pdca-cycle

PDCA Cycle: The Plan-do-check-act Cycle In A Nutshell

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.

Understanding the PDCA cycle

It was later popularised by fellow engineer and statistician W. Edwards Deming, widely attributed as the father of modern quality control.

Deming called it the Shewhart Cycle after his mentor and applied its principles to improving production processes during the Second World War. 

Today, the PDCA cycle is useful in any industry or setting in multiple contexts. These include:

  • Continuous improvement or the establishment of a new improvement project.
  • Developing or refining the design of a product, service, or process.
  • Clarifying a repetitive work process.
  • Data collection and analysis to verify or identify problems or root causes.
  • Change implementation.

The four components of the PDCA cycle

The PDCA cycle is an iterative, systematic, four-stage approach.

Following is a look at each stage:

Plan (P) – in the first stage, a plan is created from a recognized opportunity for improvement or change

Here, decision-makers need to clarify core problems by developing hypotheses for each.

They must also determine what resources they have and what they are lacking.

In other words, is the initiative feasible? Could it be scaled? Lastly, goals must be established – under what circumstances would the initiative be considered successful?

Do (D) – then, it is time to develop, implement, and test the solution

Unforeseen problems may occur during implementation, so it is useful to start small and in a controlled environment.

Before work is carried out, standardization of roles, responsibilities, and methods must also be established.

Check (C) – arguably the most important stage. Do the test results accept or reject the hypotheses?

Furthermore, do the tests support initiative or project objectives? Even successful tests may have problems or inefficiencies that offer room for improvement.

Consult a variety of relevant stakeholders to encourage diverse opinions.

Act (A) – in the final stage, a refined initiative is implemented and becomes the new baseline for any future PDCA cycle

Required resources and employee training should be quantified for organization-wide scaling.

Metrics that measure and track the performance of the initiative overtime should also be clarified. Failed initiatives move back to the first stage and are adjusted to prepare for a new cycle.

Advantages of the PDCA cycle

Versatility

As noted earlier, the PDCA cycle can be used wherever change or continuous improvement is required.

Applications are possible in change management, product development, project management, and quality improvement.

The Mayo Clinic used quality improvement to reduce wait times for candidates qualifying for cochlear implant surgery.

Using the cycle, the hospital and research center, it was able to reduce the median cycle time for testing from 7.3 to 3 hours.

Intuitiveness

The PDCA cycle is also relatively simple to understand and implement.

This reduces inefficiencies arising from misunderstandings or misuse and facilitates buy-in from key stakeholders.

Disadvantages of the PDCA Cycle

Requires commitment

The PDCA cycle is not something a business can perform once and then file away in a cabinet.

This continuous and cyclical process requires commitment which must be demonstrated from senior management to permeate down through the organization.

Exhaustive

The PDCA cycle is an effective but rather time-consuming process.

Some businesses will see its effectiveness as a major advantage, but it is nevertheless unsuitable for urgent problems, emergencies, or other initiatives requiring speedier resolution.

Reactive

The cycle is also somewhat reactive since it assumes everything starts with planning.

The basic philosophy of PDCA is planning and performing an activity first and responding to drawbacks later.

This approach of correcting (and not pre-empting) mistakes discourage innovation, dynamism, and creativity.

Ultimately, this makes it unsuitable for many modern business environments that demand proactive thinking.

PDCA cycle examples

Here are a few ways the PDCA cycle could be used in a real-world setting.

Health care establishment

Consider the example of a hospital that forms a team to improve patient care and outcomes.

Once the task ahead of them is properly understood, the team expects to use the PDCA cycle to improve patient feedback scores by 55%.

To achieve this in practice, the team identifies various contributing factors such as the hospital air filtration system, nurse training, visiting hours, and access to facilities.

Members decide that nurse training is the factor most likely to influence patient care in the hospital.

With this in mind, the PDCA team implements a revised nurse development program and tests its efficacy on new recruits.

In the months after implementation, the team routinely evaluates the impact of the new program by collecting patient feedback and comparing it to the stated improvement level of 55%.

At some point, the new influx of nurses and re-training of existing staff help the hospital achieve its objective.

Moving forward, the hospital plans to introduce the initiative to other departments with periodic reviews to ensure it remains successful.

Hiring agency

Now imagine a hiring agency whose primary function is to review job applications and schedule interviews for eligible candidates.

After six months in operation, the hiring agency realizes that candidates who are penciled in for an interview often find jobs with other providers beforehand.

Since the viability of the hiring agency relies on providing talent or labor for its clients, a team uses the PDCA cycle to make the process more efficient.

Understanding that reviewing applications takes longer than it should, the HR team proposes that a new administrator position be created.

This individual would be tasked with filtering applications or establishing an applicant tracking system (ATS).

Both options are tested with a team member playing the part of an HR administrator and ATS user, with the new system ultimately determined to be the more salient choice.

The hiring agency then monitors and refines this system to reduce wait times and ensure that candidates are more likely to choose one of its own clients as an employer. 

Bricks-and-mortar retail

In the final example, a retailer wants to open a new fashion store but is unsure of which product lines are best suited to its customers.

Using the PDCA cycle, the retailer decides to introduce three new products every month.

At the end of this month, they assesses sales data to determine which products sold best. This process is repeated for six months with the best performing lines incorporated into store-only promotions. 

Sales, customer preferences, and any other added benefits are quantified every month to ensure introduced products continue to be successful.

In the “Act” stage of the PDCA cycle, the retailer decides which product lines it will sell permanently and enters into talks with suppliers to establish an ongoing relationship.

Case Studies

  • Manufacturing and Process Improvement:
    • Reducing Defects: A manufacturing company uses PDCA to continually reduce defects in its production process.
    • Cycle Time Reduction: A factory implements PDCA to decrease cycle times for production steps.
  • Healthcare and Patient Care:
    • Patient Safety: A hospital employs PDCA to enhance patient safety by addressing medication errors.
    • Emergency Response: An ambulance service uses PDCA to improve response times and emergency protocols.
  • Education and Curriculum Development:
    • Curriculum Enhancement: A school applies PDCA to regularly review and update its curriculum to meet educational goals.
    • Teacher Training: An educational institution uses PDCA for ongoing teacher training and development programs.
  • Software Development:
    • Software Testing: A software development team employs PDCA to refine its testing processes for software quality improvement.
    • Bug Resolution: A tech company uses PDCA to prioritize and resolve software bugs efficiently.
  • Supply Chain Management:
    • Inventory Optimization: A logistics company applies PDCA to optimize inventory levels for cost reduction.
    • Supplier Performance: A manufacturer uses PDCA to assess and improve supplier performance.
  • Customer Service and Support:
    • Complaint Resolution: A customer support center utilizes PDCA to enhance complaint resolution processes.
    • Call Center Efficiency: A call center applies PDCA to improve call handling times and customer satisfaction.
  • Environmental Management:
    • Waste Reduction: A company uses PDCA to reduce waste generation and improve sustainability.
    • Energy Efficiency: An organization applies PDCA to optimize energy consumption in its facilities.
  • Project Management:
    • Project Planning: A project management team uses PDCA for effective project planning, including scope, timeline, and resource allocation.
    • Risk Mitigation: PDCA is employed to identify and mitigate risks throughout a project’s lifecycle.
  • Sales and Marketing:
    • Sales Strategy: A sales team utilizes PDCA to refine its sales strategies and tactics for increased revenue.
    • Marketing Campaigns: A marketing department applies PDCA to assess and enhance the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
  • Quality Management:
    • Quality Control: A quality control department uses PDCA to maintain and improve product quality.
    • ISO Certification: An organization employs PDCA to achieve and maintain ISO certification standards.
  • Restaurant and Food Service:
    • Menu Enhancement: A restaurant uses PDCA to regularly update its menu based on customer preferences and feedback.
    • Kitchen Efficiency: A fast-food chain applies PDCA to streamline kitchen operations for faster service.
  • Financial Management:
    • Expense Reduction: A financial team employs PDCA to identify and reduce unnecessary expenses.
    • Investment Strategy: An investment firm uses PDCA for ongoing portfolio optimization.
  • Safety and Workplace Health:
    • Accident Prevention: A construction company applies PDCA to prevent workplace accidents and improve safety protocols.
    • Health and Wellness Programs: An HR department uses PDCA to assess and refine employee wellness programs.
  • Retail and Inventory Management:
    • Stock Rotation: A retail store uses PDCA to manage inventory turnover and reduce stock wastage.
    • Store Layout: PDCA is employed to optimize store layouts for better customer flow and product visibility.
  • Public Policy and Governance:
    • Policy Evaluation: Government agencies use PDCA to assess the effectiveness of public policies and make necessary adjustments.
    • City Planning: PDCA is applied to urban planning to enhance city infrastructure and services.

Key takeaways

  • The PDCA cycle is an iterative, four-step problem-solving and continuous improvement methodology developed by Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. It was later refined by the father of modern quality control, W. Edwards Deming.
  • The PDCA cycle is an acronym of four distinct stages: plan, do, check, and act. Collectively, the four stages form a cyclical process where initiatives are planned, tested, evaluated, and refined if necessary.
  • The PDCA cycle is a versatile process useful in any scenario requiring change or improvement. However, it is an exhaustive process and requires a display of commitment from upper management. In some cases, it may also be reactive and discourage out-of-the-box thinking.

Key Highlights

  • Origins and Evolution: Proposed by Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s and popularized by W. Edwards Deming, the PDCA cycle is a continuous improvement method applicable across industries and contexts.
  • Versatility: PDCA is useful in various scenarios such as continuous improvement projects, product design, process refinement, data analysis, change implementation, and more.
  • Four Stages of PDCA:
    • Plan (P): Identify opportunities, set goals, allocate resources, and create a plan.
    • Do (D): Execute the plan on a small scale, implement changes, and gather data.
    • Check (C): Evaluate outcomes, compare results to goals, and analyze data.
    • Act (A): Implement refined changes, standardize processes, and prepare for the next cycle.
  • Benefits:
    • Adaptable and applicable to diverse situations.
    • Emphasizes empirical evidence and continuous improvement.
    • Encourages collaboration and engagement among stakeholders.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Requires commitment to continuous cycles.
    • Time-consuming and may not be suitable for urgent issues.
    • Can be somewhat reactive and limit proactive innovation.
  • Real-world Examples:
    • Healthcare: Improving patient care scores through nurse training.
    • Hiring Agency: Enhancing application review and candidate scheduling.
    • Retail: Optimizing product selection and sales in a fashion store.
  • Iterative Approach: The PDCA cycle is an iterative and cyclical process, making it suitable for ongoing improvement efforts and problem-solving.
  • Rooted in Quality Management: Developed within the quality management context, PDCA emphasizes evidence-based decision-making and continuous learning.
  • Simple and Understandable: The straightforward PDCA framework is easy to comprehend, implement, and communicate among stakeholders.
  • Commitment and Leadership: Successful application of PDCA requires commitment from senior management and alignment with the organization’s goals and culture.
  • Continuous Improvement: PDCA is aligned with the principles of continuous improvement, allowing organizations to refine processes and achieve better outcomes over time.
  • Applicability: PDCA can be used across industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, services, and technology, making it a versatile approach for improvement initiatives.

Connected Agile & Lean Frameworks

AIOps

aiops
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.

AgileSHIFT

AgileSHIFT
AgileSHIFT is a framework that prepares individuals for transformational change by creating a culture of agility.

Agile Methodology

agile-methodology
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

agile-program-management
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

agile-project-management
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

agile-modeling
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

agile-business-analysis
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

agile-leadership
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. 

Andon System

andon-system
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

bimodal-portfolio-management
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 Matrix

business-innovation
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 Model Innovation

business-model-innovation
Business model innovation 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.

Constructive Disruption

constructive-disruption
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.

Continuous Innovation

continuous-innovation
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.

Design Sprint

design-sprint
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.

Design Thinking

design-thinking
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

devops-engineering
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.

Dual Track Agile

dual-track-agile
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

extreme-programming
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

feature-driven-development
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.

Gemba Walk

gemba-walk
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

gist-planning
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.

ICE Scoring

ice-scoring-model
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.

Innovation Funnel

innovation-funnel
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.

Innovation Matrix

types-of-innovation
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).

Innovation Theory

innovation-theory
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.

Lean vs. Agile

lean-methodology-vs-agile
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.

Lean Startup

startup-company
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.

Minimum Viable Product

minimum-viable-product
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.

Leaner MVP

leaner-mvp
A leaner MVP is the evolution of the MPV approach. Where the market risk is validated before anything else

Kanban

kanban
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

jidoka
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.

PDCA Cycle

pdca-cycle
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.

Rational Unified Process

rational-unified-process
Rational unified process (RUP) is an agile software development methodology that breaks the project life cycle down into four distinct phases.

Rapid Application Development

rapid-application-development
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 Analysis

retrospective-analysis
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

scaled-agile-lean-development
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.

SMED

smed
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.

Spotify Model

spotify-model
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.

Test-Driven Development

test-driven-development
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

timeboxing
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

what-is-scrum
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

scrumban
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

scrum-anti-patterns
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-at-scale
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

six-sigma
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

stretch-objectives
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.

Toyota Production System

toyota-production-system
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.

Total Quality Management

total-quality-management
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.

Waterfall

waterfall-model
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. 

Read Also: Continuous InnovationAgile MethodologyLean StartupBusiness Model InnovationProject Management.

Read Next: Agile Methodology, Lean Methodology, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma.

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