WLEI - Lean Enterprise Institute’s Podcast25 Sep 2025

The Design Brief | Eric Ethington and Matt Zayko on Why it Takes a Chief Engineer to Design Profitable Value Streams

In this episode of the WLEI Podcast, we speak with Eric Ethington and Matt Zayko about how to build strong teams and robust product and process development systems, and why doing so takes a skilled chief engineer. Eric Ethington is a senior coach and Chief Engineer, Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) at The Lean Enterprise Institute. Matt Zayko is global head of the Lean Office at GE HealthCare. Eric and Matt are also coauthors of the book, The Power of Process : A Story of Innovative Lean Process Development.

The conversation explores:

The key skills every chief engineer needs to be effective and “lead with responsibility, not authority”

How chief engineers can begin the work of “designing the value stream”

Why conflict is necessary to create good products and how to manage conflict with care

System integration and how chief engineers optimize work at the product level, balancing the inputs and needs of product development and manufacturing, for example

Real stories of product and process development where Eric and Matt have seen teams persevere and use LPPD thinking to innovate and achieve success

Read Eric and Matt’s article “9 Tips to Better Process Development” here.

Get Started with Lean Product & Process Development

Improving how you develop and deliver products doesn’t require a full transformation to start—it begins with learning to see problems clearly, involve your team, and improve how work gets done.

Explore your next step:

Read Designing the Future or The Power of Process

Take the 60-minute Lean Product and Process Development Overview course

Join the coach-led online Designing the Future Workshop for hands-on practice, and the in-person Introduction to Lean Process Development course Oct 7

Bring a coach into your organization for customized support

Let’s take the first step—together. Learn more at lean.org/LPPD »

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