Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

Chapter 5. Empower the Team

Beyond Scientific Management

When Henry Ford introduced the Model T Ford in 1908, it was so successful that Ford had to invent continually better, faster ways to manufacture the car. The first moving assembly line was introduced in 1913, and by 1927, the River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, turned iron ore into finished cars in just 28 hours. Ford produced almost 17 million Model T’s, converting the country from horses to suburbs in just two decades.

Touring an Auto Factory, circa 1915

Let’s take a quick tour of Ford’s Highland Park, Michigan, plant in 1915.¹ The 7,000 assembly-line workers here speak 50 languages and very few speak much English. How they do know what to do? Here’s what our tour guide tells ...