Self-management & jet engines

[jenk]

I was digging through some old articles on http://www.joelonsoftware.com and ran across a link to this:

The jet engines are produced by nine teams of people -- teams that are given just one basic directive: the day that their next engine must be loaded onto a truck. All other decisions -- who does what work; how to balance training, vacations, overtime against work flow; how to make the manufacturing process more efficient; how to handle teammates who slack off -- all of that stays within the team.
[...]
Clearly, not everyone has the temperament, skills, or intellect needed to work in an environment like that of GE/Durham. So who, in particular, doesn't fit in? "People who expect to take orders". - Source: 1999 Fast company article

It sounds like a cool place to work. It is also very definitely a "self-managed" place -- unlike the team I was on for 6 months and then discovered it was supposed to be a "self-managed pilot project". Personally I think that if you expect the workers to take on the work traditionally done by middle managment, you need to *tell them*....