Kaizen is a process developed by the auto industry. Its roots are found in the Toyota Production System, which was heavily influenced by Henry Ford’s assembly line system. The word Kaizen is a hybridization of two Japanese words, “kai” meaning “change” and “zen” meaning “good.” Two of the basic tenets of Kaizen involve making small incremental changes – or 1% improvement every day – and the full participation of everyone.
Table of Contents
Aspect
Explanation
Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)
Kaizen is a Japanese term that translates to “change for better” or “continuous improvement.” It’s a philosophy and methodology aimed at achieving incremental and continuous improvements in processes, products, or services over time. Kaizen originated in Japan and is widely used in lean manufacturing and other industries.
Key Principles
– Continuous Improvement: Kaizen emphasizes that improvement should be a daily, ongoing activity involving everyone in the organization. – Elimination of Waste: Kaizen aims to reduce waste in processes and operations, including unnecessary steps, delays, and inefficiencies. – Standardization: Creating and maintaining standardized processes is vital for monitoring and improving performance. – Employee Involvement: Kaizen encourages employee involvement at all levels, as they are closest to the processes and often have valuable insights for improvement.
Tools and Techniques
Kaizen uses various tools and techniques such as PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycles, Gemba walks (going to the actual workplace to observe and understand processes), 5 Whys analysis (root cause analysis), Kanban (visual management), and value stream mapping to identify, analyze, and solve problems. These tools aid in making data-driven decisions.
Benefits
Kaizen offers several benefits, including increased efficiency, productivity, and quality. It reduces costs, minimizes errors, and enhances employee engagement. Continuous improvement also enables organizations to respond quickly to changing customer needs and stay competitive.
Culture of Kaizen
To successfully implement Kaizen, organizations need to foster a culture of continuous improvement. This involves training employees in Kaizen principles, encouraging open communication for sharing ideas, and celebrating small wins and improvements. A culture of Kaizen empowers employees to take ownership of improvement initiatives.
Long-Term Perspective
Kaizen is not a one-time event; it’s a long-term commitment to improvement. Organizations must be prepared for the investment of time and resources required. The results may not be immediate, but the cumulative effect of continuous small improvements can be significant over time.
Kaizen in Different Industries
While Kaizen has its roots in manufacturing, it has been adapted and applied in various industries, including healthcare, software development, and service sectors. The principles of continuous improvement can be tailored to suit the unique needs of different organizations.
Key Take
Kaizen is a proven approach to achieving excellence through continuous improvement. It promotes a culture of problem-solving, empowerment, and efficiency within organizations. By focusing on incremental enhancements, Kaizen helps organizations evolve and adapt
WHY DOES KAIZEN MATTER TO YOUR BUSINESS?
Building a business is and will always remain something of a hit or miss process.
While there are obviously many entrepreneurs that have successfully ushered startups into fully flourishing companies, no two have probably ever done it exactly the same way.
This doesn’t mean that there aren’t certain underlying principles that can help guide the process, nor some fairly common obstacles to building most businesses.
They have invested their time and learned all there is about their business segment before taking the leap of faith. To some degree, every business will face competition, financial challenges, skill shortages and opposition to change.
One methodology that can help you address and overcome many of these issues is Kaizen.
Toyota decided to implement many of Ford’s techniques, but a visit by one of the lead engineers to the local Piggly-Wiggly gave him an inspiration that significantly advanced the basics of Ford’s system.
Kaizen didn’t gain international popularity, however, until the 1980s when a Japanese organizational theorist and management consultant named Masaaki Imai founded the Kaizen Institute Consulting Group to help introduce the concepts of Kaizen to western businesses.
WHAT IS KAIZEN?
The word Kaizen itself is a hybridization of two Japanese words, kai meaning change and zen meaning good.
As we know, not all change is a good change, and not all change ends up having positive results.
Two of the basic tenets of Kaizen involve making small incremental changes – or a 1% improvement every day – and the full participation of everyone.
Kaizen methodologies allow you to test, tweak, and evaluate consistently while you are making changes to ensure you are actually heading in the right direction. They also help ensure your entire business moves forward as one smooth, seamless unit.
PRINCIPLES OF KAIZEN
Here are the five fundamental principles of Kaizen and how you can use them to grow your business.
1. Small incremental changes
While 1% improvement may not seem like much, over time, it adds up. Imagine putting $1 into savings every day. You would barely notice $1 missing every day, but by the end of the year, you would have $365 saved up.
If you take that $365 and invest it at even a 2% interest rate and then continue to invest another $30 per month, then in just 5 years your $1 a day investment can produce nearly $3,000, thanks to compounded interest. Small changes produce compounded results, the same way interest compounds on your investments.
Every year, millions of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions, and yet only a small fraction of them ever succeed. This may be largely due to setting their initial goals too high and trying to achieve them too quickly.
It’s one thing to set a goal of losing 50 pounds in 6 months if you have already been working on getting more exercise and changing your diet.
It’s a whole other issue if you are an avowed couch potato who hasn’t cooked a healthy meal or eaten a vegetable in years. On the other hand, even the most avowed couch potato can make a 1% increase in their activity each day or a 1% improvement in their diet.
Kaizen doesn’t focus on the results; it focuses on the process. But by investing in the process every day, there is no way not to experience significant results.
For your business, take a long, hard look at your finances, and eliminate expenses that you don’t need. Just make sure to do this gradually.
2. Employees are active participants and provide ideas and solutions
Imagine you need to increase production by 15% over the next 6 months. You could call in some type of expert to analyze your operations and make recommendations.
You could then inform your employees of the changes you are making and the results you expect them to produce as a result.
The likelihood is that at best you are going to get a lot of pushback and at worst may have an outright revolt on your hands.
Conversely, however, you could approach your employees and ask them how they felt production could be improved.
The likelihood is, that they have a very good idea of what is slowing production down in the first place.
By asking the people that are actually boots on the ground, you are far more likely to get a far more accurate picture of where the problems are, versus calling in an outside set of eyes.
3. Accountability and ownership of new processes/changes
Once you understand where your employees feel the problems are, you can problem-solve solutions together. By involving your employees in coming up with solutions, they literally become partners in the solutions.
For instance, let’s say they identify a step in their process that is a huge time-waster, such as getting approval for something from a manager before proceeding.
If you investigate and discover that it is, in fact, a wasted or problematic step, then you can troubleshoot ways of speeding up the process.
From there, you can work with employees to develop new goals based on the newer, more streamlined process and a system of accountability to ensure they are progressing appropriately.
The likelihood is, your employees will participate far more readily if they helped troubleshoot and devise a solution in the first place.
Even more importantly, they will begin to hold each other accountable, relieving you of the burden of doing so.
4. Feedback, dialogue, open communication
Even with employee buy-in and tweaks to the system, it doesn’t automatically guarantee that new goals will be met. Sometimes, solving one problem simply creates another.
This is where constant dialogue, feedback, and communication is important.
For instance, bypassing manager approval at one step might actually lead to a greater number of mistakes being made or create an influx of additional work somewhere down the line.
By keeping lines of communication open and seeking consistent feedback, you can identify these problems early on and take corrective action before they become a major log-jam.
When there is a problem, you can solve it far more effectively by working together to solve it rather than wasting time trying to figure out who is to blame.
The only way employees will feel safe enough to bring problems to the attention of management is if they feel confident that neither themselves nor their colleagues will be blamed for the problems nor “punished” for them in any way.
5. Active monitoring and measuring of changes – positive or negative impact
The one thing Kaizen is not is a “set it and forget it” type of system.
While 1% daily improvements are entirely achievable, the whole point of making small, incremental changes is that they allow you to make adjustments and course corrections as you go.
Think of it as the difference between making course adjustments when moving 5 mph versus making course corrections doing 70 mph. Just because you are only moving 5 mph doesn’t mean you don’t need to be constantly vigilant.
The point of moving at 5 mph rather than 70 is to give you ample time to discuss and implement solutions when you start to realize you are getting off course.
One of the biggest reasons many startups fail is that they simply try and grow too fast. Small businesses, in particular, can benefit from Kaizen because it will help slow their growth to a more manageable pace.
In addition, incorporating Kaizen principles into your business when it is small, will help ensure they become a part of your business development. That way, they will still be there when your business is grown when you might just need them the most.
Kaizen examples
Below we will discuss two real-world examples of kaizen at work.
Herman Miller
American furniture manufacturer Herman Miller has a core focus on contemporary interior furnishings, healthcare environment solutions, and related services and tech.
During the 1990s, the company was looking to reduce costs to remain competitive at a time when Toyota wanted to establish a presence in the United States.
Sensing an opportunity, EVP of operations Ken Goodson convinced Toyota that Herman Miller should be one of the first American companies to incorporate Japanese manufacturing principles.
Toyota sent representative Hajime Oba – a kaizen genius whose reputation in Japan preceded him – who immediately set about introducing small, incremental improvements across the company’s manufacturing processes.
One of these improvements included moving a bin of washers so that an employee did not have to reach more than six inches.
When the bin was placed at the correct height, Herman Miller saved a fraction of a second that had been spent by the employee having to bend over.
Herman Miller employees now initiate an average of 1,200 PDCA cycles each year, with this culture of improvement resulting in impressive process efficiencies.
The Aeron office chair, for example, takes only 17 seconds to construct and box. Ten years ago, this process required 82 seconds.
Lockheed Martin
Aerospace company Lockheed Martin is another early proponent of kaizen principles.
Back in 1991, the production standards of the F-16 had dropped considerably with frequent quality control issues and late deliveries.
Delivery times for its military aircraft were also reduced by almost 50% from 42 months to 21.5 months.
Lockheed Martin was also constrained by government initiatives that needed to minimize costs for new weapons systems.
The company won an important contract for a new aircraft in 2001 by adopting a complete lean supply chain approach across program management, design, engineering, suppliers, and production.
Based on kaizen ideas, the company developed its own six-point system:
Transparency – every employee must be able to walk into a workspace and visually understand how it works.
Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) – even the best designs are worthless if they cannot be produced cost-effectively.
Process focus – lean manufacturing disproves the assumption that optimization of each task has the same effect on the entire process.
Just in Time (JIT) system – Lockheed’s plants will only produce what is needed when it is needed and in the required quantity.
Process control – this means ensuring the process is correct the first time to avoid inefficiencies later.
Standard work – task standardization ensures the work is done properly and within the desired timeframe.
Lockheed’s interest in kaizen continues to this day with multiple kaizen events held at its factories in Florida and Alabama. Kaizen has also been more recently used during the development of the company’s Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) system.
Lastly and in recognition of its good work, the company won the Shingo Prize for Excellence in 2000 for its meticulous application of kaizen principles to lean manufacturing.
Case Studies
Apple Inc.: Apple is known for its regular software updates that include bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements. These incremental changes are based on user feedback and help maintain the reliability and user satisfaction of Apple products.
Google: Google encourages its employees to spend 20% of their work time on personal projects. This practice fosters innovation within the company, allowing employees to experiment with new ideas and features. Many of Google’s successful products, like Gmail and Google Maps, originated from these personal projects.
Amazon: Amazon is dedicated to optimizing its operations continually. The company conducts frequent A/B tests on its website, altering page layouts, button placements, and more to enhance the user experience and drive more sales. Additionally, Amazon constantly refines its delivery and logistics processes to improve efficiency.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook): Facebook (now Meta Platforms, Inc.) follows a continuous improvement approach by iteratively updating its social media platform. They regularly roll out new features, design changes, and privacy enhancements based on user feedback and evolving trends.
Netflix: Netflix relies on data analytics and user behavior analysis to make small but significant changes. Their algorithms for content recommendations, user interface design, and streaming quality are continuously optimized to keep subscribers engaged and satisfied.
Tesla: Tesla leverages over-the-air software updates to improve the performance, safety, and user experience of its electric vehicles. These updates can include enhancements to autopilot functionality, battery efficiency, and entertainment features.
Microsoft: Microsoft encourages cross-team collaboration to create seamless user experiences across its product suite. Frequent updates to software like Windows and Office are designed to address bugs, introduce new features, and enhance overall usability.
Adobe: Adobe’s Creative Cloud software suite undergoes regular updates that introduce new tools and features for creative professionals. These updates are driven by customer feedback and evolving industry standards, ensuring Adobe’s software remains competitive.
Airbnb: Airbnb uses A/B testing extensively to optimize its platform for both hosts and guests. By making small changes to listing displays, search algorithms, and communication features, Airbnb enhances user engagement and trust in its platform.
Spotify: Spotify continuously refines its music recommendation algorithms to offer users more personalized playlists and content. They analyze listening habits, user-generated playlists, and feedback to fine-tune music curation, leading to higher user satisfaction and longer retention.
IBM: IBM’s Continuous Engineering approach emphasizes ongoing improvement in product development. They use data analytics and customer feedback to refine software and hardware solutions continually. This helps IBM stay competitive in various industries, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Twitter: Twitter frequently updates its platform to enhance user engagement and combat issues like spam and misinformation. These incremental changes include interface updates, algorithm improvements, and new features like Twitter Spaces for audio conversations.
Uber: Uber uses Kaizen principles to optimize its ride-hailing platform. They make small adjustments to algorithms for pricing, routing, and matching drivers and riders to improve the overall experience and maintain driver-partner satisfaction.
Salesforce: Salesforce, a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) software, regularly releases updates to its platform. These updates address user needs, industry trends, and technological advancements, ensuring Salesforce remains a valuable tool for businesses worldwide.
Slack: Slack focuses on user-centric improvements by rolling out frequent updates to its team collaboration platform. They listen to user feedback and iterate on features related to communication, file sharing, and integrations to enhance productivity.
Zoom Video Communications: Zoom became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its video conferencing platform. Zoom consistently improves its platform’s security, performance, and user experience based on feedback and changing work patterns.
Shopify: Shopify’s e-commerce platform empowers businesses to sell online. They continuously introduce new features, payment options, and integrations to help online retailers adapt to evolving market demands and technology trends.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn uses Kaizen principles to refine its professional networking platform. They make incremental updates to features such as job listings, networking recommendations, and content sharing to enhance user engagement and career development.
GitHub: GitHub, a platform for version control and collaborative software development, encourages developers to contribute to open-source projects. This collaborative approach results in continuous code improvements and bug fixes across millions of repositories.
Atlassian: Atlassian, known for software tools like Jira and Confluence, regularly releases updates based on customer feedback. These updates aim to improve team collaboration, project management, and software development processes.
Key Highlights of Kaizen in Business:
Origin: Kaizen is a process developed from the Toyota Production System, influenced by Henry Ford’s assembly line system.
Meaning: Kaizen is a combination of two Japanese words, “kai” (change) and “zen” (good).
Principles: The key tenets of Kaizen involve making small incremental changes (1% improvement every day) and encouraging the full participation of everyone in the organization.
Small Incremental Changes: Making small daily improvements leads to compounded results over time, similar to compound interest.
Employee Involvement: Employees actively participate, provide ideas, and contribute to problem-solving and decision-making.
Accountability and Ownership: Involving employees in the problem-solving process leads to a sense of ownership and responsibility for implementing changes.
Feedback and Open Communication: Continuous dialogue and feedback are essential to identify and address problems promptly.
Active Monitoring: Kaizen requires constant vigilance and adjustments to ensure the organization stays on course.
Real-World Examples: Companies like Herman Miller and Lockheed Martin have successfully implemented Kaizen principles to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve better results.
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.
Agile started as a lightweight development method compared to heavyweight software development, which is the core paradigm of the previous decades of software development. By 2001 the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born as a set of principles that defined the new paradigm for software development as a continuous iteration. This would also influence the way of doing business.
Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.
Agile project management (APM) is a strategy that breaks large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. In the APM methodology, each project is completed in small sections – often referred to as iterations. Each iteration is completed according to its project life cycle, beginning with the initial design and progressing to testing and then quality assurance.
Agile Modeling (AM) is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems. Agile Modeling is critical to the rapid and continuous delivery of software. It is a collection of values, principles, and practices that guide effective, lightweight software modeling.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles.
The andon system alerts managerial, maintenance, or other staff of a production process problem. The alert itself can be activated manually with a button or pull cord, but it can also be activated automatically by production equipment. Most Andon boards utilize three colored lights similar to a traffic signal: green (no errors), yellow or amber (problem identified, or quality check needed), and red (production stopped due to unidentified issue).
Bimodal Portfolio Management (BimodalPfM) helps an organization manage both agile and traditional portfolios concurrently. Bimodal Portfolio Management – sometimes referred to as bimodal development – was coined by research and advisory company Gartner. The firm argued that many agile organizations still needed to run some aspects of their operations using traditional delivery models.
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole business model. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.
Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable business model. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.
A design sprint is a proven five-day process where critical business questions are answered through speedy design and prototyping, focusing on the end-user. A design sprint starts with a weekly challenge that should finish with a prototype, test at the end, and therefore a lesson learned to be iterated.
Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, defined design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Therefore, desirability, feasibility, and viability are balanced to solve critical problems.
DevOps refers to a series of practices performed to perform automated software development processes. It is a conjugation of the term “development” and “operations” to emphasize how functions integrate across IT teams. DevOps strategies promote seamless building, testing, and deployment of products. It aims to bridge a gap between development and operations teams to streamline the development altogether.
Product discovery is a critical part of agile methodologies, as its aim is to ensure that products customers love are built. Product discovery involves learning through a raft of methods, including design thinking, lean start-up, and A/B testing to name a few. Dual Track Agile is an agile methodology containing two separate tracks: the “discovery” track and the “delivery” track.
eXtreme Programming was developed in the late 1990s by Ken Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham. During this time, the trio was working on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3) to help manage the company payroll system. eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology. It is designed to improve software quality and the ability of software to adapt to changing customer needs.
Feature-Driven Development is a pragmatic software process that is client and architecture-centric. Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an agile software development model that organizes workflow according to which features need to be developed next.
A Gemba Walk is a fundamental component of lean management. It describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place”, or in business, “the place where value is created”. The Gemba Walk as a concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing. Ohno wanted to encourage management executives to leave their offices and see where the real work happened. This, he hoped, would build relationships between employees with vastly different skillsets and build trust.
GIST Planning is a relatively easy and lightweight agile approach to product planning that favors autonomous working. GIST Planning is a lean and agile methodology that was created by former Google product manager Itamar Gilad. GIST Planning seeks to address this situation by creating lightweight plans that are responsive and adaptable to change. GIST Planning also improves team velocity, autonomy, and alignment by reducing the pervasive influence of management. It consists of four blocks: goals, ideas, step-projects, and tasks.
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile methodology that prioritizes features using data according to three components: impact, confidence, and ease of implementation. The ICE Scoring Model was initially created by author and growth expert Sean Ellis to help companies expand. Today, the model is broadly used to prioritize projects, features, initiatives, and rollouts. It is ideally suited for early-stage product development where there is a continuous flow of ideas and momentum must be maintained.
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.
According to how well defined is the problem and how well defined the domain, we have four main types of innovations: basic research (problem and domain or not well defined); breakthrough innovation (domain is not well defined, the problem is well defined); sustaining innovation (both problem and domain are well defined); and disruptive innovation (domain is well defined, the problem is not well defined).
The innovation loop is a methodology/framework derived from the Bell Labs, which produced innovation at scale throughout the 20th century. They learned how to leverage a hybrid innovation management model based on science, invention, engineering, and manufacturing at scale. By leveraging individual genius, creativity, and small/large groups.
The Agile methodology has been primarily thought of for software development (and other business disciplines have also adopted it). Lean thinking is a process improvement technique where teams prioritize the value streams to improve it continuously. Both methodologies look at the customer as the key driver to improvement and waste reduction. Both methodologies look at improvement as something continuous.
A startup company is a high-tech business that tries to build a scalable business model in tech-driven industries. A startup company usually follows a lean methodology, where continuous innovation, driven by built-in viral loops is the rule. Thus, driving growth and building network effects as a consequence of this strategy.
As pointed out by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort through a cycle of build, measure, learn; that is the foundation of the lean startup methodology.
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework first developed by Toyota in the late 1940s. The Kanban framework is a means of visualizing work as it moves through identifying potential bottlenecks. It does that through a process called just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to optimize engineering processes, speed up manufacturing products, and improve the go-to-market strategy.
Jidoka was first used in 1896 by Sakichi Toyoda, who invented a textile loom that would stop automatically when it encountered a defective thread. Jidoka is a Japanese term used in lean manufacturing. The term describes a scenario where machines cease operating without human intervention when a problem or defect is discovered.
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.
RAD was first introduced by author and consultant James Martin in 1991. Martin recognized and then took advantage of the endless malleability of software in designing development models. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a methodology focusing on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle. These are the five stages of a retrospective analysis for effective Agile project management: set the stage, gather the data, generate insights, decide on the next steps, and close the retrospective.
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.
The SMED (single minute exchange of die) method is a lean production framework to reduce waste and increase production efficiency. The SMED method is a framework for reducing the time associated with completing an equipment changeover.
The Spotify Model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture communication, accountability, and quality. The Spotify model was first recognized in 2012 after Henrik Kniberg, and Anders Ivarsson released a white paper detailing how streaming company Spotify approached agility. Therefore, the Spotify model represents an evolution of agile.
As the name suggests, TDD is a test-driven technique for delivering high-quality software rapidly and sustainably. It is an iterative approach based on the idea that a failing test should be written before any code for a feature or function is written. Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an approach to software development that relies on very short development cycles.
Timeboxing is a simple yet powerful time-management technique for improving productivity. Timeboxing describes the process of proactively scheduling a block of time to spend on a task in the future. It was first described by author James Martin in a book about agile software development.
Scrum is a methodology co-created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.
Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.
Scrum anti-patterns describe any attractive, easy-to-implement solution that ultimately makes a problem worse. Therefore, these are the practice not to follow to prevent issues from emerging. Some classic examples of scrum anti-patterns comprise absent product owners, pre-assigned tickets (making individuals work in isolation), and discounting retrospectives (where review meetings are not useful to really make improvements).
Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.
Stretch objectives describe any task an agile team plans to complete without expressly committing to do so. Teams incorporate stretch objectives during a Sprint or Program Increment (PI) as part of Scaled Agile. They are used when the agile team is unsure of its capacity to attain an objective. Therefore, stretch objectives are instead outcomes that, while extremely desirable, are not the difference between the success or failure of each sprint.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework.
Jen McKenzie is an independent business consultant from New York. She writes extensively on business, education and human resource topics. When Jennifer is not at her desk working, you can usually find her hiking or taking a road trip with her two dogs. You can reach Jennifer @jenmcknzie
