What is Lean Software Development?

Give your team a chance to collect and interpret the data independently. Many product and engineering teams use  DevCycle’s A/B testing and experimentation capabilities to run tests and learn from the results, so that they can applying those learnings to new products. Product team leads should not only capture and organize information, but they should also proactively share and distribute it within teams. Tell them what the information means and share key learnings and insights. Consider setting up monthly demos to show off individual and team accomplishments, or dedicating a Slack channel for announcing updates and new findings. Analyze customer feedback, and combine data from your product, marketing, and engineering teams to understand what customers think of, and how they interact with, your brand.

The Lean manufacturing concept emerged in the mid-20th century out of a production process Toyota developed as part of its Toyota Way philosophy. Lean manufacturing aimed to reduce product defects, cut out waste, increase productivity, and encourage accountability and innovation. Lean development is a methodology that has its roots in the manufacturing sector. The term “lean” was first coined by Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno, who is credited with developing the Toyota Production System.

Deliver fast

We learned that it was founded on the principles of the Toyota Production System, and aims to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and enhance the quality of software products. Teams using Lean place an emphasis on delivering customer value and continuously improving processes, which leads to high-quality software products that focus on customer needs. Software developers often use a form of the lean methodology framework known as the agile methodology.

If you work with Jira, you’ll find our lean tools especially helpful for improving the functionality of your workflows and enhancing team collaboration. Teams work together to ensure work is evenly distributed and deadlines are met. They discuss any potential bottlenecks in advance so they can be solved before they become a financial burden or delay work. Since capacity and WIP (work in progress) items are continually forecasted, monitored, and adjusted with lean, bottlenecks are anticipated in advance, every team member participates, and no one’s time is wasted. MindManager helps boost collaboration and productivity among remote and hybrid teams to achieve better results, faster.

Green Belt Projects

Namely, you need to take the customer’s point of view of the service or product into account and deliver it only when there is a need for it. Therefore, a pull system allows you to optimize the capacity of your resources. Additionally, an effective pull system enables you to eliminate all the time-, space-, and money-consuming operations. Lean teams aim to deliver high-quality products to their customers as fast as possible.

• It’s not a “set it and forget it” process, as lean is all about consistent process improvement.
• Eventually, other manufacturing organizations across many industries began using this system, and the name later changed to Lean.
• It is essential that they retain their enthusiasm and motivation to continue performing in their daily tasks.
• Consider avenues for professional development, like certification on management training from Simplilearn, the leading online boot camp in the world.
• This is what makes it easy to set up in theory, but difficult to implement in practice.
• Product development teams are responsible for designing new products that improve the lives of their end customers.

Proactive communication among members of a Lean development team creates a positive work environment as well as the best possible results. Rather than making detailed plans in advance, teams practicing Lean ought to collect all the necessary information before making a decision. Another way to sync with team members and keep everyone apprised of project status is through daily standup meetings or scrums. Scrums provide accountability, transparency, and an opportunity for teams to connect.

What are the Strengths and Weakness of Lean Software Development?

Since organizations practicing Lean seek to decrease inventory, they always depend on suppliers. As a result, the company is unable to deliver its products quickly and efficiently. Having an effective pull system and prioritizing it over a push system allows organizations to base the early steps of the production process on the final ones. Instead of piling up inventory, they reduce costs by ordering only what they need. Once you have mapped the value stream, you can proceed to create a continuous workflow by looking over every step in the process, aiming to enhance efficiency and eliminate waste. The purpose of value stream mapping is to plan the process of providing the service or delivering the product to the customer.

For simplicity, the Lean method provides high quality work with minimal money, resources and time. The aim is to optimize the performance of processes by using the methods, techniques and practices already available in the company. A lean product development approach relies on a streamlined what is lean development methodology product development process to mitigate risk, reduce bottlenecks, and create efficient workflows. To do this, you need to set the blueprint for the rest of the team to follow. Lean agile, or lean software development, originates from the principles of lean manufacturing.

Productive streamlining

Nor does it assume that production efficiency is more important than humans. In the video below, two of our partner companies share their experiences creating profitable new value streams. Long-running business systems were not designed to be flexible, so when adjustments need to be made, it may take months or years before the entire organization is on the same page. Businesses today must adapt faster than ever due to increasing customer demand, rapidly evolving technological advancements, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Elevating the voice of the frontline worker evolves the role of leadership. In an organization structured around a command-and-control form of leadership, the role of the leader is to set the course of what to do, but also how and when.

Rather than maximizing the bottom line for the sake of doing so, lean methodology is a paradigm for ensuring that customer value is a top consideration at every step of the process. The idea is to refine internal processes as much as possible to give consumers the highest value possible in a product or service. Anything that doesn’t contribute to the product’s value to the customer is considered inefficient.

Lean Methodology Summary

Many frameworks and methodologies (including, at times, lean) are often folded under the umbrella of agile. Once you understand your customers, map their needs to specific product/feature specs. In a lean approach, many product teams repurpose already-existing software, tools, and products for new uses while actively exploring alternatives.

What is Lean Methodology?

It was a direct response to single-pass software development methodologies where requirements are defined at the start of the development process and projects are completed in sequential phases. As new technologies turbocharged the speed of software development, rigid workflow processes like these became roadblocks to innovation. Often, the best ideas come from the people with their hands on the product. In most organizations, decisions are made at the top of the organization and trickled down to the frontline. Lean thinking encourages allowing everyone, especially those closest to the product and the customer, to have an equal voice, to ensure that the voice of the customer, and those doing the work, is heard.

What Are the Lean Software Development Principles?

The tasks are divided and the employees become ultra specialized, which is devaluing. Under these conditions, stress, fatigue, the risk of musculoskeletal disorders and occupational diseases develop more and the morale of employees is decreasing. We move away from the Lean’s original objective to get closer to Taylorism.