The 7 Software Development Wastes - Lean series Part 4 - Transportation

July 25, 2009 by Jack Milunsky

Introduction Previous posts on the first 3 wastes can be found here: In-Process Inventory/Partially done work , Over Production/Extra Features and Extra Processing It's both interesting for me on the one hand, yet puzzling for me as to what makes a blog popular or not. The first article I wrote on this topic had close to 5000 reads as compared with only 1000 for the last blog post. I figured that based on the response to the first post, folks would be real keen to understand the rest of the 7 wastes in software development. Never the less, I am committed to continuing with the series. Hopefully there are still some of you out there who can benefit from it all. Transportation - Hand-offs Transportation in manufacturing corresponds to hand-offs in software development. Anytime you hand a deliverable off to a different party, there is some loss in the transfer of knowledge. There are many such examples of hand-offs in software development: 1. Developer hands off to another developer. In this scenario if the first developer never documented the code properly it's going to take significant addition effort to figure things out. Worse, the second developer may make assumptions and, as a result, introduce bugs in the system. 2. Developers hand off code to testers to test. Many organizations still don't engage QA early enough. Bear in mind that on Agile projects, QA is involved as early as the requirements phase (not that it's a phase). If the QA has no idea what the developer did or the problems he faced or the assumptions he made, then the QA is really just shooting in the dark. It's important that the developer at least includes the QA early on, documents the feature accordingly (no long dissertations), so that an effective transition is made. 3. Handing the code over to deployment teams. Many times I find separate deployment teams struggling to figure out how to get applications deployed. Configuration settings, compile instructions etc if not properly communicated can cause significant delays. 4. Handing-off to customers. If the client is not trained properly, or the software functionality is not documented properly, there will be more support calls for example. There are many ways in which to reduce transportation wastes in software development: 1. Ensure there is open communication between all parties. Broadband communication (as defined in Agile software development practices) is imperative. 2. Ensure proper, up-to-date and effective documentation is in place where appropriate. Identify these needs up front and ensure there are tasks for this on the backlog. 3. Include all functional areas in the development process. Be mindful of and identify all these transition points in your organization. This will help minimize costs due to hand-offs in your organization Next week I will cover the 5th waste in the series - Motion

Bookmark/Search this post with:

About the Author: As COO and Scrum Master, Jack Milunsky heads software development at Brightspark. Jack is an early adopter of Scrum and has a great passion for early stage startups. Jack is co-creator of Agilebuddy, a next generation Scrum Application SaaS. Jack combines over 18 years of experience managing software development teams both large and small. You can follow Jack for great tips on Agile at http://twitter.com/agilebuddy

Permalink

jackMilunsky's blog
15751 reads

Comments

keep it coming!

July 27, 2009 by Kevin E. Schlabach (not verified), 3 years 43 weeks ago
Comment id: 2912

Jack-

I'm enjoying this thread of posts! I'm still learning and immersing myself in Lean, so I find them valuable. I'm guessing you got more traffic to the first one simply because it is the one (so far) that everyone can recognize as a problem they have and need to fix.

Keep it coming!

July 27, 2009 by Jack Milunsky (not verified), 3 years 43 weeks ago
Comment id: 2913

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your positive feedback.

Jack

The biggest hand off waste

July 29, 2009 by Matt McKnight (not verified), 3 years 42 weeks ago
Comment id: 2916

The biggest hand off waste is the existence of requirements people that get between the developers and the customers on enterprise projects. Instead of being there to move the conversation forward, they become middlemen in a game of telephone. In addition, they often produce voluminous documentation which increases the cost of change and causes deeper attachment to temporary decisions.

The most harmful to software development

August 3, 2009 by Federico Boerr (not verified), 3 years 42 weeks ago
Comment id: 2929

Thanks Jack for your effort in bringing clear examples of Lean in software (in contrary to industrial factory samples).

In my experience this is the kind of waste that harms more our industry. The last outcomes are often projects late on schedule or even suspended (and most of the times exceceeding the budget).
It'd be greart to learn from this and keep the lessons in mind when defining our (formal or informal) procedures.

You're welcome Fedirico

August 11, 2009 by Jack Milunsky (not verified), 3 years 41 weeks ago
Comment id: 2942

And I apologize for not following up with the rest - I have been on vacation

Hmmm, not entirey true

August 12, 2009 by Yuval Goldstein (not verified), 3 years 40 weeks ago
Comment id: 2946

Sometimes customers and developers need a middleman to translate one language and culture to the other's language and culture, illuminate the important, sort the essence, help the customer focus on what can be done, and let the developer focus on what the customer want.

Ideally, a "requirements person" distills the essence of what the customer need and help the developers invest the minimum required effort to achieve it. Mis- communication, or just a bad translation job can lead to unnecessary development effort, missed time lines and overall just missing the business target.

Should I risk all these and let the developers face the customer on their own?
Hmmm, not always, :)

Hmm, not entirely true

August 12, 2009 by Jack Milunsky (not verified), 3 years 40 weeks ago
Comment id: 2947

I don't think I was suggesting that you don't have to have a middleman. All the article is saying is anytime there is a handoff, there's an opportunity for information to get lost. So if having a middleman is going to help that process then that will eliminate this type of waste.

Thanks for your comments
Jack

Nahhh, I was responding to Matt McKnight...

August 12, 2009 by Yuval Goldstein (not verified), 3 years 40 weeks ago
Comment id: 2948

Nahhh, I was responding to Matt McKnight...

Software Development process

August 19, 2009 by Henry Walts (not verified), 3 years 40 weeks ago
Comment id: 2975

Hi Jack..Thank you very much for your series of Posting.Your articles are really making us to realize in wastes of software process and hence we are saving a lot of our precious time as well as money..Keep it continue..bye

Waste

August 19, 2009 by jackMilunsky, 3 years 39 weeks ago
Comment id: 2987

Hi Henry,

Glad I could help. It makes my effort worthwhile when I can make a difference.

Jack

[MARKED AS SPAM BY ANTISPAM

March 2, 2012 by NOnn (not verified), 1 year 11 weeks ago
Comment id: 21249

[MARKED AS SPAM BY ANTISPAM BEE CSS Hack]
When I initially commented I clicked the Notify me when new comments are added checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks! b and you forfait sans engagement forfait illimite sms illimite forfait mobile internet comparateur forfait bloque rio bouygues rio orange code rio sfr rio bouygues rio virgin calcul imc portabilite du numero

Even without manipulation.

May 23, 2012 by JennyH8154 (not verified), 1 year 1 day ago
Comment id: 22445

Even without manipulation. it's fairly common for there to be velocity inflation over time. That makes for awkward conversations when your management team advocate starts talking excitedly about how all the new process improvements have increased productivity by X%. Sure. whatever you say boss. numéro rio

Moving boxes - Removal boxes

November 8, 2012 by Benson (not verified), 28 weeks 1 day ago
Comment id: 24539

Moving boxes - Removal boxes for moving house or office, archive storage boxes.

reply

November 20, 2012 by pippe (not verified), 26 weeks 3 days ago
Comment id: 24779

Thanks for a really terrific submit, I found your blog to be very appealing pippe

Bank Icons - Download 485 Free Bank Icon (Page 1)

December 11, 2012 by nrg-design.ru (not verified), 23 weeks 4 days ago
Comment id: 25040

By WebOsPublisher

ICO Fine ACS Law ВЈ1k | ScotsLawBlog
.recentcomments adisplay:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;
Home
What
Contact
Legal
Cheap Scots Law Books
Guest Scots Law Blogging
Banking Law
Business Law
Charity Law
Civil and Roman Law
Construction Law
Consumer Law
Contract Law
Criminal Law
Delict
Employment Law
Events
Family Law
Financial Services
Health and Safety at Work
Human rights
Immigration
Insolvency Law
Licensing
Perjury
Personal Injury Law
Property Law
Public International Law
Scots Law
Scottish Court Service
Scottish Independence
Sheridan Trial
Social Media Law
Sport Law
Succession Law
Executry
Power of Attorney
Wills
Trusts
Unjust Enrichment
Subscribe
ScotsLawBlog
ICO fine ACS Law ВЈ1k
Ayr Woman Convicted of File Sharing as ACS Law Gets Off Hook
by ScotsLawBlog on May 10, 2011
Start blogging here
Free Scots Law blogging: Sign in
Register Log in
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
WordPress.org
Scots Law Bloggers Tim Haddow
Graham Kerr
Lewis Shand
Gavin Ward
Search ScotsLawBlog
Search Google
Subscribe here Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurner
ScotsLawBlog Tweets
Recent Posts
How the Banks Contracted Out of their Regulatory Obligations
Lords debate the criminal liability of Scottish partnerships
The Facts Speak For Themselves; Utilis
Accidents at Work Remain an Issue in Scotland and the UK
Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Ltd v Grandison & Ors: Breach of Warranty of Authority in Scots Law
Blogroll
Absolvitor: Scots Law Online
Austin Lafferty Solicitors Hamilton
Avizandum Times by Alistair Sloan
CaseCheck: Court Cases and Case Law
Employment Law Aberdeen
Family Law Aberdeen Solicitors
Family Law Dundee Solicitors
Frequently Asked Scots Law Questions
Highland Lawyer's Blog
John Grimley: International Trade Expert
Jonathan Mitchell QC
LawCloud: Legal Practice Management Software
Legal Website Design: Moore Legal Technology
Message Solicitors
Oracle Law: Glasgow Lawyers
Power of Attorney Scotland
Roman Law Resources: Iuscivile by Ernest Metzger
Scots Law News
Scottish Law Online
The Glasgow Law Practice
The Scots Law Student
WardBlawg: UK Law Blog News
Wilson $ Fish: Wills, Executries, Trusts $ Powers of Attorney in Scotland
Follow us on Twitter Follow @ScotsLawBlog
Follow @WardBlawg
Awards
Scots Law (via Google News)'Protecting vulnerable and targeting abusers' may mean kerb crawlers lose ... - The Courier December 7, 2012The Courier'Protecting vulnerable and targeting abusers' may mean kerb crawlers lose ...The CourierUnder Scots law, it is possible for someone aged 18 or over to have sex with another consenting adult in return for payment without an offence being committed. However, laws passed in 2007 made soliciting by street prostitutes and ''loiterin <>hellip;]Best-paying jobs in the UK 2012 - The Guardian December 7, 2012The GuardianBest-paying jobs in the UK 2012The GuardianIn Scotland students must obtain the Bachelor of Scots law (LLB) degree followed by professional education and training (PEAT) stages 1 and 2. In-house lawyers will typically work and train for several years as a solicitor in-practice before having the ...and moreВ В» <>hellip;]Scotland should pre-empt Westminster with its own Leveson solution - The Guardian December 5, 2012The GuardianScotland should pre-empt Westminster with its own Leveson solutionThe GuardianThat is because all mainstream newspapers are UK-wide and so are subject just as much to Scots law as English law. If there is to be a separate statutory basis in Scots law on this subject, then London-based newspapers will have to obey the Scots law ...Party leaders to <>hellip;]Online business generation experts
Recent CommentsScotsLawBlog is one of Top 25 International $ Foreign Law Blogs of 2011 | ScotsLawBlog on Guest Scots Law Blogginguniphore mobility on Accidents at Work Remain an Issue in Scotland and the UKCheshire Mortgage Corporation Ltd v Grandison $ Ors: Breach of Warranty of Authority in Scots Law | ScotsLawBlog on Warranty of Authority in Scots Law: Cheshire Mortgage Corporation v Grandison & OrsAnonymous on DelictRandypausch on Guest Scots Law BloggingArchives
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
February 2012
January 2012
November 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
Copyright &copy 2012 Wardblawg Limited. All rights reserved.