Adoption of lean principles in software development projects

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gain insights about the applicability of Lean principles in software industry along with the Lean implementation issues. Design/methodology/approach Exploratory case studies have been carried out in five software companies. Data were collected by observation and semi-structured interviews with project managers. In this paper, case organizations are categorized as product vs project software development (SD) organization. Findings It is found that although Lean principles are being adopted in SD projects, application of all Lean principles is not visible. This research reveals that value and flow are more relevant in SD organizations, while value stream, pull and perfection are not conspicuous. Originality/value This paper would prove invaluable to lean practitioners and researchers to gain knowledge in lean SD. The paper puts forward the key issues that should be addressed for successful adoption of lean in SD. This study set out to determine the practitioners’ perception of the applicability of lean principles in SD projects. It provides a sound basis for further empirical research on adoption of lean principles in SD organizations.

The impact of Leagile software development on operational performance

“…Womack and Jones (2003) categorized five core lean principles in the context of manufacturing: value, value stream, flow, pull and perfection. In the perspective of the SD projects, value principle is considered as customer satisfaction by the elimination of waste and understanding users’ needs, incorporating quality in deliverables, reduction of lead time in the development of product/project, creative involvement of end customer in deliverables for problem-solving to fulfil customer requirements and functional features (Mehta et al , 2008; Middleton and Joyce, 2010; Widman et al , 2010; Yadav et al , 2018; Yadav et al , 2019a). Value stream in SD focuses on the identification of non-value activities and the reduction of non-value-adding steps in SD.…”

“…Perfection emphasizes continuous improvement in SD projects to make zero waste and defects (Rodríguez et al , 2019). Yadav et al (2018) have found that although lean principles are being adopted in SD projects, the application of all the lean principles is not significant to SD projects. Thus, the degree of implementation of lean principles may be lower in SD organizations.…”

“…Another question is: “does the implementation of the lean principles along with agile, i.e. Leagile improve the operational performance of the SD organizations?” There are a few case studies that reported the operational benefits of Leagile principles, but the literature fails to establish a generalized relationship between operational measures and Leagile principles (Yadav et al , 2018). As the implementation of Leagile in SD organizations is concerned, the concepts of agility have been in use for long, a few researchers have focused on the implementation of lean.…”

Implementation of lean in IT SME company: an Italian case

“…However, the application of Lean in IT industry has not been explored as much as other sectors (Yadav et al, 2018). Although IT service organizations are trying to adopt Lean practices in various departments, few empirical studies support the implementation of Lean in IT companies.…”

Lean waste assessment in a laboratory for training chemical analysts for the pharmaceutical industry

“…Lean is used to eliminate all types of inefficiencies and activities that do not add value to the process, typically called waste. Lean principles have been successfully used in industry and services (Bhamu et al , 2013; Dentz et al , 2009; Grove et al , 2011; Hodge et al , 2011; De Jong and Beelaerts van Blokland, 2016; Gutierrez-Gutierrez, 2016; Mrugalska and Wyrwicka, 2017; Kezia et al , 2017; Yadav et al , 2018; Almutairi et al , 2019). Singh and Rathi (2019) present a review from 2000 to 2018 about the implementation of lean six sigma (LSS) in business organizations pointing out the relevance of LSS in reducing organizations waste, improving processes, while reducing costs rising the societal living standards.…”