Lean business lists

Credit: these lists originated from an online survey; if you know the source, please let us know so we can add a credit here. Thanks!

Lean knowledge sources:

  • The Lean Startup Movement
  • Lean Six Sigma
  • The Toyota Production System
  • Lean Enterprise Institute
  • Lean Construction
  • DevOps
  • Internal Training
  • Other

Lean influencers:

  • David J. Anderson
  • Jim Benson
  • Steve Blank
  • Mike Burrows
  • Dominica DeGrandis
  • Pascal Dennis
  • Eli Goldratt
  • Jeff Gothelf
  • Mark Graban
  • Jez Humble
  • Gene Kim
  • Henrik Kniberg
  • Mary and Tom Poppendieck
  • Don Reinertsen
  • Eric Ries
  • John Shook
  • Jon Terry
  • Daniel Vacanti
  • Jim Womack
  • Other

Lean adoption:

  • Our organization does not use Lean.
  • Only used in one department (IT).
  • Only used in one department (non-IT).
  • Used in multiple departments (started in IT).
  • Used in multiple departments (started in non-IT).
  • Started across the organization as an executive-driven initiative.
  • Our organization began as a Lean organization.
  • Other

Which groups are practicing Lean in your organization?

  • Administration
  • Customer Support
  • Finance
  • HR
  • IT Operations
  • Lean Leadership
  • Legal
  • Logistics
  • Marketing
  • PMO
  • Product Engineering/Development
  • Quality
  • Sales
  • Software Engineering/Development
  • Other

Lean tooling:

  • Pull system
  • Continuous delivery
  • Kanban
  • Work-in-process (WIP) limits
  • Continuous flow
  • Continuous improvement/kaizen
  • Six Sigma
  • Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop
  • Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • 5 Whys
  • PCDA
  • OODA Loop
  • Value stream mapping
  • A/B testing
  • Strategy canvas
  • Not sure
  • Other

Lean metrics or charts:

  • Current personal Work-in-Process (WIP)
  • Current team Work-in-Process (WIP)
  • Flow efficiency
  • Queue size
  • Lead time
  • Cycle time
  • Process control charts
  • Quality metrics
  • Cost of delay
  • Throughput
  • Cumulative flow
  • Burn-up/burn-down charts
  • We do not currently use Lean metrics
  • Other

Lean benefits:

  • Better management of changing priorities
  • Reduced lead time
  • Predictable delivery of customer value
  • Increased team morale
  • More efficient business processes
  • Reduced risk
  • Cut costs
  • Manage team/process complexity
  • Improved project visibility at the team level
  • Improved visibility to stakeholders
  • Increased team productivity
  • Not sure
  • Other

Lean challenges:

  • Adhering to WIP limits
  • Visualizing work
  • Sharing knowledge with the team
  • Balancing improvement efforts and project work
  • Prioritizing work
  • Delivering fast while maintaining quality
  • Delivering frequently
  • Deferring commitment
  • Standardization of team processes
  • Moving from "push" to "pull" system
  • Practicing systems thinking
  • Adjusting to new team culture
  • Teaching new team members Lean concepts
  • Other

Lean barriers:

  • Organizational resistance to Lean
  • General organizational resistance to change
  • Not enough personnel with the necessary Lean experience
  • Concerns about a loss of management control
  • Perceived time and cost to make the transition
  • Lack of buy-in from management
  • Regulatory compliance
  • General satisfaction with other methodologies currently in use
  • Not sure
  • Other

Lean tools:

  • LeanKit
  • JIRA Agile
  • VersionOne
  • Trello
  • Kanbanize
  • Microsoft TFS
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Other