Constant software development process improvement is a must - and one of the proven approaches that can transform your work efficiency is Lean methodology. Explore what is Lean software development and find out how it can help you to drive your results.
A QUICK SUMMARY – FOR THE BUSY ONES
1. What is lean software development?
Lean software development is a methodology focused on introducing constant improvements into the software development process. The goal: to increase the efficiency of the process by reducing waste.
2. Lean software development process
The steps of the lean software development process are the following:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Are you tired of sluggish and inefficient software development processes that leave you frustrated and behind schedule? In today's rapidly evolving business and technology landscape, it's more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve. And that's where Lean methodology comes in.
Lean methodology focuses on continuously improving the software development process by eliminating non-essential steps and reducing waste. This approach helps teams deliver faster, utilize resources more efficiently, produce higher-quality output, and ultimately provide more value to clients and app users.
The history of Lean began in the manufacturing industry. Toyota developed it in the 1950s to optimize production processes by eliminating any steps that didn't contribute to the quality of the final product. Today, Lean is widely used and has been most widely adopted in software development.
<span class="colorbox1" fs-test-element="box1"><p>Lean for MVP: Lean can be used during any production process, but it seems to be a must during MVP development, since it helps to define customer value.</p></span>
If a team wants to implement Lean, they need to focus on its 7 principles:
More information about each principle - in the next section.
<span class="colorbox1" fs-test-element="box1"><p>Agile vs Lean: Agile and Lean can be blended together. Lean principles are similar to Agile's focus on responsibility and the pace of product delivery. Sprints work similarly to the optimizations used in Lean. However, Agile places more emphasis on collaboration and delivering working software frequently, while Lean focuses on flow, waste reduction, and respect for people.</p></span>
Let’s explore the details of each Lean software development principle:
In lean software development, eliminating waste means getting rid of elements and tasks that do not add value. Identifying bottlenecks and areas that generate waste is an important part of this principle. Waste, also known as muda in Japanese, can be described as features, tasks, or pieces of code that are not needed, excess bureaucracy, inefficient communication, data duplication, or quality issues.
One way to spot and eliminate waste in processes is to use the right metrics, e.g. software delivery performance metrics like MTTR or LTFC, or process metrics like throughput. By tracking the right metrics continuously, you can find bottlenecks in various stages of product creation, like development, testing, or incident monitoring.
Lean aims to create value, reduce waste, and enhance quality. Code needs to be effectively tested and verified to increase the quality of the final product. This principle applies not only to the coding process but also to communication, which can be improved by providing regular feedback.
To implement this approach, methodologies such as pair programming and test-driven development can be beneficial. Setting up automated tests and health checks also helps to increase the product quality.
Implementing Lean methodology requires building a specific culture within the development team or the entire organization. This involves freely sharing knowledge and giving everyone the opportunity to contribute their opinions and suggestions to the project. One of the goals is to ensure that knowledge is not held by only one person.
To foster a learning culture, organize frequent knowledge-sharing sessions. Implement code reviewing and start organizing cross-team meetings. You can also go a step further, and start implementing the whole BizDevOps approach which requires tearing boundaries between teams.
The next principle of Lean software development is learning as much as possible before committing to serious, irreversible decisions. This is because the market environment is constantly and rapidly changing. Gathering data increases the likelihood of staying current, ensures a better fit with the market, and allows for more accurate identification of risks and threats.
Along with chosen stakeholders from your organization, prepare a decision-making model that will include necessary steps and balance the need to gather data before making decisions with the need for fast product delivery and learning.
On the other hand, the next principle of Lean software development is delivering products quickly in order to receive customer feedback and start the product optimization process. It also applies to releasing as often as possible. This approach speeds up the learning process from both successful and unsuccessful outcomes, while eliminating the possibility of developing unnecessary features.
You can manage your workflow effectively by limiting work in progress (WIP) and implementing Agile processes to enable fast delivery. One key tactic for streamlining the development process is also to automate continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). Tracking the right software delivery performance metrics (and making improvements based on results and their analysis) also helps.
Lean software development is all about collaboration and creating a supportive and productive atmosphere. For a successful approach, it is important to address problems and conflicts with communication, feedback, and respect for team members.
Tear the boundaries between business and development teams. Everyone plays to the same goal. Build a company culture of trust and empathy - allow team members to express their views and take part in the decision-making processes.
To apply Lean software development, you must analyze and optimize processes from various perspectives. Optimizing only some parts of the process and not the whole is not how Lean works. Lean approach requires streamlining the entire workflow to improve overall team performance and achieve the highest efficiency across all technology and business areas.
Measure the delivery process to identify and eliminate bottlenecks (start tracking software delivery performance metrics and process metrics). Set up automated tests to avoid costly manual rework. Optimize time-to-market by reviewing the progress towards achieving product goals regularly.
Although Lean implementation is a complex process and a significant change for the organization, you can start with using a few general tips on how to implement it.
The first step is to define the goals of Lean implementation and find answers to the questions:
This will help you to get a clear overview of your objectives and to gain the right focus during the lean implementation process.
The next step is educating your team on the Lean goals, specifics, and principles. This is typically the most difficult and long-lasting process, especially within mature, established organizations that aren’t used to working in Lean culture. To make this process run smoothly, you can seek the help of an experienced transformation or Lean implementation partner.
As you can see, Lean implementation is a complex process and it takes time. Is it worth it? Take a look at the challenges connected to implementing Lean to become aware of potential bottlenecks in advance.
Lean development, despite the obvious benefits, comes with a few risks and drawbacks. To name but a few of them:
To successfully implement Lean, the team needs to be thoroughly educated and have a good understanding of its goals and principles. It involves building a modern, coherent working culture, and this won’t happen overnight. The team must be trained in communication, teamwork, and work optimization, preferably as part of a structured and facilitated process. This requires time, a change of mindset, and engaging resources.
The Lean approach in software development must be based on detailed documentation of the developed software. Also, the team must be provided with tools for accurate waste identification in order to eliminate it correctly, which requires the right metrics that will measure muda.
Lean methodology in software development is effective only within the “optimize the whole” principle. Solving only specific bottlenecks and optimizing selected processes isn’t an effective Lean implementation. So, it might be challenging for some teams to always see the big picture and take coherent actions.
It’s worth devoting time, money and effort on the Lean implementation if you struggle with delivering value in a timely manner. It’s worth it, when you want to develop products faster, and in the meantime increase their quality. It’s also worth it when you want to save money and maximize the efficiency of your development team.
Time for some more benefits.
By implementing Lean, you will:
Lean can help you to improve your processes and maximize their efficiency. Thanks to continuous improvement, they will be completed much faster and at a lower cost.
With Lean, you can develop products faster and shorten time-to-market. By eliminating waste, you will increase feasibility and efficiency, and minimize the risk of developing unnecessary features.
With amplified learning, your team will exchange knowledge faster and internal communication will be much more efficient. This will empower your team members, prevent bottlenecks, increase engagement and participation, and accelerate the decision-making processes.
Lean software development incorporates constant changes and process improvement, which enforces flexibility. A Lean-powered team can easily adjust to changes and still aim at achieving the highest levels of efficiency.
Regular feedback and improvements result in better product quality. Prioritizing essential tasks and eliminating waste helps teams to focus on core activities that deliver value to the client. This drives revenue, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.
Whether you're building a new software product from scratch or iterating on an existing one, Lean methodology can help you identify and eliminate inefficiencies, prioritize features based on user needs, and deliver value faster. By focusing on the essentials and cutting out the unnecessary, you can create software that truly meets your customers' needs and exceeds their expectations.
If you’re searching for a methodology to improve your software development process and focus on delivering value to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible, Lean methodology can be the right choice.
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Software development enthusiast with 6 years of professional experience in the tech industry.
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