Lean development, agile development

A great article, for all you methodology fans, is a cover story in today’s SD Times: “It’s Lean, But Is It Agile?,” written by Jennifer deJong.

As Jenn writes,

Are lean software development and agile software development—of which XP is the most prominent example— one and the same? They both are iterative approaches to developing software, and in some respects lean and agile are closely aligned, said Beck. Several other agile experts interviewed by SD Times agreed.

But when asked whether lean software development is an agile methodology, alongside the others that fall under the agile umbrella—Adaptive, Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development Method, Feature-Driven Development, Scrum and XP—only one of the experts said yes.

the story continues,

Forrester analyst Carey Schwaber agreed that lean software development and agile methodologies are two complementary schools of thought. “There are quite a lot of people out there using the terms ‘agile’ and ‘lean’ interchangeably, but they are not the same thing,” she said. She has also seen agile consultants attempt to differentiate themselves by citing expertise in lean. “But often that expertise isn’t much to speak of.”

It’s my experience that many developers are unfamiliar with the concept of lean software development. Take a few minutes, read Jenn’s, tell me what you think about lean software development. If you find the concept intriguing, check out “Implementing Lean Software Development,” by Mary and Tom Poppendieck.