to "consultants" who charged x$/hour/person_deployed, would we have a Toyota Production System today?
Think about it. Imagine someone like Wipro or Infosys providing the manpower (cheap offshore manpower if you will) for Toyota's assembly line. What would the probability be of Toyota coming up with a world beating manufacturing/design approach?
Many "Lean Software" advocates draw very tenuous relationships between a very unique achievement in the manufacturing world, try to spin their own practices (ahem - did I hear someone say " agile" ?) and say (in effect) "By the power of Toyota, Taichi Ohno and Kanban, you should do [consultant's favorite methodology practice item]".
I recently read a book on implementing Lean Software, by one of the "luminaries" of the methodology sales world , in which every chapter had the following pattern.
- A one paragraph example of how Cool Company [Toyota/Boeing/Google] etc did something cool [developed the 747, say].
- One aspect of this successful effort (failed efforts by the same companies, often using substantially similair methodologies, are ignored) - say, cross functional teams- vaguely resonates with "agile" or "lean software" principles.
- One or more teeny weeny "experience reports" from the author which sound like stories from the Brothers Grimm, full of archetypes and soundbite morals-to-take-home, of the calibre of "Don't talk to wolves on the way to Gramma's house"
- a "summary" that states point blank that software development could do much better if the unenlightened masses would adopt these ideas
Most of these "agile/lean" consultants haven't written any significant software, nor managed any world changing software efforts. In direct contrast, the TPS "senseis" are often people who have worked for decades on extremely successful, innovative, *world class* products that they can point to ("see that Prius/Corolla/other prominent model, I was its Chief Designer").
Software seems to be the only area in which people with no history of creating significant software can go around teaching people who do write software how to do it.
If you try to pin these folks down on any specific practice or project they fall back on ever more woolly explanations. The most creative one I heard was that "Lean Software is about the principles of effective development not about practices (which admittedly are quite different for sw development vs manufacturing )".
That's ..errr..comforting? No one can question motherhood and apple pie statements, especially when they are explicitly divorced from concrete achievements or practices.
To get intelligent people to listen, a lean (or anyother buzzword) salesman should (a) deliver outstanding, world beating software, (b) do so consistently for a long period of time(how does 20 years sound?) and then talk to others about how he or she pulled off all these astounding projects. Most people who are outstandingly good at development or management often have better things to do than be "methodology consultants". Can you imagine Linus Torvalds becoming a "How to create succesful open source projects " consultant? Or Sergei Brin "consulting" on "How to create a succesful product company"?
People who can, do. It is only after "doing" for a very long time and consistently succeeding that they can pass on that knowledge if they choose to do so.
Having said all that, if anyone wants to make a lot of money (in Bangalore/India), the best thing to do these days is to get a "Certified Scrum Master" certification. A *lot* of dumb companies here are looking for such "masters" and are willing to pay good money. If you need the money, go for it I say. Be sure to get in (and out) before the fad fizzles.
All you have to do is pay up, sit through the seminar(s) and hey presto, you are now qualified to spread the Word. I get enquiries *every week* on whether I can reccomend someone for (or do some) "Agile Coaching". A "Certified Scrum Master" can make a killing in Bangalore today. As I said, you need to be fast. Lots of people have sensed the money and are lining up for the ScrumMaster certification.
But if you are on the other end of that pile of money, beware of consultants bearing buzzwords.
Is it possible to learn from Toyota's processes and apply them in software? Perhaps. But such an effort would be less about listening to conmen and more about doing lots of original thinking, reading (the original sources .. not "lean software" type blurbs) and a tonne of "doing" and reflection in *your* context.
And oh, don't believe anyone who charges you by the person hour or is trying to get you to outsource software development is sincere about "lean software". They aren't.
