Lean from the Trenches

Chapter 3Attending the Daily Cocktail Party

If you walk into this project on any day before 10:15 a.m., it will feel like walking into a cocktail party! People are everywhere, standing in small groups and communicating.

You’ll see groups standing in semicircles in front of boards, engaged in conversation, and moving sticky notes around. You’ll see people moving between teams, debates going on, and decisions being made. Suddenly a group will break apart, and some individuals will move to another group to continue the conversation. New groups sometimes form in the hall to follow up on some side conversation.

By 10:15 the daily cocktail party ...