Lean: A Combination of "Why?" and "Why Not?"

http://www.leanblog.org/audio281

When we have really sticky, complicated problems (like the widespread healthcare patient safety and quality problems), I think it's interesting to think about problems in the following terms... for a particular problem, which is true?

• It can't be solved (in general)
• That organization can't solve it (don't know how?)
• They won't solve it
• They don't need to solve it

When we look at patient safety, there are many examples that show improvement is possible. So, it comes down to a question of "can't, won't, or don't need to?"