Ken Eakin

Ken is a Senior Consultant with Lean Agility. He is the author of Office Lean: Understanding and Implementing Flow in Administrative and Professional Environments (CRC Press, 2020). He has been doing process improvement professionally for over 20 years, both in the private and public sectors, specializing in office and knowledge work in a variety of industries.

Black-and-white retro-style photograph of a Department of Motor Vehicles office. Seven employees stand in a line packed inside an oversized glass bottle, passing paperwork hand to hand toward the narrow neck, where a bored, heavyset older clerk sits at a desk labeled 'Document Review & Approval,' resting his chin on his hand while holding a rubber stamp. A wall sign reads 'All documents subject to review, verification and rubber stamp. Please be patient. Your paperwork matters,' a clock hangs on the wall, and a small desk sign reads 'NEXT!' A caption across the bottom reads: 'Are you opening up the bottleneck step?'

2 min read

AI at the Bottleneck vs. AI Everywhere Else

Ken Eakin: September 22, 2026

Imagine you’ve been charged with improving the performance of a sluggish granting process that has been backlogged for years. Clients have been...