Leading Lean Software Development Quotes

“The biggest cause of failure in software-intensive systems is not technical failure; it’s building the wrong thing.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“customers do not need scope. They need to have business goals accomplished within some constraints of time and cost.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“Commitment to deliver on time and on budget was not made based on the details; details didn't exist. Their commitment was based on the ability to shape the details.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are Not the Point

“Budgets and plans have three purposes: (1) Set goals, (2) make forecasts, and (3) allocate resources. It would seem efficient to use a single plan to accomplish all three purposes, but in fact, combining the purposes compromises all of them.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“attempting to maximize utilization is a self-defeating process. Optimal utilization can be achieved only by concentrating on flow.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“The purpose of process standards is to act as a baseline for continuous improvement.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“true productivity has to be measured relative to the outcomes of the overall system, not just the software. Just producing a lot of lines of code or function points is irrelevant; the real question is, How much improvement in customer outcomes has the development team generated?”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“When team members personally create an environment in which they can be proud of their work and work processes, you have made a good start.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“It is very important to defer public commitment to exactly which features will be in the product, because this makes it possible to reliably release the product on time. The release date is guaranteed, but the exact features are not. Timebox—don’t scopebox.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“Start with the valid constraints of the system, and then design the system to fit within those constraints.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“We determine scope at the beginning of system development, put a box around it, and figure out how long that scope will take to develop. This is the wrong approach.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“Trying to force a system to work beyond its capacity invariably causes turbulence and slows things down.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“With a typical contract, one party decides what should be done and hands over the design to another party to implement and often to a third party to deploy and support. Although it may be unavoidable, such a contractual approach is far from ideal; it increases costs and decreases flexibility.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“designing the effort to fit the constraints, rather than computing the constraints from the design, is absolutely the most effective way to achieve reliable delivery.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“the most successful development occurs when developers talk directly to customers or are part of business teams.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“It would be much better to assign work to established teams than to reconstitute teams around projects.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“we shouldn’t add features until they are needed. Forget just in case; develop just in time.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“direct developer-customer interaction delivered more of the right content, increased sales, and dramatically reduced support calls.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“leaders in many companies believe that developers should not talk to customers because this is a waste of valuable developer time.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point

“You measure system capability; you do not prescribe it.”
― Mary Poppendieck, Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point