Experts in Lean see waste, and make a few simple changes to help the organization get Leaner. That is one approach and a great way to get started. But to make it stick, the workers have to get involved, and management has to build reporting structures into its systems that will check up on the Lean effort. What this means is that the more people given useful roles, the better.

Execution of Lean Projects has a long and illustrious history. Just think of how much our ancestors did with their limited resources. This history lends itself to heroic feats of improvisation, and working behind the scenes to obtain needed resources. A great Lean team will think outside the box. However, be advised that thinking outside the box is sometimes threatening to the rest of the workers. This concern is especially true when those workers are not part of the process.

There was a famous group at Lockheed Martin, in Burbank, California, starting in the late 1930s, who called themselves the Skunk Works. The group developed of secret aircraft projects and could design and build an aircraft in record time. Although they were not a Lean team, they were the forefathers of the can-do attitude that is needed to be successful in Lean projects. The term skunk works today is also used analogously in other fields to describe any self-contained, semi-autonomous work-group or committee that directly manages its own projects. These teams were famous for 'borrowing' resources and people from other...