Large IT projects often suffer from costing and taking twice as long while delivering only half the planned functionality. Many solutions have been attempted to improve project management and speed up delivery, but the best approach is to apply Lean principles to reduce waste in the IT process. The document defines three types of waste - Muda (non-value adding activities), Muri (unreasonable workloads), and Mura (uneven workflows) - and explains how eliminating these can significantly improve quality and lead times rather than just focusing on cycle times. Merging sub-processes and removing waiting times are emphasized as highly effective ways to remove waste from IT projects.

1. Don’t Improve Work, Remove WasteBy Paul Brink, February 2010

2. 2 : 2 : ½Increasing quality andspeeding up IT projectsis a major challengeLarge IT projects often suffer from the 2:2:½-syndromeThe project takes twice as long

3. The project costs twice as much

4. The project delivers half of the functionalityhttp://geekandpoke.typepad.com/

5. Desperately looking for solutionsOrganizations are desperately looking for solutions to speed up their IT projects and increasing the quality of their outputMany solutions have been tried like:Improving project and quality management systems(e.g. Prince2, MSP and CMMi)Introducing new development methods(e.g. RAD and Extreme Programming)Implementing new development tooling(e.g. advanced IDE’s and BPM/BRE-tooling)Introducing new technologies(e.g. an ESB to enable a Service Oriented Architecture)

6. But look no further…There is a much better way

7. Lean your IT process

8. Definitions of timeLead Time = Cycle Time + Waiting TimeLead time = the time it takes to complete a process - from start to finishCycle time = the time a product is being worked onWaiting time = the time spent waiting around to be worked on

9. Improve waiting time, not cycle time80 to 90% of the lead time of administrative processes consists of waiting time.Focusing on improving waiting time is much more beneficial, than focusing on speeding up the actual work (cycle time).A way to reduce the lead time is to eliminate “waste”. Waste is any activity that consumes time, resources, or space but does not add any value to the product or service.Therefore…Don’t improve Work,Remove Waste

10. Muda, Muri and Mura無駄 無理 ムラWhile the elimination of waste may seem like a simple and clear subject it is noticeable that waste is often very conservatively identified. There are three broad types of waste:Muda, 無駄is a traditional general Japanese term for an activity that is wasteful and doesn't add value, is unproductive or un-useful in practiceMuri, 無理is a Japanese term for overburden, unreasonable or absurdityMura, 斑 or ムラis a traditional general Japanese term for unevenness, inconsistency in physical matter or human spiritual condition

11. 無駄Muda – Remove all types of wasteMuda identifies seven original types of waste. Many others have added the “waste of unused human talent” to the original seven wastes. The goal is to eliminate these wastes.TransportationInventoryMotionWaitingOverproductionOver ProcessingDefectsMoving products that is not actually required to perform the processing

12. All components, work in process and finished product not being processed

13. People or equipment moving or walking more than is required to perform the processing

14. Waiting for the next production step