Theory of Constraints

I know I bang on about this time and time again! However if you want to get Agile you need to find the constraints within the organisation. You need to remove them as quickly as possible if you want product - i.e software to flow. Frameworks such as SCRUM are but one part of the Agile picture. When you attend a daily meeting and are asked for the impediments affecting your progress - think constraints.

Theory of Constraints - ‘Viable Vision’

There was a time when I believed that Agile was restricted to Agile Methodologies and frameworks. However the light ‘came on’ several years ago when I overheard a conversation on Lean Production in the manufacturing industry. For ages I figured that the best development team in the world could be let down badly if they could not get their code into Production - and so Agile had to encompass a wider remit than merely the use of a methodology in one part of the software delivery chain. This then led me into Critical Chain Analysis and the Theory of Constraints. I came across a guy called Eli Goldratt, and it was like a whole bunch of lights came on. Throw in some Total Quality Management and Behavoural Psychology and you are almost there on what it means to be agile!

The point is this, Agile Software Management covers the end to end process from initial idea concept to delivery into production. It is concerned with ensuring that business value (via production of the software that the business requires) hits production as efficiently as possible with minimum inventory in the system.

Treating one element of the delivery chain in isolation will not make a company more agile. The whole end to end process needs to be checked for constraints and bottlenecks, and they need to be treated immediately. Productivity wil flow very quickly afterwards.

You can find more about Eli Goldratt here www.goldratt.com

Watch the video and think big or Read the book and think bigger