I’m writing a book for Productivity Press about how individuals can apply lean principles to improve their personal performance and productivity. Call it a cross between Getting Things Done and lean.

I’m looking for stories of people — and you don’t have to be a Sixteen Sigma Master Ultraviolet Belt — have used lean ideas to help them eliminate waste in their work and be more efficient.

The book is focused on improvement in the workplace, so I don’t need stories about how you’ve brought 5S to your sock drawer, and now it takes you 16 seconds less to put away your laundry. Or how you’ve alphabetized the spice rack in your kitchen, so you immediately know that you’ve run out of curry powder.

But I do want to hear how you use checklists for yourself to reduce the likelihood of errors. Or how you’ve created standard work for your very non-routine job. Or how you’re using visual controls (like Tim McMahon and Jon Miller have done with their personal kanbans) to improve your focus on value-creating activity. Or how you’ve applied 5S to the information you manage (as the nurses at Virginia Mason Medical Center did to reduce and simplify the number of forms they dealt with). Or how you’ve applied A3 thinking and 5-Whys to solve problems.

Your stories will either be woven into the text of the book, or featured as case studies in a sidebar. If you or your company would prefer to remain anonymous, that’s no problem.

My time frame fairly short: I’d like to get your feedback before March 10.

Questions? Comments? Stories? Contact me here: dan [atsign] timebackmanagement [dot] com.

Thanks!