08/05/2026
My research is being published in ASQ - World Headquarters !!!
The action research study, “5S Your Inbox: A Longitudinal Action Research Study of Lean Methodology Applied to the Knowledge Worker Digital Workspace” is based on an original workshop I developed that applies 5S and Kanban methodology to email inboxes.
In this study, I found a statistically significant dose-response rate for folks who took the workshop and maintained the method. People with high adoption (sustained and improved on the course learnings) saw an average of AN HOUR PER WEEK time saved on email (esp findability of emails). The research was also able to diagnose what gets in folks’ way when they don’t maintain adoption.
These findings held whether people took the class 2 months ago OR 20 months prior!
AFAIK this is the first study of its kind that has statistically proven the time savings correlation by empirical research.
I am so excited to continue the research on this and other Lean methods!!!