Time, Distance, Team Size, Workforce, despite all these limitations in the real world the main focus of Lean remains the same — remove the waste and hence make your process more effective and always aim to get your work done through the process with as little roadblocks as possible. The following are some Lean Principles of Software Development.
Eliminate Waste –
According to Wikipedia, in the software development industry, Unnecessary Codes, Transportation, Partially Done Work, Defects, Task Switching, and Over Processing, these are some of the examples of above mentioned seven wastes. These wastes are to be identified and removed at every stage to deliver fast and better functioning features to the customer, and Lean Team members ensure they do it correctly. They find out the source of the waste and then work on the root.
The above picture shows the general functions, features, and documents usage data of a software development company. In any software company, there is usually a large portion of functions and features which are developed but never used or rarely used. The same goes for documents that are unused. All these features, functions, and documents are a waste for the system & their source should be identified and removed.
Empower the Team –
In the software industry, we should respect the team members’ knowledge and experience as they are the ones who are practically working on the client’s project. In short, we should prefer the team over the process to be productive and successful. In the software industry, you can empower them by-
· Giving them opportunities to innovate and experiment
· By allowing them to take local decisions
· By providing them training on new technologies etc.
Deliver it Fast –
In Lean, we identify steps which are slowing us down, eliminate them as it will help us in fast delivery of software solution to the client. In Lean, we develop and deliver software solutions, incrementally to the client. Lean Project Leader keeps a track and ensures the timely delivery.
Optimize the Whole –
In software development organizations, developers may feel pressured to meet stringent timelines and end up writing sloppy code, which may result in more defects. This, in turn, increases the workload for developers only. Similarly, if testers are overburdened with work, they will not be able to share their findings with developers on time. In the meanwhile, developers keep on writing code thereby increasing backlog for testers. An organization can easily overcome these situations by having a better understanding of their tester’s/developer’s capacity.
Build-in Quality –
In the software development industry, your objective should be to maintain quality from the beginning and not test it in later stages. For instance, in the first place, the developer should try to develop smooth and bug-free coding. If any bug still appears during testing for resolution, the developer needs to ensure that:-
· The resolution of the bug takes place.
· A thorough root cause analysis has been carried out.
· He takes down the details for the future reference.
The reason being, if the same bug is there in some other scenario, then it can be fixed during the development stage itself.
Defer Decision –
In the software development industry, most of the decisions have a direct impact on the project. We can always try to delay the decisions until they are based on facts because corrections are difficult in the software industry, as we may need approvals and it may cost us money as well. The lean master can defer decisions to avoid this.
Amplify Learning –
When it comes to a successful project, knowledge plays a significant role in the success of the project. Learning is an ongoing process that never completes. We need to keep learning from everything we code, test, deliver, and discard. We need to keep this knowledge available for everyone by sharing and storing it at some commonplace like a shared drive or LMS. Which, in turn, allows everyone in the system:
· To learn things that did well in the past.
· To avoid things that did not work well in the past.
Conclusively, Lean is one of the highly proven and successful methodologies which helps in eliminating waste, reducing cost, improves productivity, and helps in maintaining a high level of quality.
