Lean Software Strategies seems to be one of the first books specifically about applying Lean principles and techniques to software development that is not written by the Poppendiecks. When the book first came out, I admit I was put off by several unfavorable reviews at Amazon.com. When I later learned it won the 2007 Shingo prize for excellence in manufacturing research, and saw Lisa Crispin's review at StickyMinds, I decided to give it a second look. I'm glad I did!
Written by Lean experts from two backgrounds, one an academician/researcher and the other an industry practitioner, the style of the book is very different from that of the Poppendiecks. It takes a much more purist (even academic at times) application of Lean production to software development rather than landing squarely on "Agile" or roughly equating the two. I can understand why fans of the Poppendiecks' books, and perhaps those coming from a background that is more "Agile" than "Lean" didn't exactly "rave" about Middleton and Sutton's book. I can also understand the perspective of those coming from a background in Lean production who complain that the Poppendiecks' books are more about "Agile" than "Lean" and that Sutton and Middleton's book is, in their mind, the first book that is truly about applying Lean to Software. I think both camps are "right" in their own way, and that is why I think it is important to read this book in order to gain a broader and deeper perspective of what Lean is and how it applies to software development.
The book starts
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off by exploring the software industry and the three different kinds of production: craft, mass, and lean. Then we learn the five principles of mass production: repeatability, large infrastructures, efficiency, organizational gigantism, and technocentrism. Subsequently, we learn the five principles of Lean production as explained by Womack & Jones in Lean Thinking: value, value-stream, flow, pull, and perfection. Each principle is explained, covering the basic concepts and vocabulary of Lean, including adding value, the seven forms of muda or waste, removing waste by incremental improvement (Kaizen events) and radical improvements (Kaikaku), and the concepts of flow, stage graduation, one-piece flow, takt-time, JIT, Kanban, Andon, Jidoka, and Poka Yoke.
After the whirlwind tour of Lean principles and terms, the book then spends some time exploring the specific topics of software reuse, CMM/CMMI, and Agile development (particularly Extreme Programming), with a "Lean" view of each of those filtered through the five Lean principles. The last chapter in part one of the book discusses "The Way Out of the Software Crisis" and that role that Lean plays (according to the authors).
Part two of the book focuses on "Customer Space, Early Lifecycle." In doing so, it deals with an important part of the software lifecycle that is often stressed but less extensively covered by most Agile methods: really getting inside the customers' heads to where they live and applying several formal techniques for determining what "value" really means for your customer and your product. This means using the three lenses of (and seven steps to) value resolution, finding Gemba,the SCR method of value representation, canvassing techniques, domain analysis, affinity diagramming, 5 "Whys," TRIZ and USIT, the Kano method, and value prioritization.
Part three focuses on "Producer Space, Late Lifecycle." This is the part of the pipeline that is the bane of most agile methods: the production design and implementation of the software. Again, each of the five Lean principles are used as a lens for examining some existing software-specific techniques including QFD, product-family development, domain engineering and MDA, waterfall and V models, requirements-based testing, Six Sigma as applied to software, and even various programming languages and tools.
Part four is dedicated to "Experiences of Lean Software Producers" (including an examination of Microsoft's "Build and Synchronize", XP, and Lean Software Development) and ends with a roadmap for "Creating Lean in Your Organization" using Kaizen improvement events. Once again, each of the five lean principles is used as a lens for examining each of these subjects.
The reading is more than a tad dry and academic at times. Many examples are drawn from the aerospace industry, and at times it seems there are more non-software examples and applications used than software-specific ones. Readers looking for practical How To advice and application specific to software will have a hard time here and will strongly prefer the Poppendiecks' books instead. Readers hungry to learn more about Lean theory, principles, terminology, and techniques will not be disappointed and may even that Middleton and Sutton do a better job of pleasing their palates and sating their hunger for "Lean."
About the reviewer
Brad Appleton is an enterprise SCM/ALM solution architect for a Fortune 100 technology company. Currently he helps projects and teams adopt and apply agile development and SCM practices. Brad also author's the Agile CM Environments blog, and is co-author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration, the "Agile SCM" column in CMCrossroads.com's CM Journal, and is a former section editor for The C++ Report. Since 1987, Brad has extensive experience using, developing, and supporting SCM environments for teams of all shapes and sizes. He holds an M.S. in Software Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Articles 
by Peter Middleton and James Sutton
