What is Lean? First, do you feel like you are bogged down in meetings, process, tasks, and other work that at best, slows down the value add work?
But at worst it adds no value and takes you away from the work of real value? You are not alone. As companies grow, scale, work and evolve over time, processes change. Tasks, ideas, and work can get cluttered up for organizations. A focus on what matters could help you. A way to do that is looking at lean development.
What is Lean
Lean development is an approach to software development that emphasizes efficiency, agility, and customer-centricity. It is based on the principles of Lean manufacturing, a methodology that originated in the manufacturing industry and was popularized by Toyota in the 1990s.
The key idea behind Lean development is to minimize waste and maximize value by focusing on the needs of the customer. This is accomplished through a variety of practices, including continuous improvement, iterative development, and rapid feedback.
What Is Lean And It’s Core Ideas
One of the core tenets of Lean development is the concept of “just-in-time” delivery. This means that development teams strive to deliver value to the customer as quickly as possible, without overburdening the system with unnecessary features or functionality. By focusing on delivering the most important features first, development teams can reduce the risk of project failure and ensure that the final product meets the needs of the customer.
Another important aspect of Lean development is continuous improvement. This means that development teams are constantly looking for ways to improve their processes, eliminate waste, and increase efficiency. This is accomplished through techniques like Agile development, which emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and rapid feedback.
Finally, Lean development is customer-centric, meaning that the needs and preferences of the customer are at the center of the development process. This is accomplished through techniques like user-centered design, which involves gathering feedback from users throughout the development process in order to ensure that the final product meets their needs and preferences.
Overall, Lean development is an approach to software development that emphasizes efficiency, agility, and customer-centricity. By focusing on delivering the most important features first, continuous improvement, and rapid feedback, development teams can reduce waste, increase efficiency, and ensure that the final product meets the needs of the customer.
In conclusion, what is lean
Lean is all about a focus, or even better, a re-focus on the important aspects of work. The items that help deliver value. Cutting out, reducing or streamlining the things that don’t add value. Or the things that get in the way of delivering value.
Many organizations have embraced lean ideas. Not just to remove waste and save money. But to help get the work done that they need to get done. Ultimately making them more profitable companies. If you feel like your org or your team is getting bogged down into unnecessary process, bureacracy and wasted effort, then a look and refresher on lean ideas could benefit you.
Teams never have to go “fully lean”. Whatever that means anyways. Instead, looking at ideas that can be applied to your team, is how you benefit you, your team, and your organization.
After What Is Lean, Some Additional Reading
Also check out these sources that get into the ideas of what is lean. What is Lean, from the Lean Enterprise Institute