Lean + Agile = Optimal Development Environment
Over on the Dr.Dobb’s site, Dave West considers how companies can harness agile’s potential for accelerating lifecycle time, reducing costs, and building products customers really want, while leveraging Lean’s principles to address the challenges that arise when an organization dramatically revises the way it works. Citing a report published by Forrester, the analyst firm for which West works, agile development is more popular than ever, with more than 30 percent of the report’s participants identifying themselves as performing agile development. Of course, that spike in popularity has not precluded users from hitting roadblocks, which is where Lean enters the picture.
West describes the problems associated with agile transformations like this:
“The problems, broadly, tend to be technical, cultural, or organizational. Technical problems relate to infrastructure, tools, and architecture, and are often the most visible of the changes involved. But many companies find the cultural and organizational issues are the hardest to resolve. When a development organization uses the approach to transform itself, it often runs into problems with other parts of the company that haven’t undergone similar transformations. Clashes come with the business operations, governance, and organizational structures, among other areas. For example, hierarchical organizations may struggle with agile development’s quick, iterative review cycles and decision making.”
But, according to West, organizations that pair agile development with Lean practices dramatically reduce those problems. Again, citing Forrester’s recent study, he points out that those companies that employed both Lean and agile reported that:
- Processes were simpler;
- Customer involvement was more natural; and
- Organizations were flatter.
What about you, readers? At your organization, is agile development augmented by Lean techniques? If so, what are the results?
