Lean software
development
Michal Krajíček
Agenda
1. Origins of Lean
2. Principles of Lean
3. From cars to software development
4. Lean software development – principles
5. Lean & agile
6. The Lean Startup
Origins of Lean
Japonsko po druhé světové válce
Origins of Lean
Lean production
• Waste
• Kaizen
• Jidoka
• Just in time
• Lean time & cycle time
Origins of Lean
7 principles
• Eliminate waste
• Build quality in
• Create knowledge
• Defer commitment
• Deliver fast
• Respect people
• Optimize the whole
Eliminate waste
„All we are doing is looking at the timeline from the moment a customer gives us an order to
the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that timeline by removing the
nonvalue-added wastes.“
Build quality in
Build quality into the code from the start – the ultimate goal is to eliminate the defect tracking
system altogether.
Create knowledge
Software development is a knowledge-creating process.
The important questions in development is: how can I learn most effectively?
Defer commitment
Schedule irreversible decisions for the last responsible moment – the last chance to make the
decision before it is too late.
It is easier to change a decision that hasn´t been made.
Deliver fast
Companies that compete on the basis of time often have a significant advantage over their
competitors.
 Elimination of huge amount of waste
 Low defect rate
 Experimental approach to product development
 The faster you can deliver, the longer you can delay decisions
Respect people
 Lean thinking capitalizes on the intelligence of frontline workers
 Critical factor in motivation is empowerment
"Hire good people, and leave them alone."
"If you put fences around people, you get sheeps. Give people the room they need."
"Encourage, don´t nitpick. Let people run with an idea."
"Give it a try - and quick"
William McKnight
Optimize the whole
Software development is legendary for its tendency to sub-optimize. If you break a value stream
into silos and optimize them separately, experience shown that the overall system will almost
certainly be sub-optimized.
The basic rule: you get what you measure
Solution: measure up
Lean  Agile
Eliminate waste  deliver value
Build quality in  XP engineering practices, agile testing, shippable product
Create knowledge  iterations, spikes, automated testing, customer collaboration
Defer commitment  incremental design, agile backlog, iterations
Deliver fast  short release cycles, MVPs, pull system, shippable product
Respect people  self organizing teams, Scrum master, agile organization
Optimize the whole  team is responsible
What is startup?
• Temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model
What is The Lean Startup?
• Methodology used by startups
• Way of maximizing learning per unit of time
• Systematical process of iterating from plan A to a plan that works
Questions?