Learn by Doing
Learn by doing , although it takes longer, it is usually worth it. The Socratic method helps students find solutions for themselves rather than just being told. Group exercises and simulations are practical ways to implement this methodology. In most value streams the delay between actions and effects is long (sometimes months) so it is difficult to associate results to some action we took in the past. Simulation reduces this delay from months to minutes so this allows us to try different solutions and experience the results and any side effects our actions may produce. These are some successful group exercises and simulators: The Beer Game This is a group exercise which has been described by Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline It is very popular in management courses and it is a good example of learning by doing . It simulates a beer supply chain from the factory to the final customer. The objective is to meet the customer demand for a number of weeks keeping the minimum inventory