Part I. Executive Summary

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

As the cat in Lewis Carroll’s story so clearly advises, if you don’t know your destination, it doesn’t matter which path you take. This executive overview is intended to paint a picture of the destination for an enterprise integration strategy. Parts II and III of the book then illuminate the path.

The size of this book may be daunting to some readers, but Part I shouldn’t be. We structured the book in three parts specifically to make the subject of Lean Integration more approachable for different audiences. Part I is designed to be read by anyone, not just executives. Front-line staff should read Part I to understand the big-picture context, and senior executives too should read it to appreciate the role they play in this new approach and to internalize the strategic framework.

This executive overview can be read as a stand-alone publication. It provides a solid overview of the business justification for Lean Integration, the history of Lean and how it has evolved to this point, and how its principles can be applied in the context of an Integration Factory. Readers who are primarily interested in understanding the concepts and strategic framework and will be relying on others to execute the strategy can stop after Chapter 3 and not feel as if they are missing anything. That said, Parts II and III contain some excellent real-life case studies that also can be read as stand-alone stories. We therefore encourage everyone to thumb through the book and select topics or cases that are of greatest interest.