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Connecting the Dots - Published
Venkatesh Krishnamurthy
November 09, 2025
Connecting the Dots book - Published and available
I am back with the newsletter after a couple of months gap. So many things have happened since my last newsletter. Everything exciting and good stuff.
The book that I had co-authored with Harish is now ready and available. Both eBook and physical versions are available with links for purchase below.
eBook purchase link: https://leanpub.com/connecting-the-dots
Physical copy (paper back): Link
Hard bound copy : Link
I am taking this opportunity to dedicating this newsletter for the book this week.
Bruce Hamilton One of the America’s foremost thinker and practitioner of TPS was kind enough to write the forward for our book. Here is one of the nuggets from his forward
“this book reminds us that process efficiency must never come at the expense of human development — a principle that feels even more urgent in an age of rapid technological change. People are not merely “resources” to be optimized; they are the creative force behind problem-solving and innovation. The authors’ central thesis — that the ultimate purpose of improvement is to reveal and expand human potential — will resonate with anyone who has worked on a production line, led a kaizen event, or struggled to build a culture of continuous improvement.”
What you will find in this book ?
The book is organized around the two Houses of Toyota, which represent the structure of the system. Within these houses, we explore the key pillars and supporting concepts:
Just-in-Time: Creating flow, reducing waste, and building responsiveness into the system.
Jidoka: Stopping to fix problems and embedding quality into the process.
Respect for People: Moving beyond slogans to understand what this principle demands in practice.
Continuous Improvement (Kaizen): Why improvement must be ongoing and how it shapes learning.
Genchi Genbutsu: Going to the source and seeing reality for yourself.
Thinking about the Thinking Production System: A deeper reflection on TPS as a way of framing problems.
Cultural Foundations: How Japanese history and philosophy influenced TPS principles. Leadership and Ethics: Learning from Toyota without becoming Toyota, and addressing the challenges of AI and efficiency-driven thinking.
Chapter 1 : Accidental birth of Lean
We bring the key differences between Lean Vs TPS in the chapter 1, and we have captured the birth of Lean.. Here is the snippet
“The Accidental Birth of “Lean” The term Lean was not chosen by Toyota. It was coined by John Krafcik in 1988 during MIT research into global automotive practices. The word fit a compelling narrative: doing more with less. It suggested speed, simplicity, and efficiency. This framing helped Lean gain traction quickly, but it also narrowed the interpretation of Toyota’s system. Where TPS aimed to balance efficiency with effectiveness, Lean was widely seen as an efficiency-driven approach.”
What Got Lost TPS is a holistic system grounded in cultural values and human development. Concepts such as Chie (wisdom), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), and Respect for Humanity shaped its evolution. These ideas were later codified in The Toyota Way, providing ethical depth and strategic resilience. By contrast, Lean’s spread often focused on tools—Kanban boards, 5S, value stream maps—rather than philosophy.
Efforts to correct this imbalance led to concepts like Lean Thinking, emphasizing principles over tools. Yet Lean lacks an integrated framework equivalent to Toyota’s two-house structure. The “Lean House” often depicted in literature is an adaptation of the TPS House, not an original creation. Furthermore, Lean does not have a cultural anchor or central steward practicing; it is a decentralized movement. As a result, many implementations drift toward what practitioners call “toolbox Lean.”
This is not a critique of Lean’s achievements. The movement has delivered remarkable improvements in quality and efficiency across industries. However, without the cultural backbone that TPS enjoys within Toyota, Lean is vulnerable to superficial adoption.”
Chapter 2: Why Jidoka and JIT , and not Kaizen or Kanban ?
In chapter 2, we got a bit more deeper questioning, why TPS house has Jidok and JIT, why not Kanban or Kaizen ?
Jidoka was developed from the ideas of Sakichi Toyoda, father of Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda founded the Toyota Motor Corporation. Sakichi Toyoda invented an automatic loom that stopped immediately when the thread broke. He viewed it as automation with human intelligence. Jidoka in Japanese means “automation”, but Toyota’s Jidoka has a human character included in the script such that it still pronounces as “jidoka” but it now means “autonomation”. The emphasis of Jidoka is quality. We can view Jidoka as not passing defects along or ensuring that the quality of the product is maintained as it flows through the line.”
“The second pillar of the TPS House is JIT. JIT was the brainchild of Kiichiro Toyoda. The idea of JIT is also quite simple – have only what is needed, only in the right quantity, and only when it is needed. Perhaps, one might view that the two pillars of the TPS house are Jidoka and JIT to show respect to the Toyoda elders. One way to explain the two pillars is to view them as two lofty goals – Jidoka as a call for maximizing quality and JIT for minimizing inventory.”
Let us know what you think about the book ? As a reference, I am copying the book links below. I will keep sharing nuggets from the book in the newsletters.
Reach out to me for any discounts if you are planning to bulk buy physical copies of the book :-).
eBook purchase link: https://leanpub.com/connecting-the-dots
Physical copy (paper back): Link
Hard bound copy : Link