The Lean Nature of Google’s Development Practices - Manageability
The Lean Nature of Google’s Development Practices - Manageability
For the uninitiated, Lean Production is a set of princples and tools first conceptualized by Toyota in the 1980s (a.k.a. Just-In-Time, Kanban system) to support its auto manufacturing business. Mary and Tom Poppendieck subsequently leveraged the ideas and defined a set of seven lean principles for software development:
1. Eliminate Waste - Spend time only on what adds real customer value.
2. Amplify Learning - When you have tough problems, increase feedback.
3. Empower the Team - Let the people who add value use their full potential.
4. Deliver as Fast as Possible - Deliver value to customers as soon as they ask for it.
5. See the Whole - Beware of the temptation to optimize parts at the expense of the whole.
6. Build Integrity In - Don’t try to tack on integrity after the fact - build it in.
7. Decide as Late as Possible - Keep your options open as long as practical, but no longer.
The question I would like to pose is “how close does Google’s development practices match Lean software development?”.
In addition, what does Google do that goes beyond Lean Software Development?
Carlos Peres wrote an interesting article analyzing every lean principle and how Google is applying it to their processes.
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