Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Maturing through the Recipe for Success

Pete Abilla rightly points out that while the advice I gave yesterday, that in Lean decision making, value trumps flow, and flow trumps waste elimination, this does not mean that in a Lean transition a focus on value happens first or as a priority over a focus on flow and that a focus on smooth flow happens before a focus on waste elimination.

Pete is right!

In fact, in the realization of the Recipe for Success, I advise people that they mature down through the list. First focus on quality which is primarily a waste elimination function. Then reduce (or limit) WIP which is both a waste reducing function (as quality improves with smaller batch sizes) and a flow function (as flow improves with smaller batch transfers). Then balance demand against throughput which is primarily a flow function. And finally, when quality is high and flow is smooth, focus on prioritization. It is prioritization that is value focused in the Recipe for Success.

And hence, it appears that while, from a decision standpoint, you read the Recipe for Success from bottom to top, from an implementation standpoint, you read it (and implement it) from top to bottom. The reasons for this are relatively easy to understand and self-evident in practice.

When there isn’t a reliable system producing working software, prioritization is problematic because delivery is unreliable - either from a timing or quality perspective. With bad timing or poor quality the true value delivered is different from the intended value. In a true pull system, prioritization is deferred until the last responsible moment, keeping real options open, and allowing the most accurate definition of true value to be determined. With a reliable system of delivery, accurate prioritization decision can be made. Without a reliable system, either due to timing or quality, prioritization decisions will suffer.

One of the biggest impediments to smooth flow, is the stop go effect from rework due to poor quality. A second related problem comes from batch transfers from poor quality - in software, issues with builds and systems integration when batches of code are promoted through a set of environments. Poor quality impedes flow and prevents it from smoothing out. Hence, it makes sense to focus on quality first, before attempting to smooth the flow in the system. The working reality is that both measures start to take effect together, however, management attention and focus should go quality issues first. Not because quality is waste and it should be eliminated but because quality impedes flow.

Hence, organizations mature in to value optimization. It doesn’t happen overnight!

Related articles: Recipe for Success, Providing Value with Lean Technorati tag: Agile, David+Anderson, Software+Engineering, Management, Lean, Kanban, Pete+Abilla