As a Lean-Agile Coach, I like to combine the Agile and Lean mindset
And both mindset complement each other very well. I embrace the Agile mindset to support teams and the organisation to improve collaboration, and deliver value soon. And what about reduce time to market, here is where I found in the Lean mindset a great ally.
If and organization wants to be able to act in a truly agile way, it has to look at all value streams from strategy to implementations (end-to-end improvement), not just focus on making “agile teams” (sub-optimization).
I recommend to managers VISUALIZE their processes (at least the most important/critical) and instead of just aiming to improve velocity or throughput, identify waste and remove it or reduce it. You’ll gain a lot of efficiency with the same resources!
Here you have the most common “Thieves of Time” that Dominica DeGrandis points out on her book “Making Work Visible : Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow“ (I recommend it! Check my review).
Here they are:
- Too much work in progress
- Unknown dependencies
- Unplanned work
- Conflicting priorities
- Neglected work
For sure there’re other types of waste. Take a look at the 8 Wastes of Lean (manufacturing). Those wastes are, defects, overproduction, waiting (thieves of time), unused talent, transportation, invenentory, motion, extra-processing. You could find an adaption of these wastes to the Software Development industry.
Who in your team (service/product) is taking care on managing situations mentioned above?
You could use this fabulous tool (Value Stream Mapping) to visualize your process and spot wastes (and value of course). Great post from Ivan Carillo, thanks for sharing! As a Lean-Agile Coach, I like to combine the Agile and Lean mindset. Both mindsets complement each other very well.
If and organization wants to be able to act in a truly agile way, it has to look at all value streams from strategy to implementations (end-to-end improvement), not just focus on making “agile teams” (sub-optimization).
I recommend to managers VISUALIZE their processes (at least the most important/critical) and instead of just aiming to improve velocity or throughput, identify waste and remove it or reduce it.
Just by reducing waste in your process, you’ll gain a lot of efficiency with the same resources!
Image created by OpenArt.
Here you have the most common “Thieves of Time” that Dominica DeGrandis points out on her book “Making Work Visible“ (I recommend it!).
Here they are:
- Too much work in progress
- Unknown dependencies
- Unplanned work
- Conflicting priorities
- Neglected work
For sure there’re other types of waste. Take a look at the 8 Wastes of Lean (manufacturing). Those wastes are, defects, overproduction, waiting (thieves of time), unused talent, transportation, invenentory, motion, extra-processing. You could find an adaption of these wastes to the Software Development industry.
Who in your team (service/product) is taking care on managing situations mentioned above?
You could use a fabulous tool, “Value Stream Mapping” to visualize your process and spot wastes (and value of course). I used this tool for a group of teams and we spotted constraints in our main Value Stream and trigger actions and initiatives to reduce waste and mitigate impact. I recommend this great post from Ivan Carillo at LinkedIn.
What’s your story about reducing waste, visualising work, or combining Agile and Lean mindset?
