Presentation held at Euromicro 2012 SEAA (Izmir/Cesme Turkey) )conference for paper titled: Adapting the Lean Enterprise Self-assessment tool for software domain. ABSTRACT: Lean principles have attracted the attention of software development companies due to their potential to improve competitiveness. However, the application of such principles in the software domain is still in its infancy. This paper presents a proposal for adapting the Lean Enterprise Self-Assessment Tool (LESAT) to guide the transformation of software development companies toward Lean. LESAT, developed by the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been widely used in other domains. In this study, concepts and expressions of LESAT were analyzed and mapped to software development following the ISO/IEC 12207 standard. Seven assessment items concerning life-cycle processes were modified from the original LESAT. The modified LESAT for software was compared with a lean assessment approach called "Lean amplifier, " which has been developed and successfully used in practice by Ericsson R&D in Finland. The results indicated that LESAT may complement lean assessment in the software domain at enterprise level, involving the entire value stream. Moreover, they clearly emphasized the role of leadership in the transformation. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6328160

1. http://www.cloudsoftwareprogram.org/ http://www.oulu.fi/mgroup/
Adapting the Lean Enterprise Self-Assessment Tool
for Software Development Domain
Authors: Teemu Karvonen, Pilar Rodriguez, Pasi Kuvaja, Kirsi
Mikkonen, Markku Oivo
Presentation @ SEAA 2012 38th Euromicro Conference
5.9.2012 Cesme, Izmir, Turkey
Teemu Karvonen (University of Oulu, Finland) &
Kirsi Mikkonen (Ericsson R&D Center, Finland)

2. Presentation contents
1. Paper presentation (Teemu Karvonen)
 Introduction to topic
 What is Lean Enterprise Self Assessment Tool (LESAT)?
 Adaptation of LESAT for Software Development i.e. What we have
done?
2. Lean reality, experiences from Ericsson Finland R&D (Kirsi Mikkonen)
 Lean transformation in Ericsson
 How LESAT is applied in Ericsson
3. Q&A

3. Introduction: Lean paradigm
Shift From Mass-production
to Lean-production

4. Lean principles
PRINCIPLES OF LEAN
1. Specify value from the standpoint of the end
customer by product family.
2. Identify all the steps in the value stream for each
product family, eliminating whenever possible
those steps that do not create value
3. Make the value-creating steps occur in tight
sequence so the product will flow smoothly toward
the customer.
4. As flow is introduced, let customers pull value
from the next upstream activity.
5. As value is specified, value streams are
identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow
and pull are introduced, begin the process again
and continue it until a state of perfection is
reached in which perfect value is created with no Source: http://www.lean.org/whatslean/principles.cfm
waste

5. http://www.poppendieck.com/ http://www.leanprimer.com/
Lean Software Development
Build Quality In
Respect People Eliminate waste Deliver fast
Defer Commitment Create Knowledge Optimize the Whole

6. Lean Enterprise Transformation

7. Lean Enterprise Transformation
Lean highlights the importance of
considering the whole enterprise in the
transformation. Thus, a lean enterprise uses
lean not just in some areas but in
everything it does

8. Lean Enterprise Transformation
Is related to organizational change.
“the process by which organizations move from their
present state to some desired future state to increase their
effectiveness”
Jones (2004)

9. Lean Enterprise Transformation
 Why do many lean transformation efforts fail?
 What are the key success factors in implementing lean
enterprise-wide?
 How can we better assure that lean will impact bottom
line results?
 Are there certain transformation activities that are
logically performed before others?
 What is the role of senior leadership in assuring success?

10. Assessment(s) and transformation
In many cases enterprise transformation is cyclic process,
where assessments produce important data and input for
corrective actions for new cycle
“At intervals, lean assessments are useful to get a picture
how lean transformation is progressing. From time to time it is
vital to check if corrective actions are needed, major or
minor ones.”
(Kuusela & Koivuluoma, 2011)

11. Lean assessment in software domain

12. Lean Enterprise Self-Assessment Tool
Lean Advancement Initiative
http://mit.edu/
http://lean.mit.edu/
Aerospace industry
(LAI Consortium members)

13. Seven Principles of Lean Enterprise Thinking
Based on both practical observation and rigorous research, LAI researchers
have developed seven principles of a successful lean enterprise
transformation
 Adopt a holistic approach to enterprise transformation
 Identify relevant stakeholders and determine their value propositions
 Focus on enterprise effectiveness before efficiency
 Address internal and external enterprise interdependencies
 Ensure stability and flow within and across the enterprise
 Cultivate leadership to support and drive enterprise behaviors
 Emphasize organizational learning

14. http://lean.mit.edu/products/lean-enterprise-model
http://lean.mit.edu/products/enterprise-transition-to-lean
http://lean.mit.edu/products/lai-self-assessment-tool-lesat
More LAI products at:
http://lean.mit.edu/products

15. LESAT Adaptation for software
development domain
Conceptual space Real space
 Review prior research,  Evaluate LESAT for Software
literature etc. utility in real world (Only
tool comparison, no
 Translate LESAT’s empirical evaluation yet)
conceptual architecture,
principles, and practices in
to software context.
Deeper
LESAT for Software understanding of
(proposal) Lean in SW
domain

16. for software development
- 7 modified assessment items
- Mappings to ISO/IEC 12207
- Additional remarks for agile
and lean development
Adaptation:
1. Review of LESAT language, concepts and processes
2. Mapping of lean practices and processes to software domain:
LEAN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Poppendieck etc…
Agile methods Scrum etc…
ISO/IEC 12207 Standard - Software lifecycle processes

17. LESAT for Software Adaptation
summary
 LESAT for Software-documents
 7 from all 54 practices were modified, all changes in Life-cycle
processes section
 87% of lean practices could be remained similar to original LESAT
i.e. language and terminology compatible with “Software domain
language”
 Mappings to ISO/IEC 12207 processes
 Additional remarks/mapping to Lean & Agile SW development
 Summary sheet(s)

18. LESAT For Software
Demonstration
LEAN ENTERPRISE SELF‐ ASSESSMENT TOOL
FOR SOFTWARE DOMAIN
LESAT FOR SOFTWARE V. 0.73 4.12.2011
Teemu Karvonen (teka@iki.fi)
Available for download:
LESAT for Software:
http://goo.gl/9Odqv
LESAT for Software summary sheets for
assessment:
http://goo.gl/Iis5k

19. Reality Check / Evaluation
for software development
- 7 modified assessment items
- Mappings to ISO/IEC 12207
- Additional remarks for agile Ericsson Lean Amplifier
and lean development AGILE & LEAN SURVEY
SOFTWARE ENTERPRISE

20. Using LESAT for SW in practice
Ericsson Lean transformation since 2008
 Utilizing LESAT organization level statements to facilitate
lean transformation in software enterprise
 Focus on enterprise level value stream
 Continuous improvement at organization level
 Method used:
 Self learning through Team discussion
 Participants empowered to initiate further actions
 Resulting in new thinking:
 Lifts focus from team to organization level challenges
 Larger benefits to focus on end-to-end flow

21. Conclusion
 LESAT for Software can complement current assessment
tool portfolio in software domain
 Contains enterprise level, value stream view in Lean
adoption / lean transformation
 Compatibility with other LAI based models and tools (MIT
approach for lean transformation)

22. http://www.cloudsoftwareprogram.org/
http://www.oulu.fi/mgroup/
Thank You!
Questions?

23. Additional material
Comparison results

24. Ideas for future research
 Field testing
 Empirical evaluation of tool in software industry
 Extend knowledge about lean transformation characteristics
in software industry
 LESAT version 2.0 sync & update (new version release
made available 2012 by LAI)

25. Comparison (overview)
LESAT Ericsson Lean Amplifier
for software development AGILE & LEAN SURVEY
30 30
25
25
20
20
15
15 10
10 5
0
5
0
Lean transformation / Lifecycle Enabling infrastructure
leadership
54 assessment items in three main sections 167 assessment items in 8 main sections by
by process areas process areas

26. Comparison (Lean principles)
LESAT Ericsson Lean Amplifier
for software development AGILE & LEAN SURVEY
Womack & Jones (1996) Lean Principles:
18.00% 45.00%
16.00% 40.00%
14.00% 35.00%
12.00% 30.00%
10.00% 25.00%
8.00% 20.00%
6.00% 15.00%
4.00% 10.00%
2.00% 5.00%
0.00% 0.00%
Value Value Flow Pull Perfection Value Value Flow Pull Perfection
stream stream

27. Comparison (Lean principles)
LESAT Ericsson Lean Amplifier
for software development AGILE & LEAN SURVEY
Poppendieck’s (2006) Lean Software Development Principles:
20.00%
30.00% 18.00%
25.00% 16.00%
14.00%
20.00% 12.00%
15.00% 10.00%
8.00%
10.00% 6.00%
5.00% 4.00%
2.00%
0.00% 0.00%