Chapter 2: Find the Costly Friction

A friction is a point where useful work becomes slower, more expensive, less reliable, harder to scale, or more dangerous than it should be.

Friction is not limited to broken processes. It can hide inside a successful company for years. People compensate for it with extra meetings, personal spreadsheets, heroic employees, duplicated checks, memory, apology, and work performed after hours. The result arrives, so the system appears healthy. The cost is absorbed by people.