every time.
On this site: 5 Whys mistakes; Countermeasure vs solution; 5 Whys template.
Checked against: Four Types of Problems (Lean Enterprise Institute).
Which books apply Lean to office and service work?
These are the closest in subject to this site. All four are about work whose product is a document, a decision or an answer.
Value Stream Management for the Lean Office: Eight Steps to Planning, Mapping, and Sustaining Lean Improvements in Administrative Areas
An eight-step routine for improving administrative work, from committing to the effort and choosing one stream of work through mapping it to planning the changes. A customer service case runs through the book. It is practical and procedural, for a team about to run its first office improvement project.
On this site: Kaizen for customer service teams; Countermeasure plan template.
Checked against: Value Stream Management for the Lean Office (Routledge, publisher's page).
The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office Processes
Keyte and Locher apply value stream mapping to work that moves as information. They show how to map an office or service process where nothing physical moves, how to tell value from waste in it, and how to design the future state. Read it after Learning to See if your flow runs through inboxes.
On this site: Lead time vs process time; Kaizen for finance teams.
Checked against: The Complete Lean Enterprise (Open Library catalogue record); The Complete Lean Enterprise, Second Edition (Routledge, publisher's page).
Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation
Martin and Osterling treat a value stream map as a management exercise more than a drawing. Their case is that mapping is a way to align the leaders who own the flow on what to change, and not only a tool for finding waste. It is written for office and service work.
On this site: Value stream mapping in the methods reference; Kaizen for HR teams.
Checked against: Value Stream Mapping (McGraw Hill, publisher's page); Value Stream Mapping (TKMG, the authors' page).
Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business
Anderson carries the kanban idea from the factory to knowledge work. The method rests on two practices, making the work visible and limiting how much is in progress at once, and treats change as evolutionary, as the subtitle says. It is written from software teams, and it sets out the ideas behind the boards many office teams now use.
On this site: Visual management board; Kanban in the methods reference.
Checked against: Kanban (development) (Wikipedia); Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business (Open Library catalogue record).
Which books are for people who manage and coach improvement?
Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results
Rother argues that what powers Toyota's improvement is two practised routines: one for working step by step through obstacles towards a target condition, and one for coaching people in that routine. The book describes both in enough detail to practise. It is for team leads and managers who want improvement to continue without a specialist in the room.
On this site: Lean coaching questions; Kaizen event vs daily Kaizen; PDCA template.
Checked against: Toyota Kata (McGraw Hill, publisher's page); Toyota Kata (Wikipedia).
Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions
Mann's subject is how managers hold a Lean change once it is made. He describes a management system of four elements: standard work for leaders, visual controls, a daily accountability process and the discipline to keep all three going. Read it when changes are being made but not kept.
On this site: Did the fix hold?; SDCA vs PDCA; Visual management board.
Checked against: Creating a Lean Culture (Open Library catalogue record); Creating a Lean Culture, Third Edition (Routledge, publisher's page).
Out of the Crisis
Deming's statement of what management must change, set out as fourteen points. He argues that most of what causes poor quality and low productivity lies in the system, out of reach of the people working in it, and is therefore for management to fix. It is not a Lean book, but it is a root of two ideas this site relies on, the improvement cycle and looking at the system before the person, and it is written for senior managers.
On this site: Blame the process, not the person; PDCA cycle explained; Measure improvement honestly.
Checked against: W. Edwards Deming (Wikipedia); Out of the Crisis (Open Library catalogue record).
What is not on this list, and why?
- Books on Six Sigma and statistics. They answer a different question; see Kaizen vs Lean vs Six Sigma.
- Books that teach a method sold under a trademark, or that mainly promote a tool or a consultancy, ours included.
- Books whose title, authors or year we could not confirm on a publisher's page, a catalogue record or a reference page.
- Sales figures, star scores and awards. We have no source of our own for them, so no entry mentions them.
If a date or a name here is wrong, write to us and it will be corrected with the source. The people and dates behind these books are on the page about the history of Kaizen and Lean; the methods they describe are in the Lean methods reference and the glossary.
Try it on your own work
Pick one task that wastes your team's time every week. Describe it in a sentence; KaizenProof names the waste, asks why until you reach the cause, and writes the fix. No account is needed to start.