Mary Poppendieck - The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions

ePUB is an open, industry-standard format for eBooks. However, support of ePUB and its many features varies across reading devices and applications. Use your device or app settings to customize the presentation to your liking. Settings that you can customize often include font, font size, single or double column, landscape or portrait mode, and figures that you can click or tap to enlarge. For additional information about the settings and features on your reading device or app, visit the device manufacturers Web site.

Many titles include programming code or configuration examples. To optimize the presentation of these elements, view the eBook in single-column, landscape mode and adjust the font size to the smallest setting. In addition to presenting code and configurations in the reflowable text format, we have included images of the code that mimic the presentation found in the print book; therefore, where the reflowable format may compromise the presentation of the code listing, you will see a Click here to view code image link. Click the link to view the print-fidelity code image. To return to the previous page viewed, click the Back button on your device or app.

Ask the Right Questions

Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck

Upper Saddle River, NJ Boston Indianapolis San Francisco
New York Toronto Montreal London Munich Paris Madrid
Capetown Sydney Tokyo Singapore Mexico City

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals.

The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein.

The publisher offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales, which may include electronic versions and/or custom covers and content particular to your business, training goals, marketing focus, and branding interests. For more information, please contact:

U.S. Corporate and Government Sales
(800) 382-3419

For sales outside the United States, please contact:

International Sales

Visit us on the Web: informit.com/aw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Poppendieck, Mary (Mary B.)
The lean mindset : ask the right questions/Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-321-89690-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Organizational effectiveness. 2. Management. 3. Cost control.
4. Lean manufacturing. I. Poppendieck, Thomas David. II. Title.
HD58.9.P67 2014
658.4013--dc23 2013030856

Copyright 2014 Poppendieck.LLC

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to (201) 236-3290.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-89690-2
ISBN-10: 0-321-89690-4

Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at Courier in Westford,
Massachusetts.
First printing, September 2013

Several years ago, Henrik Kniberg invited us to stop in Stockholm and give a talk. He met us at the train station, helped roll our suitcases to a nearby hotel, and invited us to the small office he shared with other consultants at Crisp. There, he presented us with a book he had recently finished, Scrum and XP from the Trenches, the story of one of his early forays into agile software development. We were impressed.

Henrik has invited us back to Stockholm many times, where we partnered in offering Deep Lean events, Leading Lean workshops, and many community talks. We have joined Henrik and his family for fishing in the Stockholm archipelago, canoeing on Lake Mlaren, and many barbecues at their lakefront home. We even met in New Zealand when both of our families decided to spend Christmas there.

Henriks clear thinking and innovative applications of lean can be found in his book Lean from the Trenches and in his blog., of how Spotify develops products.

Thank you, Henrik! Your contributions have truly enhanced this book.

.

We are very grateful to Patrick Elwer and Tim Gallagher from Intels Product Development Engineering group in Portland, Oregon, who helped us tell the story of their continuing journey to keep up with Moores Law. Many thanks to Mats Lindn, Hendrik Esser, Ulf Hansson, and Micael Caiman for sharing the Ericsson approach to meeting serious market challenges in the telecommunications industry. We are deeply indebted to Eric Presley, CTO of CareerBuilder, who shared his companys story. Many thanks to FINN.no CEO Christian Printzell Halvorsen, who gave us a rare glimpse of a company dealing successfully with disruptive technologies. Last, but not least, we thank Joe Justice for telling us the WIKISPEED story and sharing his philosophy for working with volunteers.

One of the things that make a book great is the time and effort of reviewers who wade through early drafts and make suggestions for improvement. A special thanks to members of the Agile Austin Book Club for reviewing the book and to Jay Paulson for consolidating the groups feedback. We also thank Michael Abugow, Gojko Adzic, Christian Beck, Samuel Crescncio, Mike Dwyer, James Grenning, Jez Humble, Carsten Ruseng Jakobsen, Tomo Lennox, Julien Mazloum, Matthew McCullough, Lee Nicholls, Linda Rising, and Bas Vodde for their insightful comments.

Finally, we truly appreciate the guidance of our editor, Greg Doench, and the contributions made by Elizabeth Ryan, production editor; Barbara Wood, copy editor; and Dick Evans, indexer. Thanks again to the great team from Addison-Wesley!

Mary and Tom Poppendieck

July 2013