Applying Lean Software Development Principles Throughout the Organization

While first generation agile methods have a solid track record at the team level, many agile transformations get stuck trying to expand throughout the organization. With a set of principles that can help improve software development quality and productivity, lean thinking provides a method for escaping the trap of local optimization. While agile teams can use lean principles to improve their practices, the larger organization can embrace lean to solve problems that commonly plague company-wide agile endeavors. Alan Shalloway explores the lean principles of mapping value streams, creating visibility, managing work levels, and more. Together these lean principles and practices can help your organization dramatically reduce the amount of waste in the work teams perform. Alan introduces and explains Kanban, an agile method that has recently come on the scene, in terms of the lean principles it supports.