Audio remastered June 2022
Episode page
Joining me as my guest for episode #189 is Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, a software development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rich is author of the new book that I'm really enjoying: Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. Learn more about the author and the book at www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc. You can also download a free chapter here.
There's so much to love about his book and what they are doing at Menlo. I think it's great to start a new year, 2014, with a look at a book that gives us hope about creating workplaces where employees are fully engaged and everybody wins – customers, company, and employees. I'll have a chance to visit Menlo in about two weeks when I'll be in Michigan for my public Kaizen workshop, so I'll report back on what I see during that visit.

For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/189.

Some of the topics I was taking notes on as I read the book (through chapter six):
“You can be joyful without being happy all the time”
Menlo has built upon “extreme programming” and Kent Beck‘s work there
Their “Menlo Way” is worth looking at
As Toyota has done, Menlo doesn't mind teaching competitors about their methods (because this serves their mission to reduce suffering in the world, including the suffering in bad workplaces)
They work really hard to break down “towers of knowledge” in the organization
Menlo emphasizes direct customer contact and understanding their problems and what they need (often better than the customers could articulate on their own in a traditional software approach)
Their “high tech anthropology” approach (HTA) starts with understanding customers better and then iterating and testing designs (often starting with crude prototypes and mockups)
Their QA process focuses on reducing delays and shortening lead time (along with other approaches that are different than traditional QA)
A reader will recognize ideas that are similar to Deming, Lean, Lean Startup, Agile, and more… combined into a powerful and cohesive articulation of culture and strategy