Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

by Mary Poppendieck (Author), Tom Poppendieck (Author)

139 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0321150783

ISBN-10: 0321150783

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Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

Adapting agile practices to your development organization
Uncovering and eradicating waste throughout the software development lifecycle
Practical techniques for every development manager, project manager, and technical leader

Lean software development: applying agile principles to your organization

In Lean Software Development, Mary and Tom Poppendieck identify seven fundamental "lean" principles, adapt them for the world of software development, and show how they can serve as the foundation for agile development approaches that work. Along the way, they introduce 22 "thinking tools" that can help you customize the right agile practices for any environment.

Better, cheaper, faster software development. You can have all three–if you adopt the same lean principles that have already revolutionized manufacturing, logistics and product development.

Iterating towards excellence: software development as an exercise in discovery
Managing uncertainty: "decide as late as possible" by building change into the system.
Compressing the value stream: rapid development, feedback, and improvement
Empowering teams and individuals without compromising coordination
Software with integrity: promoting coherence, usability, fitness, maintainability, and adaptability
How to "see the whole"–even when your developers are scattered across multiple locations and contractors

Simply put, Lean Software Development helps you refocus development on value, flow, and people–so you can achieve breakthrough quality, savings, speed, and business alignment.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

Mary Poppendieck Tom Poppendieck

Forewords by Jim Highsmithand Ken Schwaber

Adapting agile practices to your development organization
Uncovering and eradicating waste throughout the software development lifecycle
Practical techniques for every development manager, project manager, and technical leader

Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

Lean software development: applying agile principles to your organization

Better, cheaper, faster software development. You can have all three―if you adopt the same lean principles that have already revolutionized manufacturing, logistics and product development.

Iterating towards excellence: software development as an exercise in discovery
Managing uncertainty: "decide as late as possible" by building change into the system.
Compressing the value stream: rapid development, feedback, and improvement
Empowering teams and individuals without compromising coordination
Software with integrity: promoting coherence, usability, fitness, maintainability, and adaptability
How to "see the whole"―even when your developers are scattered across multiple locations and contractors

Simply put, Lean Software Development helps you refocus development on value, flow, and people―so you can achieve breakthrough quality, savings, speed, and business alignment.

About the Author

MARY POPPENDIECK, Managing Director of the Agile Alliance (a leading non profit organization promoting agile software development), is a seasoned leader in both operations and new product development with more than 25 years of IT experience. She has led teams implementing solutions ranging from enterprise supply chain management to digital media, and built one of 3M's first Just-in-Time lean production systems. Mary is currently the President of Poppendieck LLC, a consulting firm specializing in bringing lean production techniques to software development.

TOM POPPENDIECK was creating systems to support concurrent development of commercial airliner navigation devices as early as 1985. Even then, the aerospace industry recognized that sequential development of product design, manufacturing process design and product support was costly and non-competitive. His subsequent experience in software product development, COTS implementation, and most recently as a coach, mentor, and enterprise architect support the same conclusion for software development. He currently assists organizations that need to improve their software development capabilities apply the lean principles and tools described in this book.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Addison-Wesley Professional (May 8, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0321150783
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0321150783
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.9 x 0.6 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #155,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #108 in Software Design & Engineering
- #283 in Software Development (Books)
- #373 in Computer Programming Languages

Customer Reviews:
139 ratings

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Paul Klipp

Still highly relevant almost twenty years after publishing

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2021

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This book is dated, and for that reason I wouldn't recommend it to a novice. But, if you're a Scrum Master, agile coach, or agile team member or leader and you haven't read this, there are key lessons that are better articulated in this book than in any other and it's a good use of four hours of your time to read it, with the caveat that both the technical and management context has changed a lot since this book was written. Just know that going in and take that part as a history lesson from the bad old days of svn and quarterly builds. The definitions of things like rapid flow, small batches, and frequent builds were different then.

One person found this helpful

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Comes complete with instructions and a warranty

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2008

Verified Purchase

Shortly after leading my first Six Sigma process improvement project, which involved my constructing of software to automate client business processes, I came across this book by the Poppendiecks. At the time, the integration of Lean and Six Sigma seemed to be picking up steam, and rather than reading a general text on Lean, getting a better understanding of how to apply Lean to software development seemed to make sense. In reading through this book, although Lean and Six Sigma (now often called Lean Six Sigma) share some commonalities, it became quickly apparent that Lean shares much in common with practices set into motion by the agile software development movement. The introduction to this text lists seven Lean principles as applied to software development: eliminating waste, amplifying learning, deciding as late as possible, delivering as fast as possible, empowering the team, building integrity in, and seeing the whole. In addition, it is also indicated that the Lean principles, respectively, do not mean throwing away all documentation, continuously changing one's mind, procrastinating, rushing and delivering sloppy work, abandoning leadership, performing big upfront design, or ignoring the details. It is interesting that the authors wait until the last chapter to disclose what the authors deem as instructions and a warranty card. The authors caution the reader that "one team's prescription is another team's poison", one should "not arbitrarily adopt practices that work in other organizations", and "the right amount of features analysis and traceability depends on the nature of the system and the probability of change" just as "the right amount of user interaction design depends on the users of the system, their background, and how they might use the system". These cautionary notes present a reminder of what the Lean principles applied to software development are all about. The authors also briefly discuss such areas as "special work environments" like the government, where skeptics to agile methods are common. I would like to see the Poppendiecks (or someone else) write an entire book on special work environments. En route to the closing chapter, the authors present 22 tools to help customize the right agile practices for any particular environment. Much of the material will probably already be familiar to agile practitioners, but a substantial amount of the discussion is on Lean. Most of the diagrams presented are well done, although some are a bit amateurish and do not aid the associated discussions. Small case studies that are provided throughout the text are beneficial (although sometimes minimally so) in helping the reader understand the problem space as well as apply the tools. The first few chapters are well suited for an introduction to Lean, and the book in general is recommended for those interested in exploring how Lean might be incorporated into software development.

4 people found this helpful

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Maurice

The Best Introduction I've Read

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2008

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It's pretty much all been said by previous reviewers but this one is worth another accolade. As a CIO with over 20 years in software engineering, I've just about read it all, seen it all, tried it all. As a result I'm a big believer in Lean/Agile, and this is the best introduction I've come across. It's a nice, practical mix of principles and practices and touches on all the right themes.

A previous reviewer laments the authors' distaste for CMMI and PMI. For instance:

"Between PMI and CMM certification programs, a heavy emphasis on process definition and detailed, front-end planning seemed to dominate everyone's perception of best practices...spending a lot of time and getting the requirements right upfront was the way to do things `right the first time'...CMM, in its eagerness to standardize process, leaves out the heart of discovery and innovation..." Spot on.

As a PMP with CMMI experience, I couldn't agree more with the Poppendiecks' observations and concerns. They go on to say, "This is not to say that CMM and PMI are bad, but only that for anyone who has lived through the lean revolution, they tend to give the wrong flavor to a software development program." That "wrong flavor" is called "waterfall."

Of course there are Level 5 Agile shops out there, and the author's recognize that "CMM is not supposed to dictate approach, but only assess..." But here's the problem: "CMM programs...may standardize on less than ideal practices...they may be better implemented separate from--and after--process improvements."

This book is a must read for software development managers and other business execs pursuing the promise of an Agile company (vs. IT shop). I'll definitely be passing out a few copies!

7 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Tony

Cornerstone in Lean Development

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2019

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High quality writing and easy to follow. Very concise and objective. The authors experience and knowledge is immense. A most read along with Domain-Driven Design and Continuous Delivery books if you want to be introduced to the future of Software Development.

Kindle Customer

Good book on lean development.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

A good book but now is a little aged.

Josh Harris

New to Lean/Agile, then this is perfect

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2013

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As a young professional with 2 years digital experience but 0 experience in Lean Software Development, this was the perfect introduction and start. Was able to instantly apply what I learnt from the book to my work.

Grace Ireland

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2015

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The book for lean software development!

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

Interesting opinions from an old school engineer

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Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit

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