Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

I bought Mary and Tom's book when it first came out in 2003 and knew immediately that it would have a lasting impact on my vocabulary around agile software development. Their view of applying lean thinking and lean development to software development gave the entire group of agile methodologies (Scrum, XP, Crystal Clear, etc.) something truly solid upon which to hang their collective hats. For my part, it gave me the theoretical background I lacked while also giving clear practical advice about how to apply the theory. Eliminate waste, amplify learning, delay commitment, delivery fast, empower the team, build integrity in, and see the whole. These are the 7 principles of Lean that are then applied directly into software development practices. It is now several years later and I keep coming back to this title, not just for my own reference, but also for my clients. In my work as an Agile Mentor, this book is one of my all time top references. I recommend this book to developers, managers, executives, stakeholders, testers, customers, everyone! "Lean Software Development" gets this mighty nod from me because it provides straightforward language around productivity, revenue, and quality that helps all of these various roles understand the value of agile software development practices. When development teams eliminate waste daily, they eliminate waste from the overall product release. And when multiple teams eliminate waste from product releases, they are eliminating organizational waste. And with organizatinal waste tracked and eliminated, the entire organization enjoys higher quality and productivity. This progression of benefit occurs with all of the seven principles and the Poppendiecks give you the path to apply these bottom up or top down. If you have but one book to choose in order to understand agile software development, start with "Lean Software Development". If your boss has only one book to choose in order to understand why YOU are interested in agile software development, have her start with "Lean Software Development".

Although this book is from the Agile-series, the approach and advice extends to any methodology from the heavy (and still used) waterfall SDLC, to XP and agile methods.Key steps in this book will show you how to streamline your development methodology in accordance with lean thinking:- Eliminate waste by cutting the fat out of processes, reducing rework, viewing your SDLC as a value stream.- Amplify learning, with an emphasis on iterative planning, feedback loops and team communications.- Decide as late as possible, which is enabled by concurrent activities, depth-first versus breadth-first problem solving, and other effective tools and techniques.- Deliver as fast as possible, based on analogies between manufacturing pull systems and scheduling, and how to accomplish the same in development.- Empower the team, which is a fundamental element of lean thinking. The tools and techniques presented in this section of the book are a mixture of common sense, leadership and management.- Build integrity in. If ever there were a direct connection between the lean thinking approach to manufacturing and software development, it is here. Tools and techniques given include model-driven development, refactoring and testing techniques. - See the whole, which emphasizes system thinking, metrics, optimization, and the supporting tools and techniques.Any or all of the above can be effectively applied to any SDLC or methodology and produce results. Lean thinking was developed by Toyota as a manufacturing paradigm, which has been extended through that company and is applied to business processes outside of the manufacturing domain. That this team of authors has applied it to software development is not as unnatural as it may seem at first glance given how vastly different software is to create versus cars, for example. But, the paradigm has been proven outside of manufacturing before this book was written, and the basic philosophy and principles can be applied - which this book evidences.If you want to look at development from an entirely unique perspective purge the words agile, XP and any other methodology from your mind while reading this book. I can almost guarantee that you'll find something in every chapter that you can put to immediate use in your own organization. As an aside, a book on software testing that is consistent with lean thinking in many ways, and closely aligned to the content of this book is "Software Testing Fundamentals: Methods and Metrics" ISBN 047143020X.

The authors have done a wonderful job in helping us to look for ways to improve toward "Lean Software Development". One of the great things about this book is the approach that it takes. Rather than giving a prescription of "do this, and you should get these results", they give a framework for thinking through the issues and making good decisions. Each chapter concludes with a section called "Try This". My organization has already benefited from the suggestions for identifying waste. Again, they don't tell you what waste to eliminate, but rather how to go about looking for wasteful items.Another thing that the authors have cleared up is the improper distinction between principles and practices. The authors claim that many of the problems in software today come from the fact that manufacturing *practices* have been applied to software development rather than manufacturing *principles*.The principles that are explained throughout the book are based on successful companies outside of the software business, e.g. 3M and Toyota, and how in turn these can be applied to software. One of the best points that they authors make - and they make many good ones - is that local optimization within an organization can actually slow down the overall process.The overall tone of the book is very pragmatic, and it is definitely going to be a shock to the system for anyone who is accustomed to CMMI or ISO certifications. However, the potential results from this shift in thinking are worth it.

This is an excellent discussion of how the principles of Lean Manufacturing apply to Software Development. The authors explain why the usual metaphor of software as manufacturing is not quite right, and why the metaphor of Lean Manufacturing is something we can learn from. The book is clearly written and the authors provide examples and anecdotes to help you to understand their points. This was a fairly quick read, and I am likely to refer to it often.

Books written during the first phase of agile software development have been about very specific practices we should employ. There are some excellent books on the Extreme Programming, Feature-Driven Development and Scrum agile processes. These books teach us "do a, b, and c if you want to do Extreme Programming" or "do x, y and z if you want to do Scrum."In the last year we've seen books by Highsmith (Agile Software Development Ecosystems) and Cockburn (Agile Software Development) that represent the second wave of agile software development-that of learning to think agilely rather than following a prescribed set of agile rules. Mary and Tom Poppendieck's book is the latest and best book for teaching how to think agilely.The book contains 22 "thinking tools." The thinking tools are drawn from the world of lean manufacturing where they have helped improve product delivery speed, quality and cost. Each tool is presented as a guideline. Each thinking tool is described with enough detail that you can put it into practice; but, more importantly, the reasons supporting each are made explicit. So, instead of simply reading that it is good to "deliver as fast as possible" we learn how rapid delivery is supported by pull systems (where work is pulled into the current step from the prior step), how queuing theory helps us identify bottlenecks, and how to calculate the cost of delay (to see which bottlenecks are worth removing).This book is the perfect blend of highly actionable instructions and descriptions of why those actions work. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to improve his or her software development process. The authors' ideas are applicable both to projects using agile approaches today and to more traditional, plan-driven projects.