The Just-in-Time Cafe Podcast

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Apr 2026

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A Continuous Improvement gabfest where Tracy O’Rourke and Elisabeth Swan share what’s new in the world of Lean Six Sigma.

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April 8, 2026Episode 1221 hr 6 min

Scaling What Works—Without Breaking What Doesn’t, with Justin Kenney and Katie Bockwoldt

Today’s highlight is our interview with Justin Kenny, Chief Performance Officer, and Katie Bockwoldt, Statewide Director of Performance Improvement for the State of Vermont—two leaders quietly reshaping how government delivers results. What starts as a conversation about training programs quickly turns into something more systemic: a shift toward communities of practice, performance logic models, and a more human-centered approach to continuous improvement. For Hot Apps, we take a closer look at Justin’s homegrown “Praise Board” built inside Microsoft Teams—a deceptively simple tool that raises a bigger question: can recognition be operationalized? What happens when it becomes visible and shared? And for Q&A, we asked: What does it really take to sustain a Lean Six Sigma deployment—and how much of that comes down to leadership behaviors around recognition and engagement? 0:00 - Intro 01:06 - What's on the Menu? 02:30 - HotApps Praise Board 12:51 - Q&A What does it really take to sustain a Lean Six Sigma deployment? 24:45 - Featured Guest Justin Kenney and Katie Bockwoldt State of Vermont - Chief Performance Office 1:04:31 - Featured Resources UC San Diego In Person Green Belt Class Last Month's Episode: Culture Is Not An App, with Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban NEW Second Edition: The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey NEW on Audible: Picture Yourself a Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/xEFNfNz70C0 Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

March 2, 2026Episode 1211 hr 0 min

Culture Is Not an App, with Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban

It's Episode 121 and Tracy and Elisabeth sit down with emergency physician–turned–start-up-founder Greg Jacobson and Lean author, podcaster, and KaiNexus Senior Advisor Mark Graban, to unpack whether software can actually strengthen a culture of continuous improvement—or merely reveal the one you already have. The KaiNexus journey started in healthcare but has grown to embrace its cross-industry impact by drawing on habit-loop science and the power of the nudge. As you might suspect, humans are at the center. This made for a fascinating "Hot-App Interview". Last up—inspired by the idea of getting assistance when we need it—our Q&A segment addresses the question: "What really gets in the way of asking for help?" And, in case you’re watching the video, you’ll notice Elisabeth has been reduced to a voice during the interview. That's because she was in the middle of the historic Cape Cod Blizzard of '26. The 2.5 feet of snow and 70 mph winds make this the blizzard edition! 0:00 - Intro 01:17 - What's on the Menu? 02:47 - Q&A What really gets in the way of asking for help? 11:20 - Featured Guest Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban 58:57 - Featured Resources NEW Second Edition: The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey Mind Over Matters: Engaging People to Drive Change with Tony Dottino NEW on Audible: Picture Yourself a Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/cPAnE3pvrSI Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

February 3, 2026Episode 1201 hr 0 min

Mind Over Matters: Engaging People to Drive Change with Tony Dottino

Today’s highlight is Tracy and Elisabeth's interview with Tony Dottino—author, consultant, and one of the rare people who was actually in the room when modern quality thinking was taking shape. Tony worked alongside legends like W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Philip Crosby, helped shape what became the Malcolm Baldrige Award, and influenced early Six Sigma thinking—and he’s still at it. We’ll discuss what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what’s got him on television now! For Hot Apps, we’ll explore a mind-mapping tool that helps teams see problems in new ways. And for Q&A, we’ll unpack a deceptively simple question: What is a “shield,” and how can it help change agents actually change things? 0:00 - Intro 01:26 - What's on the Menu? 02:36 - Hot Apps MURAL Mind Mapping example 12:16 - Q&A What is a “shield,” and how can it help change agents actually change things? 23:22 - Featured Guest Tony Dottino 57:45 - Featured Resources UCSD Green Belt Program NEW Second Edition: The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey NEW on Audible: Picture Yourself a Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/x5nzI1EBnlY Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

January 5, 2026Episode 11958 min

Campus Kaizen, with Bernadette Hill and Priya Vankatesan

It’s a brand new year and Tracy & Elisabeth's highlight is their conversation with Bernadette Hill and Priya Venkatesan from UC Davis—two leaders who’ve helped shape a culture of improvement using approaches that may surprise you. Their work reminds us that progress isn’t always driven by new tools or frameworks, but by how people show up for one another. And instead of the cafe's usual Book Buzz, Hot App, or Q&A, Tracy and Elisabeth are closing out the year with something different—a moment of reflection. After all, reflection is the step we’re most tempted to skip—and the one that gives us the biggest chance to learn. Time to get down to business! 0:00 - Intro 01:27 - What's on the Menu? 05:14 - 2025 Reflections What’s your “Why” and how did you live it in 2025? 12:05 - 2025 Reflections What was your “faceplant” moment of the past year? 21:58 - Featured Guest Bernadette Hill and Priya Vankatesan 57:51 - Featured Resources NEW Second Edition: The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey NEW on Audible: Picture Yourself a Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/QOcJPiEParI Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

December 1, 2025Episode 11853 min

Fail Better, Solve Faster with Melisa Buie

Today's highlight is Tracy & Elisabeth's interview with Melisa Buie, co-author of the just-published Faceplant. We get the skinny on how someone with a PhD in Plasma Physics got drawn into the emotional landscape of failure, and all the great things that came out of it. For Book Buzz we’ll do a nosedive into Faceplant—hmm, might need to rethink that phrasing—but Tracy & Elisabeth give a more behind-the-scenes take on Melisa’s new book. And then for Q&A, we asked, What’s the latest example of process improvement in the wild? What have we seen? Every problem solver faceplants eventually—it’s what you do next that counts. And regardless of next steps—be sure to include coffee. 0:00 - Intro 01:20 - What's on the Menu? 02:13 - Book Buzz FacePlant: Free Yourself from Failure's Funk 10:04 - Q&A What’s the latest example of process improvement in the wild? 19:57 - Featured Guest Melisa Buie 51:49 - Featured Resources NEW Second Edition: The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey NEW on Audible: Picture Yourself a Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/73dtX_um8oo Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

November 3, 2025Episode 11757 min

Mermaids, Metrics, and Motivation with Kristle Bulleman

Today’s highlight is Tracy and Elisabeth's interview with Kristle Bulleman, Process Manager for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She lets us in on what it takes to make the impossible happen — like granting a wish to meet a mermaid (and honestly, who wouldn’t sign up for that?). For Hot Apps, Tracy brings firsthand experience on how to zhuzh up an event — especially when you want to add a little fanfare to picking winners. And for Q&A, we tackle a classic leadership challenge: how do you reward improvement teams in ways that truly motivate? What works — and what falls flat? 00:00 - Intro 01:28 - What's on the Menu? 02:19 - Hot Apps Wheel of Names 08:29 - Q&A “What kinds of reward and recognition efforts have you seen in regard to continuous improvement efforts, and to what extent have they worked?” 21:32 - Featured Guest Kristle Bulleman 55:40 - Upcoming Events Resources: New! Picture Yourself a Leader as an audiobook! Multiple-award-winning book, Picture Yourself A Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/epm0Yo9pf9Q Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

September 30, 2025Episode 1161 hr 5 min

Storytelling as a Change Agent, with Meg Bowles

It's October at the Cafe, and Elisabeth and Tracy got to sit down with Meg Bowles—co-author of the New York Times bestseller How to Tell a Story—to explore why stories power so much of our work and lives. In Book Buzz, they spill what got underlined and dog-eared (stakes, structure, callbacks, and more) in today's book. And for Q&A, they tackle the evergreen trap: jumping to solutions before we’ve even named the problem. 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - What's on the Menu? 02:11 - Book Buzz How To Tell A Story 15:15 - Q&A "How do you handle the impulse to jump to solution?" 27:37 - Featured Guest Meg Bowles 01:01:40 - Upcoming Events Lean Construction Congress New England Lean Summit Virtual Lean Coffee Discussion of Picture Yourself a Leader Hosted by the Michigan Lean Consortium: 📅 October 10 | ⏰ 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ET 💻 Virtual | ✅ Members: Free | Non-Members: $20 Register Now: https://lnkd.in/g72jzbig Resources: New! Picture Yourself a Leader as an audiobook! Multiple-award-winning book, Picture Yourself A Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/Wgxuzsyf6B4 Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

September 2, 2025Episode 1151 hr 5 min

From Blind Spots To Breakthroughs, with Michael Bremer

It's episode 115 and the highlight is our interview with Michael Bremer—the author who turned the humble Gemba Walk into an art form (and picked up a Shingo Award along the way). For our Book Buzz, we crack open Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit—because it’s always the right time to celebrate saying less and asking more. And in our Q&A, we dig into the potholes people stumble into when conducting Process Walks—aka Gemba Walks. 00:00 - Intro 01:31 - What's on the Menu? 02:21 - Book Buzz The Coaching Habit 16:24 - Q&A What are some potholes people stumble on when conducting Gemba Walks? 27:26 - Featured Guest Michael Bremer 01:00:08 - Upcoming Events Lean Construction Congress New England Lean Summit AME International Conference UC San Diego Lean Course with Tracy Resources: New! Picture Yourself a Leader as an audiobook! Multiple-award-winning book, Picture Yourself A Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/zGvUULtZh-8 Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

August 4, 2025Episode 1141 hr 3 min

The Empathy Advantage, with Shola Kaye

On today’s episode, Tracy & Elisabeth sit down with UK author and empathy firestarter Shola Kaye to unpack, among other things, something called “Empathy Hijacking”—yes, it’s a thing, and yes, it’s probably happened to you. For Book Buzz, we crack open Miracle Mornings and snoop through Tracy’s daily habits—was she ever a night owl? Then for Q&A, we go head-to-head on how we each structure our personal growth (and whether structure is even the right word). Curious? Good. Let’s get into it!" 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - What's on the Menu? 02:08 - Book Buzz The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod 17:29 - Q&A How do you structure your own growth habits? 30:20 - Featured Guest Shola Kayne 56:18 - Upcoming Events Lean Construction Congress New England Lean Summit AME International Conference AME Virtual Speaker Series with Elisabeth UC San Diego Lean Course with Tracy Resources: New! Picture Yourself a Leader as an audiobook! Multiple-award-winning book, Picture Yourself A Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/g0KYLs6VXXA - Apple Podcasts - Podbean - Spotify - RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml

July 2, 2025Episode 11346 min

Lean, Learning, and Legacy, with Michelle Formanczyk

In today’s episode, Tracy & Elisabeth sit down with process improvement pro Michelle Formanczyk to talk about her exciting new role for this year’s Michigan Lean Conference—and why you won’t want to miss it. In our Hot Apps segment, we test drive Scribe, an app that magically turns your clicks into slick, step-by-step guides. And for Q&A, we ask: Is AI a continuous improvement hero—or just another shiny tool in the toolbox? Lean, learning, and a little splash of sass—let’s dive in! 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - What's on the Menu? 02:10 - Hot Apps Scribe 08:24 - Q&A Is AI a continuous improvement hero—or just another shiny tool in the toolbox? 18:06 - Featured Guest Michelle Formanczyk 44:29 - Upcoming Events Resources: New! Picture Yourself a Leader as an audiobook! Multiple-award-winning book, Picture Yourself A Leader 5S Baby!, Ms. Fix-a-Lot's latest Lean Rap Video Thanks for Listening! Listen to more podcasts at JITCafe.com. Link to the video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/8R-DxNeGcno Apple Podcasts Podbean Spotify RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/JITCafe/feed.xml