Lean Software Development

The software industry is looking for ways to create quality code in an effective, efficient manner that is rapid, repeatable and reliable. Attempts such as CMMI and Agile methods have found some success but also seem to have some inherent drawbacks.

Of the many methods that have arisen to improve software development, Lean Software Development is emerging as one that is grounded in decades of work understanding how to make processes better. Lean thinking focuses on giving customers what they want, when and where they want it. It provides a way to maximize value while minimizing waste.

The varied background and history of Lean makes it very valuable to practitioners. However, the varied perspectives available from which to look at Lean sometimes makes it a challenge to learn how to apply it. This course takes four prominent perspectives of Lean and integrates them, creating a consistent, comprehensive view of how Lean can be applied to software development. These perspectives are:

• Lean Manufacturing from Toyota (from Taiichi Ohno of Toyota)
• Lean Thinking (from Womack and Jones’ work)
• Lean Software Development (from Mary and Tom Poppendieck)
• Lean Product Development System (from Toyota, as described by Michael Kennedy)

The course centers on how to create a fast, flexible flow of customer value-add. Principles of Lean that facilitate this are:

• Eliminate Waste
• Create knowledge
• Respect people
• Build quality in
• Defer commitment
• Deliver fast
• Optimize the whole

The course teaches how to manifest these principles within the context of software development as product development. This is one of the distinctions of this course over mere agile training. Agile project management focuses on managing a single project and perhaps coordinating several projects together. However, true software development should be focused on the products these projects relate to. Selecting products, scheduling projects for the products, balancing product loads, are business perspectives that Lean addresses while agile methods do not. The focus of this course is on the mindset of Lean and the Lean-Agile Software Development process. The issues of architecture and how to evolve designs is only dealt with at a superficial level.

Some topics that are particular to Lean are:

• Value stream maps
• Utilization theory
• Think products, not projects
• Using QA to improve process
• A focus on people and process – how to use process as a baseline for change
• Work cells and how they can improve a process
• How focusing on time can eliminate waste and improve value

Objectives

• To create a new paradigm of software development that integrates people and process
• To enable participants to see the cost of poor quality in the software development cycle
• To improve the awareness of the importance of fast-flexible flow
• To underscore the importance of using process as a baseline for change.

You learn how to

• Develop a value stream map for a software development organization and what to do once you have the map.
• Reorganize the software development process around workcells and simplify project management.
• Assess the state of the basic disciplines which determine your software development process capability.
• Organize a visual workplace so that everyone knows the most important thing to do next without being told.
• Design a decision-making process which simultaneously delivers high speed, high quality and low cost.
• To integrate your QA team to improve the development process, not just attempt quality in at the end.
• Gauge the capacity of your software development organization and limit work to match that capacity.

Instructor

Guy M. Beaver (Regional Director, Sr. Consultant at Net Objectives) is a change leader and technology executive with a track record of success in Lean-Agile implementations in large, mid-sized and start-up organizations. He is a recognized expert in Lean, Agile and Scrum technical development with a proven ability to lead, manage and motivate organizations to realize significant productivity and quality improvements. As a Senior Consultant and Coach, he facilitates enterprise clients in successfully transitioning to Lean-Agile practices and methodologies with business-focused strategies and implementation expertise. With over 20 years of software management and development expertise and business experience as both a CIO and business owner, he provides Net Objectives clients with actionable strategies that produce progressive results. Guy has a consistent record of successful delivery in financial services and aerospace industries with corporations such as Vanguard, Critical Point Group, NASA, G & A Technical Software, and the US Naval Research Laboratory. He is a frequent contributing author to the Agile Journal and holds a Masters in Physics. 

Course Length