Agile & Lean

In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, our organizations must be quicker and adaptive to survive. Lean and Agile are both techniques that provide a focus on the tasks at hand and a continuous refinement and improvement of our organization’s capabilities. We seek to streamline, remove waste, and undertake actions that will continuously bring the organization to peak performance without sacrifice.

The right-hand side, you will see a number of links to other parts of the website associated with Agile and Lean. The upper menu provides a link to articles, podcasts, and videos along with a link to training aids and games. The lower menu contains links to tools and discussion boards where you can pose and answer questions and comment.

Agile & Lean

Agile

Agile & Lean

There are times when the best solution for the project strategy is agile. Agile strips away many of the processes relying instead upon the ability and talent of the team to discover, overcome or circumvent the obstacles presented. Predominantly used for software, though not exclusively, agile can be a quick way to respond to the unknowns in the product development effort. This area contains, product backlog, sprint backlog, estimating techniques, burn down charts, and retrospective. This area also contains a significant level of learning organization discipline.

Lean

Lean consists of a set of principles and techniques often associated with efficient and cost effective manufacturing. These tools and techniques are designed to eliminate waste in whatever form it may take, from scrap or reworked material to idle time and material flow and inventory. The approach is that of continuous and incremental improvement.

What makes sense in Scrum Projects, Joe Dager and Jon M. Quigley

Guardrails, Reciprocal Agreements, Essays and Discussions

Gemba Walk, Agile Development, No Right Way

SPaMCAST 479 – Mentor or Coach, TameFlow Chapter 21a, Employee Engagement

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-479-mentor-or-coach-tameflow-chapter-21a-employee-engagement

SPaMCAST 483 – Measuring The Value of Agile, TameFlow Chapter 21, Agile Culture

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-483-measuring-the-value-of-agile-tameflow-chapter-21-agile-culture

SPaMCAST 585 – Most Agile Transformations Ignore Technical Skills, A Conversation with Susan Parente and Jon M Quigley

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/category/Parente+and+Quigley

SPaMCAST 495 – Done, Waste and Innovation; Kanban to the Kanban Power

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-495-done-waste-and-innovation-kanban-to-the-kanban-power

SPaMCAST 575 – Messing Up Agile Hybrids, Deming and Book Club, Essays and Discussions

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-575-messing-up-agile-hybrids-deming-and-book-club-essays-and-discussions

SPaMCAST 477 – Silence: A Powerful Tool, Muddling Through, Monolithic Monolith

https://podtail.se/podcast/software-process-and-measurement-cast/spamcast-477-silence-a-powerful-tool-muddling-thro/

SPaMCAST 552 – Fit For Value, Saying No, Essays and Discussions

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-552-fit-for-value-saying-no-essays-and-discussions

SPaMCAST 686 – Pitchforks and Torches, Work in 2022, A Panel

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-686-pitchforks-and-torches-work-in-2022-a-panel-discussion

SPaMCAST 694 – The Team Lead Role In Agile, Time, Essays and Conversations

Spamcast-694-the-team-lead-role-in-agile-time-essays-and-conversations

SPaMCAST 711 – Why Re-read Saturday, Team Leaders In Scrum, Essays and Conversations

SPaMCAST 711 – Why Re-read Saturday, Team Leaders In Scrum, Essays and Conversations

SPaMCAST 731 – Giving Thanks, Flow, Essays and Conversations

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/spamcast-731-giving-thanks-flow-essays-and-conversations?tdest_id=107081

SPaMCAST 824 You Can Never Cross The Same River Twice, Essays and Conversations

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/you-can-never-cross-the-same-river-twice-essays-and-conversations-with-jon-m-quigley-spamcast-824

SPaMCAST 816 Goal Conflicts Cause Work Intake Problems, Finding Time To Concentrate

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/goal-conflicts-cause-work-intake-problems-finding-time-to-concentrate-conversations-with-jeremy-willets-and-jon-m-quigley-spamcast-816

SPaMCAST 809 Accountability vs. Responsibility Debate, Essays and Conversations

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/accountability-vs-responsibility-debate-essays-and-conversations-w-jon-m-quigley-spamcast-809

SPaMCAST 799 Beyond Buzzwords – Rethinking Collaboration in Software Development and Prioritization vs. Micromanagement

https://spamcast.libsyn.com/beyond-buzzwords-rethinking-collaboration-in-software-development-and-prioritization-vs-micromanagement-finding-the-right-balance-spamcast-799

Employee Engagement Trends: How to Build High-Performing Teams in 2026

Employee Engagement Trends and Strategies for High-Performing Teams Employee engagement is no longer a “nice-to-have”—it is a business imperative. Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report reveals a troubling trend: global engagement has dropped to around 20–21%, one of the lowest levels since 2020.  I have been watching this for many years now, always […]

Product Development Chicken: A Risk in Product Development and Project Management

In many organizations, teams face a subtle but dangerous behavior known as product development chicken. This occurs when individuals delay communicating problems or risks, hoping that someone else’s issue will surface first. Instead of addressing challenges early, teams wait until the project is already in trouble. The result is predictable: missed deadlines, increased costs, and […]

Why Test Failures Occur: Root Causes of Failed Tests

Why Test Failures Occur in Software Testing In software development and system engineering, test failures are often interpreted as evidence that the product contains defects. However, experienced engineers know that test failures can originate from multiple sources across the development lifecycle, not just the code itself.  This post originated from a read of a LinkedIn […]

Risk Sensitivity Balance in Product Development and Manufacturing

Risk Sensitivity Balance in Product Development and Manufacturing: Calculated Risks in a Technology-Driven World In today’s hypercompetitive environment, product development and manufacturing risk management have become strategic differentiators. Organizations that master risk sensitivity balance outperform those that either recklessly gamble or cautiously stall innovation.  I have spoken and taught on risk management. Whenever risk comes […]

AI in Product Development & Testing: Benefits, Risks, and Engineering Reality

AI in Product Development & Testing: Support and Refutation Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how products are developed and tested — offering speed, insight, and automation, yet also raising questions about reliability, variability, and limits in real-world engineering. This article examines both the support for and refutation of the use of AI product development tools, […]

Quality Improvement in Product Development: The Horse Isn’t Even Near the Water

Quality Improvement in Product Development: The Horse Isn’t Even Near the Water Before we go any further with this blog post, I need to note that this stems from recent consulting work that demonstrated the principle.  But that would not have been enough even though these thoughts were rolling through my head.  The catalyst was […]

Iterative Product Development and the Gears That Make It Work

The Iterative Development Process in Modern Product Development The iterative development process is not a single activity or phase—it is a system of interconnected disciplines working together throughout the product lifecycle. The attached graphic illustrates this system as a set of interlocking gears, each representing a critical capability required to move from concept to successful […]

Project Schedule Risk: Why “Monitoring and Control” Isn’t the Same as Delivery

When the Schedule Is “Managed” but Still Sinking Not everything can be turned into a process—especially in product development, where discovery and uncertainty are unavoidable. But there is a dangerous gap between acknowledging uncertainty and pretending it is under control. The image illustrates a familiar scenario: a project manager confidently “monitoring and controlling” while the […]

Testing vs Time to Ship: How Rushed Product Launches Create Manufacturing Failures

When Testing Competes with the Calendar Not everything can be turned into a process—especially early in product development, where learning is still underway. However, one decision consistently creates downstream damage: allowing testing to compete directly against launch dates. The image captures a familiar and dangerous scenario—standing still on the tracks while “time to ship” accelerates […]

When Process Deviations Become Dangerous: Lessons for Manufacturing and Product Development

By: Jon M Quigley When Process Helps—and When It Can’t We are a big fan of Aircraft Disasters on the Smithsonian Channel  (at least that is where we watch it).  This often appears in our written materials, including the occasional blog post.  This post origins from the season 4 episode 7, “Catastrophe at O’Hare” as well […]

A3 Template with Instructions

Reducing Process Costs – Value Transformation Book

What is a Negative Margin Launch

Building a Cause and Effect Diagram

8D Template

CMMI Tracking

Pugh Matrix

Using Pareto Charts

TIEMP 02

Contact Value Transformation about Agile and Lean