The Lean Government (NL)

"Isn't Lean just for factories?" It's one of the most common reactions when the word "Lean" comes up in a government organization. The processes are different, the customer is the citizen, the pressure comes from politics and policy, and change simply happens slowly in a public organization.

The city of Breda initially thought the same thing. Until they got started. Lean Government explains what happened next.

What will you learn in "Lean Government"?

This book chronicles the Lean journey of the City of Breda: one of the most ambitious and long-running Lean initiatives in the Dutch public sector. Author Erik Ottens, who experienced this journey from the inside, describes step by step how a government organization implemented Lean not as a project, but as a way of working and thinking, with employee development as its central theme.

Using concrete real-world examples, the book demonstrates how waste in public services is identified, how teams are involved in improving their own work, and how to build an organizational culture focused on delivering value to citizens. In doing so, Ottens not only discusses what went well, but also what proved challenging and how Breda managed to persevere nonetheless.

The book concludes with practical tips for anyone in the public sector who wants to get started and learn not only how to begin the Lean journey but also how to sustain it.

Why should I read *The Lean Government*?

Lean literature almost always focuses on industry or healthcare. Books that explain how Lean works in a municipal or broader government context are rare. And books that do so based on real, firsthand practical experience are even rarer.

Lean Government fills that gap. The Lean Management Institute was closely involved in Breda’s Lean journey and was so impressed by the story that it convinced Ottens to put it on paper. That is what makes this book authentic: not a theoretical framework applied to a fictional case study, but an honest account of an organization that has truly embraced Lean, with everything that entails.

For anyone working in the public sector who wants to understand Lean in a way that applies to their own context, this book is an indispensable starting point.

Who is *The Lean Government* written for?

• Managers, team leaders, and staff at municipalities, provinces, water boards, and other government agencies
• Lean coaches and consultants working in the public sector
• Policy makers and administrators who want to understand what a Lean transformation entails for a government organization in practice
• Anyone who is skeptical about the applicability of Lean outside of industry and wants to be convinced by a concrete example

Additional Information

About the author

Erik Ottens worked for many years at the municipality of Breda, where he played a central role in the organization’s Lean transformation. As an insider with firsthand experience, he describes in *The Lean Government* not only the successes but also the obstacles, doubts, and choices that shaped the journey.

His approach is characterized by a strong belief in the power of employees as the driving force behind improvement: a conviction that resonates throughout every chapter of the book. The Lean Management Institute, which guided him during Breda’s Lean journey, published this book because Breda’s story was too valuable to remain untold.