Eliminating Waste from Product Development
Waste is insidious. No matter what plateau of performance we are able to reach, waste creeps back into our work in often imperceptible ways. It’s not just that waste hurts our productivity and our profits, but it squeezes out good work, whether value-adding work or other worthwhile endeavors such as
Read MoreThe Value of Transparency in Product Development
We’ve already covered the value of both granularity and cadence. Along with that must come transparency, as, without it, all the information flow, connections, and ability to problem-solve has less value. First, transparency is a precursor to trust (or is trust required to have transparency? Well, it works both
Read MoreThe Value of Cadence in Product Development
Previously we explored the benefits of making the work more granular in product development. One thing that this enables is the ability to plan, manage, execute, and monitor the work at a higher cadence. Well, why would you want that? First, it allows us to treat the work as something
Read MoreThe Value of Building Granularity into Product Development
I suspect first we will have to define what is meant by granularity. This means that we plan, manage, execute our work at a more granular or detailed level. This applies to the work itself; it’s not just “execute test” but design the test, plan the test, execute the test,
Read MoreTrust in Product Development
What does trust have to do with product development? I have written quite a bit about product development, and also about trust (for links, see the bottom of this article). But what do they have to do with one another other than the fact that one is important and the
Read MoreOrganizational Design Solves Lean Challenges
Organizational design can be used to solve problems or enhance lean methods. I wrote on the relationship that HR can play with lean, and fitting in with organizational design, in Organizational Design and Role of HR in Lean. Certainly mental models are challenged within a lean journey and the organizational
Read MoreTest for Actual Use, not Intended Use
When you test, what attributes are you testing for? Most testing begins with design criteria. This is reasonable to include but not the right starting point. You must develop with the user in mind. You must test with the user in mind. You must test for actual use, not just
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