Once upon a time, only manufacturers were obsessed with processes. They went to bed at night thinking about the "process steps" required to turn sheet metal into beer cans or luxury cars. Their working days were consumed with attempts to streamline processes in pursuit of higher output, fewer defects and lower inventory.

Until about 1990, those of us employed on the services side of the economy could look on with wry amusement. After all, we were knowledge workers. How could this preoccupation with the flow of widgets through factories affect our work as doctors, lawyers, teachers or journalists?