Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analyzing the Drivers of the Combination of Lean and Agile in Software Development Companies

  • Conference paper
Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (PROFES 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7343))

Abstract

Agile software development has been widely accepted by the software industry as a means for improving flexibility and innovation capabilities. More recently, lean thinking has emerged as a new paradigm to make software development more efficient. In practice, quite often lean is seen as an evolution of agile when agile is not considered to be enough. However, how they can relate to each other is not clearly understood. This paper presents the results of a survey study conducted among 408 software practitioners of 200 software intensive companies in Finland, which is one of the early adopters of lean for software development. The results highlight the interest of software professionals in adopting a combination of agile and lean paradigms, to achieve both flexibility and economical efficiency. Unlike manufacturing, the transformation is being actually conducted as a single trip where the borders between agile and lean are not clearly defined.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B., Martin, R.C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K., Sutherland, J., Thomas, D.: Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001), http://www.agilemanifesto.org/

  2. West, D., Grant, T.: Agile Development: Mainstream Adoption Has Changed Agility. Trends in Real-World Adoption of Agile Methods. Forrester Research (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T., Roos, D.: The Machine that Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production. HarperPerennial, New York (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Vilkki, K.: When Agile Is Not Enough. In: Abrahamsson, P., Oza, N. (eds.) LESS 2010. LNBIP, vol. 65, pp. 44–47. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Dyba, T., Dingsøyr, T.: Empirical Studies of Agile Software Development: A Systematic Review. Inf. Softw. Technol. 50, 9–10 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang, X., Conboy, K.: Comparing Apples with Oranges? Perspectives of a Lean Online Community on the Differences between Agile and Lean. In: Thirty Second International Conference on Information Systems, Shanghai (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Cloud SW Research Project (2010-2013), http://www.cloudsoftwareprogram.org/

  8. Business Software Alliance: Investment for the Future Benchmarking IT Industry Competitiveness Report (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Naylor, B.J., Naim, M.M., Berry, D.: Leagility: Integrating the Lean and Agile Manufacturing Paradigms in the Total Supply Chain. Int. J. Production Economics 62, 107–118 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sherehiy, B., Karwowski, W., Layer, J.K.: A Review of Enterprise Agility: Concepts, Frameworks, and Attributes. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 37(5), 445–460 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., Warsta, J.: Agile software development methods: review and analysis, VTT Technical report (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Beck, K., Andres, C.: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Cohn, M.: Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum, 1st edn. Addison-Wesley Professional (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Palmer, S.R., Felsing, J.M.: A Practical Guide to Feature-Driven Development. Prentice Hall PTR (February 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Conboy, K.: Agility from First Principles: Reconstructing the Concept of Agility in Information Systems Development. Infor. Systems Research 20(3), 329–354 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Towill, D., Christopher, M.: The Supply Chain Strategy Conundrum: To Be Lean or Agile or To Be Lean and Agile? International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications: A Leading Journal of Supply Chain Management 5(3), 299–309 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sharafi, H., Zhang, Z.: A method for achieving agility in manufacturing organisations: An introduction. Internat. J. Production Econom. 62, 7–22 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Womack, J.P., Jones, D.: Lean thinking. Simon and Schuster, New York (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ransom, C.: Don’t Give Up On Good Industrial (Lean) Companies; Take Advantage of The Long-Term Up-Cycle. Manufacturing News 14(13), July 17 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Freeman, P.: Lean Concepts in Software Engineering. In: IPSS-Europe International Conference on Lean Software Development, Stuttgart, Germany, pp.1–8 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mehta, M., Anderson, D., Raffo, D.: Providing Value to Customers in Software Development Through Lean Principles. Software Process Improvement and Practice 13(1), 101–109 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mandić, V., Oivo, M., Rodríguez, P., Kuvaja, P., Kaikkonen, H., Turhan, B.: What Is Flowing in Lean Software Development? In: Abrahamsson, P., Oza, N. (eds.) LESS 2010. LNBIP, vol. 65, pp. 72–84. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Petersen, K., Wohlin, C.: Measuring the Flow in Lean Software Development. Software: Practice and Experience 41(9), 975–996 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Staats, B., Brunner, D., Upton, D.: Lean Principles, Learning, and Knowledge Work: Evidence from a Software Services Provider. Journal of Operations Management 29(5), 376–390 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Poppendieck, M., Poppendieck, T.: Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash. Addison-Wesley, cop., Upper Saddle River (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Mason-Jones, R., Naylor, J.B., Towill, D.: Engineering the Leagile Supply Chain. International Journal of Agile Management Systems 2(1), 54–61 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. van Hoek, R.I.: The Thesis of Leagility Revisited. International Journal of Agile Management Systems 2(3), 196–201 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Highsmith, J.: Agile Software Development Ecosystems. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Poppendieck, M.: Principles of Lean Thinking (2002), http://www.leanessays.com/2002/11/principles-of-lean-thinking.html (last accessed January, 30, 2012)

  30. Coplien, J., Bjornwig, G.: Lean Architecture for Agile Software Development. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Turula, K.: Ketterien menetelmien ja Lean-menetelmän käyttö Suomessa. Master thesis, University of Oulu (November 2011) (in English: Agile and Lean Adoption in Finland)

    Google Scholar 

  32. The Finnish Information Processing Association (FIPA), Tietotekniinan Liitto, http://www.ttlry.fi/english

  33. Booth, R.: Agile Manufacturing. Engineering Management Journal 6(2), 105–112 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Kniberg, K.: Kanban and Scrum – Making the Most of Both (2010), Lulu.com

  35. Erdogmus, H.: Architecture Meets Agility. IEEE Softw. 26(5), 2–4 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Pérez, J., Díaz, J., Garbajosa, J., Alarcón, P.P.: Flexible Working Architectures: Agile Architecting using PPCs. In: Babar, M.A., Gorton, I. (eds.) ECSA 2010. LNCS, vol. 6285, pp. 102–117. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Processing Sciences, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014, Finland

    Pilar Rodríguez, Jouni Markkula & Markku Oivo

  2. SYST Research Group E.U. Informática, Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Ctra. Valencia Km. 7., E-28031, Madrid

    Juan Garbajosa

Authors
  1. Pilar Rodríguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jouni Markkula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Markku Oivo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Juan Garbajosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain

    Oscar Dieste

  2. Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (Fh IESE), Fraunhofer Platz 1, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Andreas Jedlitschka

  3. Facultad de Informática,, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Boadilla del Monte, 28660, Madrid, España

    Natalia Juristo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Rodríguez, P., Markkula, J., Oivo, M., Garbajosa, J. (2012). Analyzing the Drivers of the Combination of Lean and Agile in Software Development Companies. In: Dieste, O., Jedlitschka, A., Juristo, N. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7343. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31063-8_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31063-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31062-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31063-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation