How can we successfully implement Lean thinking to reduce waste in our current Scrum framework?

All answers to this question.

To integrate Lean into Scrum, start by conducting a Value Stream Mapping session with the entire squad. Document every step from the moment a user story is conceived to when it hits production. You'll likely find that "Wait Time" is significantly higher than "Process Time." To fix this, focus on reducing your Work in Progress (WIP) limits. Even though Scrum doesn't strictly mandate WIP limits like Kanban does, adopting them prevents team members from context-switching. Another Lean technique is "Built-in Quality"—stop the line (or the sprint) when a critical bug is found to fix it immediately rather than letting technical debt accumulate.

   Answered 2024-03-12 by Kimberly Adams

Have you considered if your "waste" is coming from over-processing, such as creating overly detailed documentation that no one actually reads before the code is written?

   Answered 2024-03-14 by Steven Taylor

• That is a huge issue for us, Steven. We noticed our functional requirement documents were thirty pages long but devs only looked at the Jira tickets. We switched to "Just-in-Time" documentation, where we only detail the technical specs right before the sprint starts. This saved our BA about ten hours a week that she now spends on actual user validation. It was a classic example of Lean's 'Eliminate Waste' principle in action.

     Commented 2024-03-15 by Mark Robinson

We found that "Learning Cycles" from Lean helped us more than traditional retrospectives. We focus specifically on what delayed the flow and how to remove that specific hurdle.

   Answered 2024-03-16 by Brian Mitchell

• I agree with Brian. Shifting the retrospective focus to "flow efficiency" rather than just "what went well" is a great way to bring Lean thinking into the heart of the Scrum cycle.

     Commented 2024-03-17 by Sarah Miller