Agile Vancouver: Mary Poppendieck on "Lean Strategies for Software Development" March 20, 2006

What do PatientKeeper, a hospital data management system, and Zara, a high fashion clothing chain, have in common with Dell Computer and Toyota Motor Corporation? All four companies are overwhelming their competition with a constant flood of new products that seem to be exactly what customers want, even as they set the standard for quality and value.

How do they do it? To these companies, Lean Thinking is a way of life: Customer Value, Rapid Response, Constant Learning, Built-in Quality and Engaged Workers are part of the culture. Of the many methods that have arisen to improve software development, Lean is emerging as one that is grounded in decades of work understanding how to make processes better. Lean thinking focuses on giving customers what they want, when and where the want it, without a wasted motion or wasted minute.

This talk summarizes seven principles of Lean Software Development and the myths that make them counterintuitive. You will learn how Lean thinking both informs and extends agile practices, and perhaps come away with a new way of thinking about developing software.