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The Art of Lean Software Development: A Practical and Incremental Approach (Paperback)

~ (Author), Stephen C Jewett (Author), Mike Sullivan (Author)
Key Phrases: kaizen workshop, agile manifesto, source code management, Addison-Wesley Professional, Taiichi Ohno, Six Sigma (more...)

3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This succinct book explains how you can apply the practices of Lean software development to dramatically increase productivity and quality. Based on techniques that revolutionized Japanese manufacturing, Lean principles are being applied successfully to product design, engineering, the supply chain, and now software development. With The Art of Lean Software Development, you'll learn how to adopt Lean practices one at a time rather than taking on the entire methodology at once. As you master each practice, you'll see significant, measurable results. With this book, you will: Understand Lean's origins from Japanese industries and how it applies to software development Learn the Lean software development principles and the five most important practices in detail Distinguish between the Lean and Agile methodologies and understand their similarities and differences Determine which Lean principles you should adopt first, and how you can gradually incorporate more of the methodology into your process Review hands-on practices, including descriptions, benefits, trade-offs, and roadblocks Learn how to sell these principles to management

The Art of Lean Software Development is ideal for busy people who want to improve the development process but can't afford the disruption of a sudden and complete transformation. The Lean approach has been yielding dramatic results for decades, and with this book, you can make incremental changes that will produce immediate benefits. "This book presents Lean practices in a clear and concise manner so readers are motivated to make their software more reliable and less costly to maintain. I recommend it to anyone looking for an easy-to-follow guide totransform how the developer views the process of writing good software." -- Bryan Wells, Boeing Intelligence & Security Sytems Mission System "If you're new to Lean software development and you're not quite sure where to start, this book will help get your development process going in the right direction, one step at a time." -- John McClenning, software development lead, Aclara

About the Author

Sullivan is a veteran of law enforcement.

Product Details

Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (January 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0596517319
ISBN-13: 978-0596517311
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #417,534 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
kaizen workshop, agile manifesto, source code management, codebase size, legacy codebase, codebase changes, short iterations, unnecessary code, build script, behavior testing, automated testing, test harness

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Addison-Wesley Professional, Taiichi Ohno, Six Sigma, Toyota Production System, Standish Group, The Agile Success Story, Other Lean Techniques, Kinds of Tests, Developing Less Code, Alistair Cockburn, Prioritized Requirements, Iteration Length

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	9% buy The Productive Programmer (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly)) 4.4 out of 5 stars (22) $26.40
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

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3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Lean Software Development: A Practical and Incremental Approach, November 13, 2009

By	Eric Jain (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being familiar with "agile" methods, I wanted to get a better idea of what "lean" software development is all about. This book does a good job of explaining concepts such as Kanban and Kaizen, at least at a high level. But most of the book discusses "concrete practices" such as source code management and automated testing which could come straight out of any book on software development. I was surprised that only the last chapter focused on practices specific to lean software development. Don't expect much detail from a book this size; as the authors themselves state at one point: "It's hard to be specific about this because what makes sense and what will work for you is highly dependent upon the context."

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Lean An Intro to Lean, March 18, 2009

By	James Holmes "Co-Author 'Windows Developer Po... (South Central Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a concise work weighing in at around 120 pages. Its point is to give people a 30,000 foot overview of many things relating to Lean software development, and it's absolutely targeted to technical and business decision makers who are trying to learn a bit about how they can benefit from Lean.

The problem with the book's approach is that the authors fly past points so quickly that there's not enough serious discussion of the crucial topics central to Lean. I also think the authors spent the majority of the book covering topics which aren't specific to Lean. I'm all over source control, continuous integration, test driven design/development, etc., but these are fundamentals for many other methodologies or approaches. The authors don't spend enough time hitting hard the concepts of eliminating waste, value stream mapping, tight cycles, etc.

Worse yet, in the authors' attempts to give only high-level coverage of concepts they do a bad job of describing some critical issues. As an example, I screamed, literally, when I found this passage in their section on Reuse Existing Software:

"Software reuse exists in many different forms, each of which affects codebase size differently:

* Copying source code from one component to another reduces coding time and debugging, but it actually increases codebase size."

Dudes. Really. Copy and Paste development is awful for so many reasons. An increase in codebase size is utterly the last issue you should be talking about when discussing why you should never do it. Instead, focus on the impact of copy/paste on code complexity, violation of DRY principles, the loss of clarity, increased dependencies, and the replication of bugs throughout your codebase.

This isn't an awful book, and the authors generally did a good job laying out the material. I also loved that they included a good intro to Kanban. The problem is a lack of focus and a sacrifice of vital information in an attempt to turn an introduction to Lean into some sort of 30 minute infomercial.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lean development, March 12, 2009

By	Dwayne Phillips (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this book on the shelf in the local book store. I had read several things by the Poppendiecks on Lean Development; O'Reilly publishes high quality books, and so I bought it. I like the book with a few mild disappointments. First, the book is thin - about 120 pages. That is fine, but the publisher made it thin by using tiny print. Why do they do that? Second, the chapter that taught me the most was the final one. I didn't like waiting to the end to find the best part of the book.

The authors start the book with the Standish Group Chaos study. I didn't think anyone did that any more. The publisher or editor should have removed that section. Then they move into descriptions of Agile methods and Lean methods. They have plenty of good material here. If you are in management and do not recognize these terms, this book is for you. The authors give proper credit to Tom and Mary Poppendieck.

I didn't like their description of the Waterfall or serial model. I have seen that model work quite well in many projects under the right circumstances. A description of how to pick a model depending on the circumstances would have been good here.

The major part of the book (chapters 3-8 of a 9-chapter book) describes the main practices of Lean software development. The authors present the practices in the order they recommend the reader adopt them. The practice and their recommended order of adoption are:

Practice 0: Source code management and scripted builds
Practice 1: Automated testing
Practice 2: Continuous integration
Practice 3: Less code
Practice 4: Short iterations
Practice 5: Customer participation

There is little that is new in this book. Its good points are that, even with the tiny print, it is brief, to the point, and gives the reader a path to follow to work lean practices into an existing organization. If you are unfamiliar with lean or haven't considered it for a while, pick up this book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book to read in one day.
This book focuses on explaining methods on how you can apply the practices of lean software development. I liked it because it is very specific, and it dives right in. Read more

Published 18 days ago by Oscar Azmitia

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brief Introduction/Review of All That's New in Software Development
In a brief 128 pages, this Afternoon Read provides an excellent introduction, or review of everything that has happened in Software Development since about 1970, when Royce's... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Ira Laefsky

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, brief overview of lean systems development
This two-hour read is a brief, 5,000 foot view of lean systems development. The substance of the book is in less than a hundred 1.5 spaced pages. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Amrit Tiwana

4.0 out of 5 stars 5 Practices for Lean Software Development
I agree with the authors review, that this is a only for people new to lean or agile development.

That being said, it has an excellent set of practices for people... Read more

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4.0 out of 5 stars I'm the author of this book -- Intended Audience
I am one of the authors of this book and I just wanted tell you about who this book was written for and who it was not written for. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Curt Hibbs

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