When I first entered the workforce two decades ago, it wasn't uncommon for financial analysts to be asked to cut large checks needing to be mailed immediately, without much explanation about what they were for and why they were so urgent.

Not that long ago, the process for filling orders or assembling a product involved mind-numbing tasks done over and over again, to the point the worker really didn't have to think.

Building a car, for instance, was essentially a han...