The tension between velocity and agility
There is a tension between the higher levels of velocity which are achieved by extreme standardization and pursuing the manufacturing perfection; versus the agility and improvement - the ability to learn, experiment, and change - which comes from retaining flexibility and variance.
We want to empower knowledge workers to experiment and adopt new ways of working in order to create opportunities for innovation whereas the manufacturing model wants to enforce strict standardisation and minimise variance in ways of working as well as output.
Put crudely, if you want to go faster then force the possibility of improvement out of the system. This ain't Agile.
"Agile is about speed to adapt, not velocity". - Adam Howard
I still don't quite understand how to accommodate Lean thinking with an adaptive nimble organisation. It seems to me you can't have it both ways.
Made in New Zealand 
