ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews Denise's notes from when she started at Goldberg. In the wake of the all-manager meeting, Denise had decided it was a good idea to meet with David one-on-one. She wanted to show him the results from her value-stream workshop and convince him that they could improve the output and chisel down their backlog, without increasing cost to a level they’d soon regret. Denise had carefully prepared for the meeting, and, in her mind, she expected to wow David with her convincing arguments and the incontrovertible data of the value-stream map. After 20 minutes of presenting data, analysis, and just plain pleading, the conversation devolved into a tense debate that was going nowhere. David seemed more disinterested than anything else. Working out helped manage her stress, and if she were being honest, Goldberg was a pretty stressful place to work.
