Lean Software Institute

Lean Conversations

In this series of interviews we will focus on people, ideas, and experiences that can help improve productivty, innovation, and leadership in IT organizations.

#1 Steve Mayer and Justin Cooper, Buzztime

Buzztime is a market leader in trivia games. Beginning in March of 2008, the company began working with the Lean Software Institute to implement Lean Product Development. A year later, we spoke with Buzztime's VP of Software Development (Steve) and Senior Director of Product Management (Justin) about the results they have achieved so far. We discuss tips for how to get started with Lean, what to watch out for, and common leadership challenges. Steve and Justin also reveal what's on their improvement agenda for 2009, as they continue their Lean Journey.

Posted April 3, 2009

#2 Frank Macaulay, Lockheed Martin

In this interview, originally recorded in February of 2009, we spoke with the Lockheed Program Manager for the Brigade Combat Team Modernization Program, Frank Macaulay, about our work with his organization to implement Lean Software Development. The bulk of this work was conducted from April 2005 to May 2007. The discussion touched upon leadership challenges, implementing Lean in a CMMI Level 5 compliant organization, and how has to make changes to organizational structure when the speed of software development increases dramatically.

Posted May 22, 2010

#3 Chris Hefley, Bandit Software

Bandit Software was founded in May 2009 by Chris Hefley, Stephen Franklin, and Daniel Norton. At the beginning of 2010, the company launched its first product, LeanKit Kanban, an electronic kanban system for managing inventory flow in value streams. We spoke with Chris about Kanban for software development, different form factors for Kanban, using an electronic kanban system to create management insight, and many other interesting topics.

Posted May 22, 2010