Making architecture visible to improve flow management in lean software development

Robert L. Nord; Ipek Ozkaya; Raghvinder S. Sangwan

doi:10.1109/MS.2012.109

Making architecture visible to improve flow management in lean software development

Robert L. Nord
, Ipek Ozkaya
, Raghvinder S. Sangwan

Engineering Division (Great Valley)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lean practices use the principle of Little's law to improve the flow of value to the end user by eliminating sources of waste from a software development process. Little's law defines throughput as a ratio of work in process and cycle time. Increasing throughput (or productivity) requires continuously improving (that is, decreasing) cycle time while ensuring that the work-in-process limit doesn't exceed the capacity available to process the work. This article shares experiences regarding the role architecture plays in lean software management practices. Release plans that give as much emphasis to architecturally significant tasks as to feature-based high-priority functionality can achieve better outcomes by avoiding conditions that lead to wasted time and effort. The application of lean software development practices can improve with better practical guidance on how to manage architecture flow as well as feature flow.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6226344
Pages (from-to)	33-39
Number of pages	7
Journal	IEEE Software
Volume	29
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2012.109
State	Published - 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Software

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10.1109/MS.2012.109

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title = "Making architecture visible to improve flow management in lean software development",

abstract = "Lean practices use the principle of Little's law to improve the flow of value to the end user by eliminating sources of waste from a software development process. Little's law defines throughput as a ratio of work in process and cycle time. Increasing throughput (or productivity) requires continuously improving (that is, decreasing) cycle time while ensuring that the work-in-process limit doesn't exceed the capacity available to process the work. This article shares experiences regarding the role architecture plays in lean software management practices. Release plans that give as much emphasis to architecturally significant tasks as to feature-based high-priority functionality can achieve better outcomes by avoiding conditions that lead to wasted time and effort. The application of lean software development practices can improve with better practical guidance on how to manage architecture flow as well as feature flow.",

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note = "Funding Information: This material is based on work funded and supported by the Department of Defense under contract number FA872105C0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center. Carnegie Mellon University makes no warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to any matter including, but not limited to, warranty of fitness for purpose or merchantability, exclusivity, or results obtained from use of the material. Carnegie Mellon University does not make any warranty of any kind with respect to freedom from patent, trademark, or copyright infringement. This material has been approved for public release and unlimited distribution except as restricted by copyright. The Government of the United States has a royaltyfree governmentpurpose license to use, duplicate, or disclose the work, in whole or in part and in any manner, and to have or permit others to do so, for government purposes pursuant to the copyright license under the clause at 252.2277013 and 252.2277013 Alternate I.",

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PY - 2012

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N2 - Lean practices use the principle of Little's law to improve the flow of value to the end user by eliminating sources of waste from a software development process. Little's law defines throughput as a ratio of work in process and cycle time. Increasing throughput (or productivity) requires continuously improving (that is, decreasing) cycle time while ensuring that the work-in-process limit doesn't exceed the capacity available to process the work. This article shares experiences regarding the role architecture plays in lean software management practices. Release plans that give as much emphasis to architecturally significant tasks as to feature-based high-priority functionality can achieve better outcomes by avoiding conditions that lead to wasted time and effort. The application of lean software development practices can improve with better practical guidance on how to manage architecture flow as well as feature flow.

AB - Lean practices use the principle of Little's law to improve the flow of value to the end user by eliminating sources of waste from a software development process. Little's law defines throughput as a ratio of work in process and cycle time. Increasing throughput (or productivity) requires continuously improving (that is, decreasing) cycle time while ensuring that the work-in-process limit doesn't exceed the capacity available to process the work. This article shares experiences regarding the role architecture plays in lean software management practices. Release plans that give as much emphasis to architecturally significant tasks as to feature-based high-priority functionality can achieve better outcomes by avoiding conditions that lead to wasted time and effort. The application of lean software development practices can improve with better practical guidance on how to manage architecture flow as well as feature flow.

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Making architecture visible to improve flow management in lean software development

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