With the rapid adoption of software processes across businesses, worldwide Lean Management vs Agile Management is a burning topic for discussion. Decision-makers and stakeholders are continuously battling over each other to pick the best management methodology. In this article, we’re trying to pick the best management practice for your business requirement.
What is Lean Management?
Lean is referred to as a set of knowledge called Lean Manufacturing. During the 50s and 60s Taiichi Ohno, a Japan-based engineer developed the Lean Manufacturing concept.
Lean’s principle is based on waste reduction/management which is why lean changed complex operational processes-
- Team members should focus on enhancing their work process (the kaizen process) instead of going back to the predefined tasks continuously.
- The employees should define the work methodology and not the managers.
- The focus should be on the “quality” of work than the quantity to enhance efficiency and productivity.
- Consumer requirements should decide the production cycle and thus the priority should be on-demand and not on supply. Therefore it is about doing something when someone wants it and orders it, rather than doing it first, hoping then that someone will need it.
Lean management focuses on eradicating all that does not add value. Waste reductions mean reducing excessive documentation, tasks, meetings, etc., that do not add value. Lean also believes multitasking or any work requirements distract or make them inefficient.
Lean also puts an extreme focus on the “system,” which takes the team to work collectively. To optimize the whole lifecycle process, the groups and organizations obeying lean practice should oblige “quality output” from a higher perspective.
Lean believes in trusting people who are executing the job. It respects and relies on the team working on the operations. Its the stakeholder’s responsibility to trust the team and leave them alone.
What is the Agile Management?
The Agile manifesto is the compilation of principles and values that defines a work process.
This process emphasizes the following characteristics-
- The team works in sync with the tools.
- Come with a plan to handle the plan changes.
- It is involving all the stakeholders in the work cycle.
The Agile manifesto resembles the Lean methodology on several points. Both focus on quality production, but agile prioritizes iterative development. At the same time, lean ensures one thing at a time and trusting the personnel.
Lean Management vs Agile Management is fairly similar:
As we mentioned earlier, the similarities between Lean and Agile are quite significant. Both processes have several touchpoints. First is the optimization- Lean ensures “optimizing the whole,” and Agile wants continuous changes over the path.
However, both methodologies understand the significance of improving the processes over time. Whether Lean Management vs Agile Management, reworking on the same task reduces efficiency and time to market.
Although Agile works in a cross-functional cycle, it doesn’t encourage unnecessary repetition. Development teams should identify various methods for completing the tasks effectively.
Another similarity between the two methodologies is respecting the people’s work ethic. Either Lean or Agile lets the employees take an independent call over the product lifecycle.
Hence, they do not include unwanted hierarchies or micromanagement. The developers, designers, and other stakeholders are aware of the responsibilities. As far as they’re obeying the functionalities for the overall development, it’s all good.
Continuous inspection and adaption are also among their mutual focal points.
Lean believes it is essential for improvement and calls it the Kaizen process. Agile also ensures frequent checks on the final result to put forward the best version of the product.
Nothing is more important than the final result when it comes to Agile and Lean.
The result should hold substantial value for the customers, which is the goal of the entire development process. Lean manufacture is designed to reduce waste, and Agile entitles the clients to involve in the process and suggest their requirements.
In either Lean Management vs Agile Management, the goal is to serve the consumers with the promise of a quality product.
How are Lean and Agile different?
Elaborating the similarities might have you confused if they are so similar; what’s sets them apart then?
While the goal of both methodologies is to serve the consumers, the core difference lies in their philosophies. The debate over Lean management vs Agile management is regarding their principles and rules to achieve a similar goal, and this is why Lean suits lighter projects more vs. Agile deals complex projects.
Lean focuses on optimizing the production process while Agile ensures optimizing the development process
For production, the team predefines the product and then works on increasing its quality in the most economic way. Making excessive tweaks and reworking over the same process is considered negative and therefore redundant. On the other hand, in the development process reworks and tweaks are essential to reach the goal.
Therefore in Agile, which prioritizes the development process, frequent transformations are made with additional inputs.
Lean’s core philosophy is reducing waste and focuses on a minimalist approach. On the other hand, Agile believes a cross-functional approach is healthier for product development. Agile involves all the stakeholders in the coalition.
Understand the Agile vs Lean differences in the table below
Lean vs. Agile: What’s the best approach for your business?
If you decide which methodology is better for your business, the answer lies in your project requirement—both stand firm in their benefits for the software development process.
Stressing collaboration will ensure the customer is happy with the final product. While waste reduction and enhancing quality will speed up the development process of the software.
That’s why businesses are trying to combine both methods to extract the best out of each. The real struggle is not regarding who supersedes each other but what satisfies your business requirements.
