Using

Lean Thinking to Increase the

Value of Agile

Mathias Eifert

Requirements

Value

• Basic concepts of Lean

• The case of the missing brain

• Closing the value loop

• Implications for BAs

Agenda

3

About Me

4

• Business Analyst / Solutions Architect

• Applied Lean principles for 15+ years

– Statistical Process Control

– Process Improvement

– Software Development

– Agile Coaching

Mathias.Eifert@excella.com

What is Lean? Toyota Production System

What is Lean? Toyota Production System

Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest lead time

• Eliminate waste

• Optimize flow

• Achieve sustainability

Basic Ideas

7

Waste Any non-value added activity in a process

Type 1: Enablers, (currently) required

Type 2: Truly unnecessary

The biggest waste?

Features That Nobody Wants…

10

• Reduce variability of work load

• Limit work in progress

• Optimize the whole value stream

• Minimize lead time

Optimize Flow

11

Value Stream Mapping

12

agileweboperations.com

Lead Time

• Cross-functional teams

• Team sets pace

• Avoid constant task switching

• Automate manual tasks

• Knowledge work doesn’t scale

Achieve Sustainability

13

HOW do we do this?

Kanban

Kaizen

16

Change • Good

Kaizen

17

Continuous improvement

through rapid, iterative learning.

Lean Six Sigma

18

Lean Startup

19

Lean Startup

20

Build

Measure Learn

Lean Startup

21

Build

Measure Learn

PERSEVERE

or PIVOT?

Lean UX

22

Lean UX

23

“Every decision you make

about your offering is a

customer experience decision.”

Jeff Gothelf, Author “Lean UX”

Lean UX

24

Concept

Prototype

Validate

Internally

Test

Externally

Retrospective

Design as

Hypothesis

Lean UX

25

Concept

Prototype

Validate

Internally

Test

Externally

Retrospective

How

does Agile

measure

PROGRESS?

Working Software

• Created by engineers

• No consideration for

– Product management

– Design

– User Experience

Jeff Gotthelf, Author “Lean UX”

Agile Manifesto

28

AGILE

doesn’t have a

BRAIN

Bill Scott, ‎VP, Business Engineering and Product Development at PayPal

Scrum

30

Scrum

31

Requirements

Delivery

Scrum

32

Requirements

Scrum

33

???

Change is Accelerating

34

Sense & Respond

Business Agility

35

The Cost of Change

36

Cycle Time

Agile is necessary

but not sufficient

How

does Lean

measure

PROGRESS?

Validated Learning

Where is the Value?

40

Features

Outcome User Behavior

Impact Organizational Goals

Output

TDD

Build the Right Thing

Build the Thing Right

BML/HDD

ATDD

We believe that

• [doing this]

• for [these people]

• will achieve [this outcome].

We’ll know this is true when we see

• [this market feedback]. Jeff Gothelf, Author “Lean UX”

Testable Hypothesis

42

Impact Mapping

43

Gojko Adzic, impactmapping.org

Impact Mapping

44

Gojko Adzic, impactmapping.org

Lean

45

???

Lean

Discovery

Lean

46

Lean

Discovery

Lean

47

Measure Impact

Lean

Discovery

Lean

48

Measure Impact

Business Agility

When

does this

MATTER

most?

When you are

UNCERTAIN

what to build

Not all Software is Equal

51

Process Support Product Development

Uncertainty

Requirements

Unmet Needs

Unrealized Needs

Implications for BAs

When you know

what you need,

building to requirements

works great!

When you’re sure you know

exactly what you need,

building to perfect requirements

works great!

Uncertainty: The lack of complete certainty, that is, the existence of

more than one possibility.

Risk: A state of uncertainty where some of the possibilities

involve a loss, catastrophe, or other undesirable outcome.

Douglas Hubbard, Author “How to Measure Anything”

Risk Management

55

Surfacing assumptions

is risk identification.

Validated learning

is active risk mitigation.

The Dread Business Case

A business case summarizes a set of

assumptions.

These assumptions are usually:

• Hidden

• Unvalidated

The Dread Business Case

58

Defer Commitment…

59

… until the last responsible moment

Start Small and Lightweight

60

Observe Design

Value Proposition Canvas

©Strategyzer AG

• Embrace change & uncertainty

• Resist the temptation to fix scope

• Understand hypothesis testing

• Speak the language of UX

• Find lighter-weight tools

• Advise on value

Takeaways for BAs

61

• WHAT: Eliminate waste, optimize flow,

achieve sustainability

• HOW: Rapid iterative learning

• We all operate on assumptions

• Validated Learning reduces uncertainty

• Testable hypotheses in support of business

goals and Business Agility culture

Summary

62

Solve the correct problem

Then solve the problem correctly

Jeffrey L. Taylor

?

Thank You!