It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with lean concepts that the methodology eventually found its way into software development. Today, lean and agile are commonly encountered words in programming circles, and many modern programmers pride themselves in their ability to follow the principles outlined in both of those fields, allowing them to deliver quality products in a measured manner.

And even though lean has been altered and adapted to the specific nature of software development in order to work better for this purpose, at its core, it’s still the same. Anyone familiar with lean methodologies should immediately recognize the core values of the philosophy in any typical list of lean software practices, and they should also know how to translate those into actionable items that they can execute in their workflow.

Waste in Software Development

One of the biggest problems in any type of software development is waste. Developer resources are commonly utilized incorrectly, leading to multiple rounds of repeating the same task, changing minor requirements, and in some of the worse cases, throwing out the whole project and starting over from scratch.

On the other hand, improperly designed software can be very wasteful of users’ resources, and even though some developers don’t put this in the same category as traditional waste in production, it’s just as bad when you consider the impact on your company’s standing on the market.

By following solid lean principles, a software development team can ensure that they bring waste down to a minimum, while also improving the overall quality of the products they deliver. Another core component of lean methodologies in software development is that decisions should be made as late as possible that is, anything involving the requirements of the project shouldn’t be planned too meticulously from the start.

Which, at its core, is just another technique for avoiding waste. You’ll sooner or later start to see this pattern all over lean software development guides, and the better your developers understand the concept, the more solid your software products will be.

Don’t Forget Agile!

Some people confuse lean and agile and lump them in the same category, especially when it comes to software developers, but there are some significant differences between the two camps that have to be observed. Both philosophies do emphasize rapid iteration and quick delivery of successful, functional results, and this is definitely something to pay attention to if you’re having trouble in the final stages of project delivery.

Agile tends to emphasize more on rapidly iterating on an idea, which can sometimes create a little waste, but nothing that can’t be controlled through some careful planning. Agile also places a significant emphasis on ensuring that you can keep up with your current pace of development in the future, instead of burning out after a short, but quick burst.

Another important aspect of agile is that you should take as many decisions as possible in face-to-face meetings instead of communicating over other channels. This might not sound directly related to building a product, but it does play a major role in understanding what your clients want to accomplish with the project exactly, allowing you to prevent a lot of waste from being created when you implement something you didn’t understand correctly in the first place.

Getting Everyone on Board

It can be difficult to make programmers follow lean and agile practices, especially if you have some more experienced people on your team who have been practicing for a longer period of time. These styles of development were very unpopular some time ago, and it will take even more time before they become the default way of teaching programming.

Conclusion

But the sooner you ensure that your developers know what lean and agile are, and how to follow them in their work, the better improvements you’re going to see in the overall quality of the output of those developers, and subsequently, the better your clients’ satisfaction will be. In the end, what truly matters is that you are able to deliver products that work according to their requirements, and know how to adjust them later.

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Lean Six Sigma and Politics A Surprisingly Good Mix

Even though there have been some attempts to introduce Lean and Six Sigma concepts into the world of politics, and they’re usually met with a lot of success and positive responses, there is still some skepticism towards the idea from most mainstream governments. At this stage, it looks like it will take some time before we start to see the real benefits of lean and Six Sigma thinking in this sphere.

The results are already there however (State of Washington). There have been multiple successful experiments in introducing Lean Six Sigma to various government bodies, mainly in the United States.

In fact, here are some of the states with their own Lean departments or initiatives:

• Arizona (Arizona Management System)
• Iowa (Office of Lean Enterprise)
• Ohio (LeanOhio)
• Washington (Results Washington)
• Minnesota (Minnesota Enterprise Lean)

Here are some cities and municipalities that have launched successful initiatives as well:

• Ft. Wayne, Indiana
• Gahanna, Ohio
• Irving, Texas
• Cape Coral, Florida
• Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Jacksonville, Florida

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is another good example of this. Even though they tend to be understandably more secretive about the nature of their work compared to other parts of the government, we’ve still caught some interesting glimpses into their progress, and it’s clear that they’re moving forward quite fast thanks to the benefits of Six Sigma.

Why it’s a natural fit for government work

The primary function of a government is to ensure that its citizens are satisfied. Measuring results and working towards constant improvement naturally accompany this, and the implementation of lean practices in government work makes perfect sense in this regard. Of course, not everything about lean is automatically applicable to government work, but the majority of it can be applied.

The first challenge is to visualize the work, since many processes are transactional in nature, where the work is not easy to see. Making the work visual is one of the first steps to making improvements. A great resource on this topic is from Ken Miller, in his book “We Don’t Make Widgets”

It’s also important for a government to reduce its expenses as much as possible while still maintaining a good level of quality in its services. Unnecessary expenses are one of the most common types of waste addressed by lean and Six Sigma methodologies, and a lot has been discovered over time with regards to how this can be tackled efficiently in any kind of environment.

The focus should not be about reducing budgets and laying off government employees, but in providing more services with the existing budget and taxes that are currently available.

There is another common, problematic type of waste that can be commonly seen in the work of governments bureaucratic one. Lean methodologies have a proven track record in simplifying unnecessarily complex processes, and resolving bottlenecks in such situations. Governments that have attempted to implement improvement in their own work have often reported an increased ability to handle citizens’ requests, while maintaining a high level of precision in the work done to service those requests.

What we can learn from recent examples

As we pointed out above, the US Army and US Navy have seen some very good results in terms of financial savings from their Lean and Six Sigma programs, and the reports that have been coming out of their departments are nothing but positive year after year.

Savings in the range of billions have been reported so far, and there are projections that speculate that these numbers could grow by another zero in the coming decade. It will be interesting to see how much the work of one of the most resource-hungry units of the US government can be affected by additional implementation.

Potential problems and solutions

Governments are traditionally resilient to change, and major reforms tend to take time. This is an obvious clash with the core ideas behind Six Sigma and lean, and we will probably need to take a more fundamental overview at the way governments function, and start with those changes.

Otherwise, progress will inevitably be slow. But by using lean to pave the way for more complex ideas and approaches, governments can easily be prepared for a major change like this. In fact, this also has the potential to bring even more changes in the way those governments work, as it will reform their basic way of thinking.

Conclusion

We’ve already seen plenty of successful examples of how lean methodologies can be implemented in the work of modern governments, but we’re likely just “scratching the surface” at this point.

We expect to see even more interesting developments in the very near future, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the global adoption of lean into the work of government bodies happens in the form of a wave, with a few important governments accepting it and triggering the change in everyone else.

Want to see more examples of Lean in Government? Check out LeanSixSigmaGovernment.com >>>

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How Much of a Company’s Daily Time Should Be Dedicated to Improvement Discussions?

Implementing lean methodologies in an organization is a time-consuming process, and it’s always an ongoing project, rather than a one-time activity. This makes it very important to approach the problem in a disciplined, structured manner. Time should be treated like the valuable resource it is, and it shouldn’t be wasted on pointless meetings and reviews that get nowhere.

One of the key aspects of a good lean organization is the ability to properly structure its time when it comes to their daily and weekly improvement meetings. Things won’t line up perfectly at first, and it will likely take a few tries to get things going, but organizing those meetings appropriately is a huge step in the right direction.

Should we meet every day?

In the beginning of the lean implementation, it will be important for everyone to maintain a good overview of the process, and to ensure that any issues are raised and communicated as early as possible.

It makes sense, in that case, to hold more regular meetings, perhaps even every day. However, as the organization’s mastery of lean concepts strengthens, and this propagates down to all layers of the employee structure, it will likely be more practical to make the meetings more spread apart, and summarize recent events more succinctly.

Of course, this is a highly individual situation. Some companies may find it more appropriate to keep their employees together more regularly for a longer period of time. As long as progress in implementing lean is adequately measured, and everyone is on the same page with regards to where the company is going, this shouldn’t be a big problem.

Don’t create additional waste!

One common mistake in attempting to implement lean methodologies blindly is to make those daily meetings too long without a good reason. Every meeting should ideally be recorded and measured at first, in order to determine how much time is typically spent on different issues. From that, the organization should be able to come up with a good average meeting duration in a relatively short time span, often by the end of the first week.

Time is not the only resource that can be wasted on improperly organized daily improvement meetings. Everything should ideally be kept as simple and streamlined as possible, so that employees aren’t burdened with too much additional information and problems that they need to handle.

After all, brainpower is not unlimited, and employees will find it much easier and more straightforward to get back to their regular tasks if they don’t spend every morning struggling through a meeting they find boring and ultimately pointless.

Which brings us to the next point it’s important to listen to what your employees have to say about the situation, but you must also know how to filter that feedback and pick out the parts that actually matter.

Filter through feedback carefully

Your employees will likely have a lot to say about the way you’re going about implementing lean, especially in the beginning. The influx of comments can sometimes be overwhelming in a larger workforce, and it’s important that the leader has the ability to maintain a clear head and avoid getting lost in a whirlwind of opinions.

To that end, being able to filter through the feedback received is a critical skill, and a good lean leader should spend a lot of time building up their experience in this area. When people are flooding the scene with their inputs, knowing how to tell the good opinions from the irrelevant ones becomes a truly valuable asset in the leader’s back pocket.

Conclusion

Implementing lean in a company, and ensuring that all employees are always up to speed on the latest developments doesn’t have to be a difficult task when the core method of communication the regular daily meetings is organized in a thoughtful manner.

The time required can vary from company to company, so there is no correct answer to the exact amount of time. The key is to make sure the time is valuable for everyone in attendance. We’ve seen wasteful meetings that last only 10 minutes, and very engaging meetings that last 2 hours.

Spending some time and effort on polishing this aspect of the organization’s lean efforts is guaranteed to result in more noticeable improvements than any other activity related to the lean process, especially in the beginning. A strong organization is founded on proper communication, and regular updates with clear agendas and purpose. A good lean leader should realize this as early as possible in their career to help their organization embrace improvement more quickly.

What does your organization do for meeting reviews around Lean and Six Sigma? Add your comments below…

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