The Lean Manager Playbook — Wall Checklist + 30-Day Plan

Built for retail and hospitality managers who are firefighting daily and want a routine that survives a sick day.

If you took the Lean Operations Diagnostic and scored Reactive or low-Improving, this playbook is what comes next. Twenty-four pages, no theory, every script tested on a real shift in a real grocery operation.

What's inside

The Wall Checklist (1 A4 page). Print one a week, pin it in the back-office, tick what you actually did. Open · Mid-shift · Close · End-of-week. Designed to survive a wet Tuesday.

The 3M Waste Taxonomy translated for retail and hospitality (3 pages). Mura, Muri, Muda — what they look like on a grocery aisle, in a kitchen pass, behind a bar. Plus the leading metric to watch for each.

The 30-Day Plan with daily prompts (6 pages). Week 1 names the leak, Week 2 measures it, Week 3 tests one change, Week 4 locks it in. Weeks 2 and 3 branch by your weakest M, so the plan adapts to your floor.

The Scripts Library — 9 scripts (9 pages). Huddle, handover, walk-through, kaizen handover, root-cause conversation, shrinkage investigation, new-starter onboarding, kaizen spread, weekly review with your assistant. Each one tells you when to use it, who's there, and the words to say.

Who it's for

Store, department, restaurant, or bar managers running 4–60 staff

Anyone who scored Reactive or Improving on the Lean Operations Diagnostic

Managers in grocery, convenience, supermarket, fashion, hardware, pharmacy, or hospitality

Assistant managers being prepared for their first floor of their own

Who it's NOT for

Lean consultants or Six Sigma Black Belts looking for new theory

Office-based managers who don't run a physical floor or service

Anyone wanting an app, a dashboard, or a SaaS subscription — this is paper-and-pen by design

What you get

One PDF, 24 pages, A4 portrait

Designed to print — clean white background, dark text, mint accents

Wall checklist optimised to print weekly on a single sheet

Instant download after purchase

Money-back

14-day refund, no questions asked. If the wall checklist doesn't change something on your floor in two weeks, email and you'll get a full refund.

Written by Nelson Fernandes — CMI-qualified leader with 20+ years in operational leadership. Six Sigma Green Belt. Lean Enterprise Academy UK member.