This document provides an overview of Lean principles for product managers from an Amazon senior product manager with experience at Toyota. It discusses Lean philosophy focusing on respect for humanity, customer first, continuous improvement, and genba (going to see firsthand). Tools like standardized work, kaizen, jidoka, and heijunka are meant to achieve stability and outcomes of highest quality, lowest cost/shortest lead time. Value stream maps are used as examples to identify wastes and challenges. The document emphasizes starting with philosophy over tools and assessing the current state to set SMART goals and drive continuous improvement through the PDCA cycle towards an ideal state.

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Lean for Product Managers by
Amazon Sr PM

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5. Lean for Product Managers

6.  Tim Mullen
 Sr Product Manager – Technical, Amazon
 Learned Lean at Toyota, where I worked for ~6 years. I was a Toyota Production
System (TPS) instructor and led projects to design and deploy JIT supply chain
systems for auto parts

7.  We will focus on the Philosophy of Lean > Technical Lean Tools
 Product Managers build the vision and strategy of products to meet customer
needs and project manage until release.
 They focus on what we should build and work with tech teams to deliver.

8.  As Product Managers, what we build is largely determined by our Philosophy
 Is business an adversarial venture, where each person tries to take the most value
out of the other person? Are we here to create winners and losers?
 In 1922, Henry Ford, credited by Toyota as the inventor of Lean, wrote: "It has been
thought that business exists for profit.That is wrong. Business exists for service."
 How do Businesses Serve?
 By making products that enrich the lives of others, while reducing prices, lead times, and
increasing quality
 By offering good working conditions and stable employment
 By giving back, supporting the community and the environment

9.  Lean is a systematic management philosophy that enables organizations to
increase the amount of value they provide to Customers, leading to:
 Greater Customer / Employee Satisfaction
 Business Growth
 Origins from writings of Henry Ford and codified by Toyota in their Production
System (TPS), popularized by MIT professors.
 Has been adopted in various forms by most industries

10. Highest Quality
Lowest Cost / Shortest Lead Time
Just-In-Time Jidoka
•Daily Order/
Daily Delivery
•Takt Time
•Pull System
•Stop and notify
of problems
Standardized
Work
Kaizen
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Stability
Heijunka
•Separate
people’s work
from machine’s
work
Methods
& Tools
Philosophy
Outcomes
House
of
TPS

11.  In Lean, if you get the Philosophies right, then the Tools, Methods, and Outcomes
will naturally manifest over time
 However, if you focus on the Tools, Methods, and Outcomes first and get the
Philosophies wrong, then your ship will crash on the rocks …more on this later

12.  Teamwork,Trust, Partnership, Understanding, and Collaboration
 Practical Applications for Product Managers:
 Solicit input, feedback, and get buy-in from people at all levels and backgrounds – not
just decision makers
 Eliminate policies that erode trust (e.g. overcharging a “Captive Audience”, subscription
cancellation friction, hidden fees, selling sensitive data…)
 Build products in a way that does not increase burden for other teams
 Build products that do not harm the environment
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Philosophy

13.  The Business exists to serve customers by:
 Creating products that are valuable and enrich their lives
 Seeking out their experiences and incorporating their feedback into products (Voice of
the Customer)
 Practical Applications for Product Managers:
 Who is my Customer?
 External – The person paying for my product
 Internal – Anyone who depends on me
 Amazon: Customer Obsession – Leaders start with the customer and work backwards (e.g.
PRFAQ Document)
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Philosophy

14.  Businesses should seek Continuous Improvement out of Respect for Humanity and
to serve their Customers better
 Improvements should be executed continuously, but aligned with long term ideal
state
 Lexus:“The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection”
 The process is never “best” only “better”
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Philosophy

15.  Genba = the place of work
 Direct customer value is created where the work is being performed, at the job site,
not at the ivory tower
 Practical Applications for Product Managers:
 Requirements gathering should start with a deep understanding of the current state of the
processes and the problems
 You show Respect for Humanity when you connect with the users of your products in
person
 Genchi Gembutsu – “Go Look, Go See”
 Kimchi Gembutsu – “Go Look, Go Eat!” – Build Relationships
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Philosophy

16. Highest Quality
Lowest Cost / Shortest Lead Time
Just-In-Time Jidoka
•Daily Order/
Daily Delivery
•Takt Time
•Pull System
•Stop and notify
of problems
Standardized
Work
Kaizen
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Stability
Heijunka
•Separate
people’s work
from machine’s
work
Methods
& Tools
Philosophy
Outcomes
House
of
TPS

17.  Lean philosophies cannot be implemented if the environment is unstable,
unpredictable, or chaotic
 When the environment is unstable you see:
 Constant Escalations
 Low Morale and High Attrition
 Rampant Waste
 Poor Quality / Long Lead Times / High Costs
 Poor Customer Experience
 Ineffective Process Improvement
 Many companies try to implement JIT without having a Stability strategy
 Effective Lean Leaders will add buffer (waste) into the process to improve Stability
 See article: How Toyota Steered Clear of the Chip Shortage Mess, Bloomberg

18.  Stabilize Processes, Identify the rocks, remove them, then slowly lower water
level with caution
Captain = You
Ship = Business
Water = Capacity /
Supply Level
Rocks = Problems
High Demand Variance
Variable Lead Times
No Standard Work
High Attrition / Turnover
Reduction

19. Highest Quality
Lowest Cost / Shortest Lead Time
Just-In-Time Jidoka
•Daily Order/
Daily Delivery
•Takt Time
•Pull System
•Stop and notify
of problems
Standardized
Work
Kaizen
Respect for Humanity Customer First Continuous Improvement Genba First
Stability
Heijunka
•Separate
people’s work
from machine’s
work
Methods
& Tools
Philosophy
Outcomes
House
of
TPS

20.  How do we get stability, execute philosophies, and achieve outcomes?
 Heijunka – Level Loading production to reduce noise of demand variation
 Standardized Work – SOPs, 5S, and Process Flows
 Kaizen – Identify and Remove Wastes through:
 DOWNTIME – The 8 Wastes (Defects, Over Production,Waiting, Non-Utilization of Talent,Transportation,
Inventory, Motion, Extra Processing)
 Root Cause Analysis (5 Why’s)
 Value Stream Mapping
 Just-In-Time – Kanban, Pull Systems,Takt Time, One Piece Flow, Milk Runs, Small Lot High
Frequency
 Jidoka (Autonomation) – build quality inspection into the process, Andon cord, poka-yoke,
worker safety
 The Methods and Tools reinforce each other
 Some Tools do not readily translate to non-manufacturing businesses (e.g. Milk Runs), but
the methods almost always do

21. 1. Identify Long Term Ideal State
2. Extensively Research Current State and
Identify Wastes and Challenges
3. Create a SMART Goal (in context of
Roadmap to Ideal State)
4. PDCA
A. Create Plan to Meet SMART Goal
B. Do Plan
C. Check Performance
D. Adjust
5. Repeat / Drive to Ideal State

23. Marketing
Dept
(Customer)
Studios
(Vendors)
RFQs
Initiate
Campaign
Procurement
Value Stream Map – Marketing Campaign
Scan /
Email RFQ
Check/
Upload
RFQ
Analyze
RFQs
Proc
Admin
Proc
Intern
Proc
Analyst
Proc
Super
Exception
Process
Create
Proposal
Finance
Digital RFQ
Upload
Download
RFQs
Low
Value
Added
Ratio
Push
System /
Not Pull
System
Days Days Days
High C/T
C/T = 6.5 Hours
L/T = 26 Days
VA% = 3.1%
What is
Takt Time?
/ Line
Balance
Days
Vendor
C/T
Metrics?
>$1MM
>20%
Defects
Why are
there
Defects?

24.  A Lean product will seek to deliver customer value through lowest cost, highest
quality, and shortest lead time – all while upholding the foundational philosophies
 PMs can use this framework to deeply understand their customer problems, create
vision for how their products should serve, and project manage to deliver the right
outcomes
 Henry Ford, 1922: "Old-time business went on the doctrine that prices should
always be kept up to the highest point at which people will buy. Really modern
business has to take the opposite view...I do not believe that we should make such
an awful profit on our cars. A reasonable profit is right, but not too much. So it has
been my policy to force the price of the car down as fast as production would
permit, and give the benefits to users and labourers-with resulting surprisingly
enormous benefits to ourselves.“ My Life and Work
 Best of Luck on your Lean Journey!

25. Customer
Vendor Weekly
Purchase
Order
Weekly
Order
Warehouse ERP
Value Stream Map – Distribution Center Cross Dock
Unload
Shipment
Scan
Receipt
Transfer
Rec
Dock
Rec
Dock
X-Dock WH
Exception
Process
Shipping
QC
3 Way
Match
Receipt
Home Position
(HP)
Assignment
Takt Time
/ Line
Balancing
Lots of
Waiting
Push
System /
Not Pull
System
High C/T,
Level Load
by creating
Monthly
Forecast
Move to
Daily Order
/ Daily
Delivery
Vendor
Quality /
Lead
Time
Metrics?
Why are
there
Defects?
How Many?

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