Episode description

"Pull, don’t push. Don’t tell people what to do. Tell them what results you want and let them figure out how best to achieve the outcome that’s needed."

Mary & Tom Poppendieck are the co-authors of several books related to Agile and Lean, including their award-winning book “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit” published in 2003. In this episode, Mary & Tom shared about lean software development, its principles and mindset, and the concept of a pull system. Mary & Tom then pointed out the problems of having proxies in software development and how it is much better to manage by the outcomes by having the people directly figuring out the best way to achieve those outcomes. Later on, Mary & Tom talked about the concept of flow, why it is important to optimize flow, and how to optimize flow by analyzing the value stream map and minimizing approval process.

Listen out for:

• Career Journey - [00:05:26]
• Lean Software Development - [00:18:50]
• Pull, Don’t Push - [00:23:34]
• Proxies - [00:31:00]
• Managing by Outcome - [00:37:10]
• Optimizing Flow - [00:41:18]
• Value Stream Map & Approvals - [00:47:00]
• 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:05]

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Mary Poppendieck’s Bio
Mary wrote the now-classic book “Lean Software Development: an Agile Toolkit”, proposing an approach which focuses on customers, respects software engineers, concentrates on learning, and leverages flow. Mary is a popular writer and speaker. Sequels of her first book include “Implementing Lean Software Development: from Concept to Cash”, “Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point” and “The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions”.

Tom Poppendieck’s Bio
Tom has over three decades of experience in computing, including several years of work with object technology. Tom holds a PhD in Physics and has taught physics for ten years. He is the coauthor of four books: “Lean Software Development” (2003), “Implementing Lean Software Development” (2006), “Leading Lean Software Development” (2009) and “Lean Mindset” (2013).

Follow Mary and Tom:

• Website – http://www.poppendieck.com/
• Mary’s blog – http://www.leanessays.com/
• Mary’s Twitter – @mpoppendieck

Our Sponsor

Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals.
Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones.
Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends.

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For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/91.