The Wrights unknowingly used a principle of 3P for product development: Nature has already figured it out.
One of the less known lean concepts 3P is evident in the Wrights efforts to design an aircraft. They probably did not follow todays 3P format, but its guiding principle of using examples from nature to find new processes and designs is evident. The flight mechanism already existed in nature through several species, and the Wrights identified this in birds using wing warping to achieve control.
“On the basis of observation, Wilbur concluded that birds changed the angle of the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left. The brothers decided this would also be a good way for a flying machine to turn—to “bank” or “lean” into the turn just like a bird—and just like a person riding a bicycle, an experience with which they were thoroughly familiar. Equally important, they hoped this method would enable recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side (lateral balance). They puzzled over how to achieve the same effect with man-made wings and eventually discovered wing-warping when Wilbur idly twisted a long inner-tube box at the bicycle shop.”