The type of activities which people all over the world consistent report most rewarding—that is, whit make them feel best – involve a clear objective, a need for concentration so intense that no attention is left over, lack of interruptions and distractions clear and immediate feedback on progress toward the objective, and a sense of challenge—the perception that one’s skills are adequate, but just adequate, to cope with the task at hand.
When people find themselves in these conditions, they lose their self-consciousness and sense of time. They report that the task itself becomes the end rather than a means to something more satisfying, like money or prestige. Indeed, and very conveniently for us, Csikszentmihalyi reports that people experiencing these conditions are in a highly satisfying psychological state of flow.
Csikszentmihalyi’s classic flow experience is rock climbing, where the need for concentration is obvious and the task itself is clearly the end, not a means. Participation sports less dangerous than rock climbing, interactive games, and focused intellectual tasks (such as writing books!) are often mentioned by Csikszentmihalyi’s respondents as flow experiences. However, traditional work-related tasks are only rarely mentioned despite the fact that work is rated the most important overall life activity. This is for a good reason. Classic batch-and-queue work conditions are hardly conducive to psychological flow. The worker can see only a small part of the task there often no feedback (much less immediate feedback), the task requires only small portion of one’s concentration and skills, and there are constant interruptions to deal with other tasks in one’s area of responsibility.
By contrast, work in an organization where value is made to flow continuously also creates the conditions for psychological flow. Every employee has immediate knowledge of whether the job has been done right and can see the status of the entire system. Keeping the system flowing smoothly with interruptions is a constant challenge, and a very difficult one, but & the product team has the skills and a way of thinking which is equal to the challenge.
Excerpted from page number 65 of ‘Lean Thinking’ by Womack and Jones