Using
Lean Thinking
to Increase the
Value of Agile
Mathias Eifert
• Basic concepts of Lean
• The case of the missing brain
• Closing the value loop
• Implications and take-aways
Agenda
2
About Me
3
• Solutions Architect and Consultant
• Applied Lean principles for 15+ years
– Statistical Process Control
– Process Improvement
– Software Development
– Agile Coaching
Mathias.Eifert@excella.com
What is Lean?
Toyota Production System
What is Lean?
Toyota Production System
Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest lead time
• Eliminate waste
• Optimize flow
• Achieve sustainability
Basic Ideas
5
Waste
Any non-value added activity in a process
Type 1: Enablers, (currently) required
Type 2: Truly unnecessary
The biggest waste?
Features That Nobody Wants…
8
• Reduce variability of work load
• Limit work in progress
• Optimize the whole value stream
• Minimize lead time
Optimize Flow
9
Value Stream Mapping
10
agileweboperations.com
Lead Time
• Cross-functional teams
• Team sets pace
• Avoid constant task switching
• Automate manual tasks
• Knowledge work doesn’t scale well
Achieve Sustainability
11
HOW
do we get there?
Kaizen
14
Change • Good
Kaizen
15
Continuous improvement
through rapid, iterative learning.
Deming’s PDCA Cycle
16
Lean Startup
17
Lean Startup
18
Build
MeasureLearn
PERSEVERE
or PIVOT?
Lean UX
19
Design as
Hypothesis
Lean UX
21
Concept
Prototype
Validate
Internally
Test
Externally
Retrospective
How
does Agile
measure
PROGRESS?
Working Software
• Created by engineers
• No consideration for
– Product management
– Design
– User Experience
Jeff Gotthelf, Author “Lean UX”
Agile Manifesto
24
AGILE
doesn’t have a
BRAIN
Bill Scott, ‎VP, Business Engineering and Product Development at PayPal
Scrum
30
Scrum
31
Requirements
Delivery
Scrum
32
Requirements
Scrum
33
???
Change is Accelerating
27
Sense & Respond
Business Agility
The Cost of Change
29
Cycle Time
Agile is necessary
but not sufficient
How
does Lean
measure
PROGRESS?
Validated Learning
Where is the Value?
33
Features
Outcome User Behavior
Impact Organizational Goals
Output
TDD
Build the Right Thing
Build the Thing Right
BML/HDD
ATDD
We believe that
• [doing this]
• for [these people]
• will achieve [this outcome].
We’ll know this is true when we see
• [this market feedback].
Jeff Gothelf, Author “Lean UX”
Testable Hypothesis
35
Impact Mapping
36
Gojko Adzic, impactmapping.org
Lean
45
???
Lean
Discovery
Lean
46
Lean
Discovery
Lean
48
Measure Impact
Business Agility
Not all Software is Equal
40
Process Support Product Development
Uncertainty
Requirements
Unmet Needs
Unrealized Needs
When you know
what you need,
building to requirements
works great!
When you’re sure you know
exactly what you need,
building to perfect requirements
works great!
KEEP
CALM
AND
ACKNOWLEDGE
UNCERTAINTY
Uncertainty:
The lack of complete certainty, that is, the existence of
more than one possibility.
Risk:
A state of uncertainty where some of the possibilities
involve a loss, catastrophe, or other undesirable outcome.
Douglas Hubbard, Author “How to Measure Anything”
Risk Management
44
Surfacing assumptions
is risk identification.
Validated learning
is active risk mitigation.
The Dread Business Case
A business case summarizes a set of
assumptions.
These assumptions are usually:
• Hidden
• Unvalidated
The Dread Business Case
47
Defer Commitment…
48
… until the last responsible moment
Start Small and Lightweight
49
ObserveDesign
Value Proposition Canvas
©Strategyzer AG
• Embrace change & uncertainty
• Have conversations about value
• Resist the temptation to fix scope
• Quantify business goals
• Understand hypothesis testing
• Speak the language of UX
• Find lighter-weight tools
Takeaways
50
Solve the correct problem
Then solve the problem correctly
Jeffrey L. Taylor
?
Thank You!

Using Lean Thinking to Increase the Value of Agile