Many people who advocate using Lean and Agile development practices to create more productivity focus on the methodologies’ analytical and logical aspects. It is important to understand, and communicate, that these approaches come from environments that fostered social connection. Without social connection that supports strong relationships, these methodologies often fail because they are social, not technical.

Lean Management, previously known as Lean Thinking and Lean Production, is based on principles derived from how Toyota Motor Corporation’s production system outperformed other automakers. When industrial engineers sought to understand how, they focused on technical innovations that began in the Toyota factories in the 1950s, as the company increased operations to support growing demand. 

To the degree these researchers focused on the company’s history before 1950, they identified technical innovations introduced by Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works and the person that encouraged son Kiichiro to start an automotive manufacturing company using Toyoda resources. While Sakichi’s technical conventions were innovative, the larger impact he had on Toyota Motor Corporation was though his beliefs and practices regarding what it meant to be part of a company.

Unlike other early Japanese industrialists, Sakichi came from the Japanese agrarian society. He had a very different sense of what it meant to be part of a community that worked together for mutual support. There are also indications that he saw technology and industry as a means to improve the people’s lives. Companies were extensions of the community, not power structures seeking to dominate some part of society.

This orientation is evident in the five principles upon which Toyota Motor was founded. Credited to Sakichi and called “The Five Precepts,” these form a clear sense of mission and identity that connect the people in the company. In fact, the system has two focal points: continuous improvement and respect for people. This clear purpose and shared identity provides the foundation for what has become known as Lean Thinking and explains why it occurred within Toyota and not at other companies, Japanese and otherwise.

Lean Management has been around for decades, and in 2001, something similar arose from the software development arena. Software developers, realizing adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, constant improvement, and flexible responses to change were beneficial, came up with the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, commonly shortened to the Agile Manifesto. While there are specific technical aspects to Agile methodologies, the people-centered philosophy that initially defined these principles declared individuals, conversations, and collaboration are more highly valued than processes, tools, documentation, and plans. These practices have been adopted to lesser extents by people in other industries including architecture and building engineering.

The histories of Lean and Agile reveal a different way of involving people who would otherwise resist. Both Lean and Agile have produced high performance levels in organizations that have adopted them. But they also have failed miserably in other companies. The difference between success and failure lies in teams understanding the important social aspects of these approaches rather than attempting to force their adoptions like they were mechanical tools that automatically improve work.