There's probably a support group for angry lean practitioners who are moved beyond frustration by 'lean' becoming a not so subtle code ...
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Sed non alienum est, quo facilius vis verbi intellegatur, rationem huius verbi faciendi Zenonis exponere. Quod ea non occurrentia fingunt, vincunt Aristonem; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Ita graviter et severe voluptatem secrevit a bono. Quare attende, quaeso. Ergo illi intellegunt quid Epicurus dicat, ego non intellego?
Occultum facinus esse potuerit, gaudebit; Omnis enim est natura diligens sui. Paulum, cum regem Persem captum adduceret, eodem flumine invectio? Ergo, inquit, tibi Q. Utinam quidem dicerent alium alio beatiorem! Iam ruinas videres. Semper enim ita adsumit aliquid, ut ea, quae prima dederit, non deserat. Immo istud quidem, inquam, quo loco quidque, nisi iniquum postulo, arbitratu meo. Quae sunt igitur communia vobis cum antiquis, iis sic utamur quasi concessis; At quicum ioca seria, ut dicitur, quicum arcana, quicum occulta omnia? Claudii libidini, qui tum erat summo ne imperio, dederetur. Sed quid minus probandum quam esse aliquem beatum nec satis beatum? Aliter homines, aliter philosophos loqui putas oportere?
- Start and end with the customer.
Be absolutely focused on delivering customer value, which involve ...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem. Quid enim me prohiberet Epicureum esse, si probarem, quae ille diceret? Quid, quod res alia tota est? Quae in controversiam veniunt, de iis, si placet, disseramus. Aeque enim contingit omnibus fidibus, ut incontentae sint. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed tamen enitar et, si minus multa mihi occurrent, non fugiam ista popularia. Nam quibus rebus efficiuntur voluptates, eae non sunt in potestate sapientis. Ab his oratores, ab his imperatores ac rerum publicarum principes extiterunt. Quod quidem iam fit etiam in Academia.
Sed tamen omne, quod de re bona dilucide dicitur, mihi praeclare dici videtur. Qui-vere falsone, quaerere mittimus-dicitur oculis se privasse; Et nemo nimium beatus est; Atque ab his initiis profecti omnium virtutum et originem et progressionem persecuti sunt. Re mihi non aeque satisfacit, et quidem locis pluribus. Quicquid enim a sapientia proficiscitur, id continuo debet expletum esse omnibus suis partibus; Nec vero intermittunt aut admirationem earum rerum, quae sunt ab antiquis repertae, aut investigationem novarum. At miser, si in flagitiosa et vitiosa vita afflueret voluptatibus. Quid loquor de nobis, qui ad laudem et ad decus nati, suscepti, instituti sumus? Quod idem cum vestri faciant, non satis magnam tribuunt inventoribus gratiam. Quid censes in Latino fore?
Tum Triarius: Posthac quidem, inquit, audacius. Non minor, inquit, voluptas percipitur ex vilissimis rebus quam ex pretiosissimis. Illa tamen simplicia, vestra versuta. Iam in altera philosophiae parte. Qui-vere falsone, quaerere mittimus-dicitur oculis se privasse; Istic sum, inquit. Non quaeritur autem quid naturae tuae consentaneum sit, sed quid disciplinae. Nulla profecto est, quin suam vim retineat a primo ad extremum. Est tamen ea secundum naturam multoque nos ad se expetendam magis hortatur quam superiora omnia.
Lean manufacturing has been criticised for its negative impact on workers — with greater stress arising from the drive to perfection and zero waste. It has also been criticised for its tactical focus, in delivering customer value now, over having a strategic view of future opportunities.
The focus on just-in-time delivery and minimising stock might create risks in some industries, particularly in the face of unpredictable or high impact demand.
Toyota and lean manufacturing.
The obvious example since they pioneered and literally wrote the book on lean, and even inspired broader agile methodologies. The Toyota Production System captured their approaches and led to increased customer satisfaction and reduced waste in their production process. It still champions this approach, incorporating automation and their just in time model of delivery.
The BBC and lean software development.
This academic case study outlines the experience of BBC applying lean software development approaches. This was combined with other agile methodologies including scrum, and led to continuous improvement, reduced risk through iterative delivery, better code, and actual business value.
Lean in healthcare.
The ThedaCare hospital used lean principles to increase nurse time with patients by 70%. This in turn increased patient safety (the ultimate customer value in their context). It was in part achieved by optimising their processes, including keeping record-keeping systems and medications inpatient rooms.
Lean thinking is a broad term that informs lean manufacturing, lean software development and lean management. As a set of principles it aligns with agile methodologies and has broad application to a range of industries.
Use the following examples of connected and complementary models to weave lean thinking into your broader latticework of mental models. Alternatively, discover your own connections by exploring the category list above.
Connected models:
- Agile methodologies: which serves as a broader framework encompassing kanban, scrum and lean development.
- Scrum: an approach that is often combined with lean thinking.
- Kanban: particularly useful to optimise flow as part of lean thinking.
- Black box thinking: to support continuous improvement.
- First principle thinking: cutting to the core of delivering value and shedding the rest.
Complementary models:
- Zawinski’s law: challenging design bloat with a lean approach.
- Red queen effect: the challenge of simply improving processes, when competitors are striving to do the same.
- Lock-in effect: considering what would create greatest lock-in as a frame to establish customer value.
Lean Thinking roots can be traced back to Henry Ford’s approach to production lines and the ‘flow production’. However, like kanban and even agile methodology, lean thinking owes much to the innovative work done by Toyota which continued to build on Ford’s contribution.
These advances were led by Shigeco Shingo and Taiichi Ohno from the 1930s. In particular, they shifted the focus from individual machines to the broader production process and captured this approach in the Toyota Way. These approaches were subsequently given the title of ‘lean’ by John Krafcik in this 1988 article entitled the Triumph of the Lean Production System.
Soon afterwards, James P. Womack, Daniel Roos, and Daniel T, Jones published the Machine that Changed the World that further documented and outlined the foundations of lean thinking.
Finally, lean thinking was supported by mainstream management approaches when it was applied to software development. A key step in this process was the 2003 publication of Lean Software Development by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck.
As with most complex mental models, lean was originated through an evolutionary process of practice and thought. In our diagram, we attribute it to Taichii Ohno and Shigeo Shingo, given their significant contribution to just-in-time processing and waste reduction — but it’s never as simple as that and we really could have credited several alternatives.
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