Software In Process

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[ "Rushed building construction invariably damages the artifact's long term value. Customers who would rush software production are causing even more damage. Software ought to be a long term expense: kin to brick and mortar, or to machinery. No sane culture rushes into making their long term considerations, and investments."

There are three causes of long development cycles:

 * Essential -- you just have a lot to do.
 * Accidental waste -- these are activities that add value,
   but the value could have been added some other way using less time.
   The testing phase after development is "finished" is an example.
   If you could develop without creating all those defects,
   you could shorten the cycle by eliminating the testing phase.
 * Pure waste -- these are activities that don't add value at all, like waiting for the testing machine.

Lean development has discovered that in-process inventory is an excellent canary in the coal mine to discover the presence of waste. Crank inventory down until it hurts. Back off. Figure out why it hurt. Eliminate the waste. Crank inventory down further.

If someone tried to rush development, it would hurt too much and they would back off. That's not what we are talking about. Ohno says, "Every worker must be a turtle." That is, if anyone is rushing, they are doing the wrong thing. They should slow down, figure out why they were rushing, solve that problem, and then they will be able to produce as much as before or more, but without rushing.

Kent ]