Lean It Up!

Lean Methodology! Here's a buzz concept that I have been hearing over and over again in countless meetings. If I had a literal dollar for everytime I hear this... Everyone seems to be onboard with this idea, until you start asking questions. If you've been in this situation before you will relate to this. You ask things like "so how lean is your company? What lean frameworks are you currently using?" This is when usually you get the answers like "we are an Agile first company" or "We are very lean. We usually plan our projects in thorough detail at the start so we can move quicker because we know what needs to be done". At this point you realise that actually they are not lean at all. And that is actually okay.

Being Lean is not just an empty concept, being lean is a philosophy that turned into a business management methodology. Lately I've been hearing more and more people throwing this concept around, however this has been around for a good while.

The Lean methodology originated in Toyota back in the 1950's. The automaker decided to revolutionise the way they produced consumer goods, and started developing this idea that really took a very simple approach in order to shorten the production cycle. The idea follows an easy loop: Build - Measure - Learn.

In essence you Build a Product to its most basic features, you Measure the Data that you get from users using your Product and you Learn the Ideas that derive from that process. At this point in the loop you get to make a very important decision, you either have enough data to Persevere in your validated assumptions and approach or you decide to Pivot and change the Product based on the previous loop.

This is data driven, no medium-term plan whatsoever and it brings the users into the center of the whole production loop. Even though this methodology has had its daybreak in the manufacturing world, truth is that since the 1980's has been widely used in several other industries. And it's making its triumphant return.

Like any other methodology it has pros and cons, and lets face it, it is not for every company/project. But Lean gives us (Product Managers) something that no other methodology gives us. Freedom to FAIL!

Yes thats right, freedom to fail. Actually the whole point of the thing is to fail. Because when you fail, you learn that the assumptions you thought were correct actually aren't, and that allows you to quickly reassess your product approach, market, features and even target users.

"But wait. Doesn't Agile also gives you the freedom to fail?"

Both methodologies put the users at the center of their development loop, whilst Lean embraces failure in order to validate assumptions, Agile reduces the cost of failure. Don't get me wrong, Agile is my philosophy of choice and it fits right into my way of thinking. This is not a A versus B type article nor a Agile bashing fest. Both methodologies accept failure as part of the process but Lean embraces it in a way that even the most hardcore Agilist will struggle with.

Remember that at the start of this article I mentioned that it's okay if most companies are actually not Lean at all even though they really want to be?

Lean is not a good methodology for every single company nor every single project. Lean is perfect for startups for example, because as Eric Ries states, startups act in a realm of extreme uncertainty, so constanly validating their assumptions is not only a step of R&D but it should be a way of life. And depending on each company structure, that approach might not be a valid one, regardless of how "cool and hip" might be. Maybe we wouldn't see this level of Tech layoffs if more startups used this approach.

Every step of managing a product, organization, company or project has to be absolutely in line with the purpose of what you're doing. The tools that exist are precious systems of work that can help us but only if we apply them the right way. So next time you go into a meeting where all you hear is "we are a Lean company", don't read too much into, ask the questions, and see this as an opportunity to share your knowledge and thoughts on methodologies.

If you'd like to know more about the Lean methodology:

PS: This is not an afilliated thing, I get no money to place this link here. Just sharing the word for knowledge share with people interested in this topic.