Category Archives: Lean Software Development

Keeping with the Beat

Where would I go to find the latest information on Agile and Lean? What if you had a question and wanted expert advice? Try these “boards.” Sign up. They are free. ScrumDev Extreme Programming Agile Project Management Lean Software Development Industrial XP I am a particular fan of the last one. Its theme is applying […]

A fourth Google video (Lean-Agile)

Thanks to Artem Marchenko for mentioning the Poppendieck’s talk at Google, titled Competing on the basis of Speed.  

Adopting Agile (Lean Software Development – 4)

Brad Appleton, whom I mentioned in my last short post, also had this post linking to Agile Adoption as reported in the Agile Journal. This issue is talking about top-down Agile Adoption. My own view is generally that the workers deliver to the customers, and the managers support the workers. So, in line with that, […]

Lean Resources

Brad Appleton had this post with a LOT of Lean resources. I have not reviewed them all. I will endeavor to annotate them later.

Little’s Law – Lean Software Development – 3

Again, another post that was inspired by the Poppendieck’s.  This one is a particular favorite of mine: Little’s Law. (No, not me.) This is from John Little, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School, and it’s about queuing theory. We believe (and in fact experience has shown) that we should satisfy the customer as quickly as […]

Do we have to use the F-word?

OK, it’s a provocative title. I like to talk about two F-words: Feelings and Failure. This post is about failure and how to use it. I was working inside a firm recently and someone said: “We can’t talk about failure around here. That would hurt our careers.” Ummm. First, let me (apparently) change subjects completely. […]

Lean Software Development – 1

This post was partly inspired by Mary & Tom Poppendieck, who are experts in Lean Software Development. It was also inspired by an inquiry. So, I wanted to talk some about Lean. Specifically, about waste, which is known as muda in Japanese. Earlier I posted about waste. This is a different perspective on the same […]

Waste in projects…Working hard is not enough.

The second big idea in Lean is waste, or getting rid of waste (muda in Japanese). Seems obvious. Not many would say they are in favor of waste. First: Why do I want to talk about this? Many reasons. I meet so many development team members who are so gung-ho, they want to impress everyone […]

Customer Value & Lean

To discuss Lean and Lean Software Development is a long task. Permit me to start slowly, with background, and to start with some digressions. There has been a lot of talk lately of the auto business and what will happen to Chrysler. Is there something there we can learn? Lean, as you know, is most […]