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The Toyota Production System is arguably the most important invention in operations since Henry Ford’s Model T began rolling off the production line. It has spawned numerous approaches to improving operations, all based on the same principles: relentless attention to detail, commitment to data-driven experimentation, and charging workers with the ongoing task of increasing efficiency and eliminating waste in their jobs. This collection of ideas is often termed “lean.” Today most manufacturing companies and some service firms reap its rewards.

But attempts to apply lean approaches to knowledge work have proved frustratingly difficult. Most in the business world believe that knowledge work does not lend itself to lean principles, because, unlike car assembly, it is not repetitive and can’t be unambiguously defined. Consider a bank officer deciding whether to make a loan, an engineer developing a new product …