RICHARD DURNALL / IDEAS & PRACTICE
Make work
work better.
Better questions. Smaller experiments. Clearer decisions.
Explore Lean, Agile and systems thinking through Richard Durnall’s writing and practical 2026 field notes.
What if you started
a little less?
illustrative average time
At a fixed 2 completed items per working day: WIP ÷ throughput. A stable-system illustration, not a forecast or a guaranteed improvement.
Explore your assumptions52original texts, with current reading notes
6field guides, with examples and diagrams
02practical tools · no account needed
START WITH YOUR WORK
Where does
it get stuck?
Pick a challenge. Follow an idea, then try a small, reviewable change.
FLOW & KANBAN
Follow the queues, not the busyness.
Start with the policy that lets work enter. Inspect what waits, then test a work-in-progress limit.
ONE OBSERVATION → ONE EXPERIMENT
Pull Systems
Let demand and capacity change the decision to start.
Read the article
Lean vs Agile
Look beyond labels to the questions a method helps answer.
Read the article
Hoshin Kanri
Connect direction to a gap, an experiment and a review.
Read the article
Agile Adoption Patterns
Choose an observed problem before choosing a practice.
Read the articleTHE FIELD NOTES
Learn it.
Then try it.
Six original editorial guides: a bounded procedure, a worked example and a primary reference.
FIELD NOTE 01 / FLOWSet a WIP limit your team can actually use
A practical experiment for controlling work in progress: define boundaries, handle blocked work and review flow without turning the limit into a target.
Open the guide ↗
FIELD NOTE 02 / PROBLEM SOLVINGAn A3 for a problem that keeps returning
Write a concise A3 for digital work: establish the gap, separate observations from hypotheses and design a checkable countermeasure.
Open the guide ↗FIELD NOTE 03 / STRATEGYConnect a strategic goal to a testable change
A working strategy-to-experiment map: connect outcomes, observations, owners and review decisions without building a cascade of disconnected targets.
Open the guide ↗FIELD NOTE 04 / AGILEMake Agile adoption a learning experiment
A practical adoption plan for one team: choose a real delivery problem, create feedback and review consequences before expanding a practice.
Open the guide ↗
FIELD NOTE 05 / SYSTEMS THINKINGMap one piece of work before mapping everything
Follow one completed request through a digital service, distinguish work from waiting and choose an observation-led improvement experiment.
Open the guide ↗
FIELD NOTE 06 / CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTLeave the retrospective with one test
A focused retrospective format that turns a specific observation into a reversible test, an owner and a review decision.
Open the guide ↗