Lean: More than a Shop-Floor Fad

Lean principles have offered various opportunities for organizations to optimize their operations, including IT. Lean focuses on processes in an organization that add value for which a customer will pay and advocates removing all extraneous processes that do not directly contribute to that value stream. Lean requires having the organization make a broad commitment to the collection of tools, methods, approaches, and cultural change to adopt better habits for the long term. Lean looks at core processes that add value for the customer, so IT applications, data, and infrastructure invariably touch or drive those business processes. Some IT shops have even been visionary enough to create change management teams and have been rewarded with higher success rates on IT projects. Some aspects of lean include structure, systems, skills, style, and symbols.