The Art of Lean Software Development

by Curt Hibbs, Steve Jewett, Mike Sullivan

This succinct book explains how you can apply the practices of Lean software development to dramatically increase productivity and quality. Based on techniques that revolutionized Japanese manufacturing, Lean principles are being applied successfully to product design, engineering, the supply chain, and now software development. With The Art of Lean Software Development , you'll learn how to adopt Lean practices one at a time rather than taking on the entire methodology at once. As you master each practice, you'll see significant, measurable results. With this book, you The Art of Lean Software Development is ideal for busy people who want to improve the development process but can't afford the disruption of a sudden and complete transformation. The Lean approach has been yielding dramatic results for decades, and with this book, you can make incremental changes that will produce immediate benefits.

"This book presents Lean practices in a clear and concise manner so readers are motivated to make their software more reliable and less costly to maintain. I recommend it to anyone looking for an easy-to-follow guide to transform how the developer views the process of writing good software." -- Bryan Wells, Boeing Intelligence & Security Sytems Mission System

"If you're new to Lean software development and you're not quite sure where to start, this book will help get your development process going in the right direction, one step at a time." -- John McClenning, software development lead, Aclara

Genres: Nonfiction, Computers, Technology

140 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2008

About the author

Curt Hibbs has always been slightly obsessed with new technologies and tracking technology trends. But he will tell you that this is simply because he is lazy, always looking for new methods and technologies to make his work easier and more productive. This led to his discovery of Ruby in 2001 (when it was still relatively unknown outside of Japan) and to his founding several highly successful Ruby open source projects.
For most of his professional career Curt has been a consultant to well-known companies like Hewlett Packard, Intuit, Corel, WordStar, Charles Schwab, Vivendi Universal, and more. He has also been a principal in several startups. Curt now works as a Senior Software Engineer for The Boeing Company in St. Louis.

Reviews

[Richard F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelf for a while. It is short (although the broad-page format of these types of books can be deceptive), and already knew some things about Lean and more about Agile. So I thought this book would validate much of my current understanding.

The book is pitched to "software developers and managers who are new to Lean software development", so I am probably not the intended audience. They authors also claim that they "don't believe in padding out chapters with useless fluff", and this is mostly true but not completely true.

Overall this book is a decent start to those exploring Lean (and Agile to some extent), but the best chapters are at the front (introducing Lean and applying the concepts to Software Development. However the book is showing its age in chapters such as 'Source Control Management and Scripted Builds'. I think SCM is so ubiquitous these days with the popularity of GitHub that much of this chapter should be known by any good Software Dev, not just those practicing lean. And there are so many non-compiled languages in popular use that even Scripted Builds can be glossed over by many.

The best chapters are probably those on Automated Testing and Continuous Integration, although the Testing chapter probably goes a bit deeper than is necessary and violates the "useless fluff" rule. I think it would have been better to list some 'suggested reading' instead. This goes hand-in-hand with the CI chapter, which stays on track a little more.

The remaining chapters are good but towards the end they get a bit loose in my opinion and contain a few confusing contradictions based on my own experience.

My main criticism of this book is that while it is a book for both Developers and Managers, it is not clear when it is talking to which audience. A developer is likely to get bogged down in some management-level discussion, and vice versa. So it should be read judiciously.

Due to its age, it was probably targeted at senior engineers and managers when it was written, however now it can be read by anyone joining the Software Development community because many of the practices described are well-established, but it's still useful to know the 'why' as well as the 'how'.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice overview of how to apply Lean principles to software engineering.

Each time I read this book (this is the second time), I'm reminded that there are some things that my company is doing well and other things that could be improved. I think that's the main point - Lean is an infinite loop and there isn't any point where you can say you're done.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a short book, only 120 pages. If you're looking for something longer, there's an excellent "resources" section at the end of the book.

[Amy Gilchrist Thorne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The authors of this book come right out and state that it's meant to be an overview for people new to agile and lean software development. Since I've already read a few books on the subject, I didn't find much new here. But to be fair, I was warned and probably should have paid heed.

If you've heard of agile or lean software development, but haven't read about it or tried any of its practices, and want an introduction, this book is probably a good one for you.

But if you've already read other books on agile or lean, you can probably skip it.

[Vasili Puchko · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a good book for people who doesn't know common Agile technicks and approaches. It shortly describes technicks and approaches used in Lean. But it doesn't add anything new.
So if you know about Agile, read Agile-centric blogs and articles, know and, hopefully, use Agile techniks and approaches like BDUF, YAGNI, CI, DI, TDD, BDD, Kanban, S.O.L.I.D., and etc., then it would be faster, easier, and cheapier to dive in Lean if you read an article or two about lean from wikipedia. Don't waste your time.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a disappointment. I was looking for a book that would describe the Lean process and how it applies to software. Instead of that, this book gave me 100 pages talking about all the stuff that any self-respecting SW Engineer already does: source code control, unit tests, automated builds, continuous integration, etc. The last 15 pages of the book (yes, the book is only 117 pages long) started to get into the Lean concepts but then only gave an overview. Now I'm still looking for a book on Lean SW development methods.

[Gernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives an overview to lean and of concrete practices to apply lean to software development.
In my view it only touches the surface:
Practices like code repositories, tdd, ci should be common practices (although i know projects whithout them). At least the are well known practices.
Therefore i missed more in depth real world examples.
I would recommend this book as an entry to the topic, nothing more and nothing less.

[gramakri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very well written book in a easy to understand language. Highly recommended for an absolute newbie to Lean Software Development.
More details @
http://bookwormsrecos.blogspot.in/201...

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of how to apply the Lean principles pioneered by Toyota in manufacturing to software development.

[Christophe Addinquy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ma note de lecture complète en français ici

[Cliff Chew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very lean book that provides a good brief description of lean software development.