More content in less time

More Content
in Less Time

Applying the secrets of Lean Thinking and
Agile Programming to the creation of content.

Mark Baker, Analecta Communications Inc.

Productivity is key
• Product design
• Manufacturing
• Software
development
• Content
development

January 29, 2013 © Analecta Communications Inc. 20052

Lean manufacturing
• Toyota produces a
new vehicle in one
year compared to two
to three years for
North American
competition.
• Toyota produces
better cars at
competitive prices yet
makes more money


Agile programming
• State of Florida Statewide
Automated Child Welfare
Information System
– Started 1990, estimated $32M, delivery
1998
– As of 2002, spent $170M, estimated
$230M, delivery 2005
• State of Minnesota Statewide
Automated Child Welfare
Information System
– Started 1999, finished 2000, cost 1.1
million.


Lean thinking
• Toyota Production System
(TPS)
• “Lean Thinking” study of TPS
– James P. Womack
– Daniel T. Jones
– Studied Toyota and other
companies
– Derived set of principles dubbed
“Lean Thinking”


Five principles
• Specify value: waste is any process that does not add value to the
customer. In order to identify waste, you must first specify what is of
value.
• Identify the value stream: trace how value is added to a product at
each stage of the productive process. Waste is all the steps in the
process that do not add value.
• Flow: The productive process should flow without interruption,
without waiting, and without unnecessary movement.
• Pull: Nothing should be produced until it is needed by the next step
in the process.
• Perfection: An organization must be committed to building and
maintaining a culture in which every employee is dedicated to
reducing waste and improving quality.

Womack and Jones, pp 16-26.


Batch and Queue Manufacturing


Manufacturing Flow


Batch and Queue Content


Documentation beefs
• The spec keeps
changing
• The developers won’t
review the docs
– Carrot approach
– Stick approach


Content Flow


Promotes learning
• Errors are discovered
sooner
• Errors in content
result from defects in
knowledge
• Fix the defects in your
knowledge so you
can produce better
content faster


More efficient
• Better utilization of
resources
• No crunch at the end
of the project
• Errors detected
sooner means better
understanding, which
means fewer errors
are made


Catches more errors
• Reviewers can focus
on one issue at a time
• Catch developers
while details fresh in
their minds


Improves completeness
• Reviewer reading a
book can’t see the
trees for the forest
• Focusing on one
issue leads
developers to ask
where related issues
are discussed


Builds awareness
• When work flows,
workers can see how
their work affects the rest
of the process.
• With incremental review,
developers can see how
their work affects
documentation
• More likely to inform
writers of design changes


Waterfall design process
Requirements
System design
Analysis
Program Design
Coding
Testing
Delivery


Waterfall doesn’t work
• Keep trying to “get it
right the first time”
• But we never do!
• Insanity: doing the
same thing over and
over and expecting
different results
Einstein


Why waterfall fails
• Design generates
information
– Go from not knowing how
to knowing how
– At the start you have little
information
– At the end you have a lot
of information
• Decisions fixed at the
beginning are based on
very little information


Information theory
• Events that are less
probable contain more
information.
• The closer our first-pass
success rate is to 100
percent, the lower the
information generation
rate. This means that if we
succeed at doing things
right the first time we will
have driven all information
generation out of our
design process.
Reinertsen, Managing the Design
Factory, pp 69,79


Embrace change
• Information will
increase
• Designs will
change
• Content
requirements will
change
• Content will
change


Agile software development
• Iterative
development
• User stories
• Frequent deliveries
to customer
• Keep your options
open
• Do the simplest
thing that works
• Refactor constantly


Agile content development
• Iterative
development
• User stories
• Frequent deliveries
to customer
• Keep your options
open
• Do the simplest thing
that works
• Refactor constantly


Iterative development
• Develop content in
small chunks
• Use incremental
review
• Harmonize content
development with
product development


User stories
• Support user tasks
• Use personas
• Minimalism
– Deliver only content
that is known to be of
value to customers


Frequent deliveries to customer
• Publish continuously
• Make sure content is
published to all alpha and
beta tests, internal and
external
• Mark pages as un-
reviewed with appropriate
cautions, but make sure
they are read early and
often
• Provide a feedback
mechanism


Keep your options open
• Learn first, then
write
• Start as late as
possible
– More information is
available later
• Isolate volatility
– Media
– Subject matter


Do the simplest thing that works
• Don’t try to guess
what future needs will
be.
– You will guess wrong
and waste effort
• Do the simplest thing
that works today
• The simplest solution
will be easiest to
change when future
needs arise


Refactor constantly
• Maintain
simplicity by
refactoring to
eliminate
complexity and
redundancy


Evenness
• You don’t win the
Tour de France by
trying to win all stages
• Different techniques
optimize different
parts of the process
• Strive for evenness
• Optimize the whole
rather than the parts


Reading List
• “More Content in Less Time”,
Mark Baker, Best Practices,
forthcoming.
• Lean Thinking, James P.
Womack and Daniel T. Jones,
The Free Press, 2003.
• The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K.
Liker, McGraw Hill, 2004.
• Managing the Design Factory,
Donald G. Reinertsen, The
Free Press, 1997.
• Lean Software Development,
Mary Poppendieck and Tom
Poppendieck, Addison
Wesley, 2003.

Contact information
• Mark Baker
• Analecta
Communications Inc.
• www.analecta.com
• mbaker@analecta.com
• 613-731-2555


More content in less time

More Related Content

Similar to More content in less time

More from Mark Baker

Recently uploaded

More content in less time