Applying Lean Thinking to Content Development

More Content in Less Time
Applying the secrets of Lean Thinking and
Agile Programming to the creation of content.

Mark Baker
Analecta Communications Inc
@mbakeranalecta #leancontent @LavaCon

Productivity is key
• Manufacturing
• Product design
• Software
development
• Content
development

© Analecta Communications Inc. 2013

2

Lean product development
• Toyota produces a
new vehicle in one
year compared to two
to three years for
North American
competition.
• Toyota produces
better cars at
competitive prices yet
makes more money

3

Agile programming
• State of Florida Statewide
Automated Child Welfare
Information System
– Started 1990, estimated $32M, delivery
1998
– As of 2002, spent $170M, estimated
$230M, delivery 2013

• State of Minnesota Statewide
Automated Child Welfare
Information System
– Started 1999, finished 2000, cost 1.1
million.


4

Lean thinking
• Toyota Production
System (TPS)
• “Lean Thinking” study of
TPS
– James P. Womack
– Daniel T. Jones
– Studied Toyota and other
companies
– Derived set of principles
dubbed “Lean Thinking”

5

Principles
•
•
•
•
•

Specify value: waste is any process that does not add value to the
customer. In order to identify waste, you must first specify what is of
value.
Identify the value stream: trace how value is added to a product at
each stage of the productive process. Waste is all the steps in the
process that do not add value.
Flow: The productive process should flow without interruption,
without waiting, and without unnecessary movement.
Pull: Nothing should be produced until it is needed by the next step
in the process.
Perfection: An organization must be committed to building and
maintaining a culture in which every employee is dedicated to
reducing waste and improving quality.
Womack and Jones, pp 16-26.


6

Lean Software Development
• Application of Lean
ideas to software
development
– Fusion with Agile

• Mary Poppendieck
• Tom Poppendieck


7

Principles
•

•
•
•
•
•
•

Eliminate waste: Waste is any process that does not add value to
the customer. In order to identify waste, you must first specify what
is of value.
Amplify learning: Product development is a learning process.
Decide as late as possible: The later you decide, the better
information your decision is based on.
Deliver as fast as possible: “Without speed, you cannot delay
decisions.”
Empower the team: Self direction is required to decide late and
execute quickly.
Build integrity in: Useful content must evolve over time.
See the whole: Optimize the system as a whole, not in pieces.


8

Lean Product Design
• Managing the
Design Factory
• Donald Reinertsen
• Disciplined
optimized approach
to generating
design information


9

Batch and Queue Manufacturing


10

Manufacturing Flow


11

Batch and Queue Content


12

Documentation beefs
• The spec keeps
changing
• The developers won’t
review the docs
– Carrot approach
– Stick approach


13

Content Flow


14

Promotes learning
• Errors are discovered
sooner
• Errors in content result
from defects in
knowledge
• Fix the defects in your
knowledge so you can
produce better content
faster

15

More efficient
• Better utilization of
resources
• No crunch at the end
of the project
• Errors detected
sooner means better
understanding, which
means fewer errors
are made

16

Catches more errors
• Reviewers can
focus on one issue
at a time
• Catch developers
while details fresh
in their minds


17

Improves completeness
• Reviewer reading a
book can’t see the
trees for the forest
• Focusing on one issue
leads developers to
ask where related
issues are discussed


18

Builds awareness
• When work flows, workers
can see how their work
affects the rest of the
process.
• With incremental review,
developers can see how
their work affects
documentation
• More likely to inform
writers of design changes


19

Waterfall design process
Requirements
System design
Analysis
Program Design
Coding
Testing
Delivery

20

Waterfall doesn’t work
• Keep trying to “get it
right the first time”
• But we never do!
• Insanity: doing the
same thing over and
over and expecting
different results
Einstein


21

Why waterfall fails
• Design generates
information
– Go from not knowing how
to knowing how
– At the start you have little
information
– At the end you have a lot
of information

• Decisions fixed at the
beginning are based on
very little information

22

Information theory
• Events that are less
probable contain more
information.
• The closer our first-pass
success rate is to 100
percent, the lower the
information generation
rate. This means that if we
succeed at doing things
right the first time we will
have driven all information
generation out of our
design process.
Reinertsen, Managing the Design
Factory, pp 69,79

23

Embrace change
• Information will
increase
• Designs will
change
• Content
requirements will
change
• Content will
change

24

Agile software development
• Iterative
development
• User stories
• Frequent deliveries
to customer
• Keep your options
open
• Do the simplest
thing that works
• Refactor constantly


25

Agile content development
• Iterative
development
• User stories
• Frequent deliveries
to customer
• Keep your options
open
• Do the simplest thing
that works
• Refactor constantly

26

Iterative development
• Develop content in
small chunks
• Use incremental
review
• Harmonize content
development with
product development


27

User stories
• Support user tasks
• Use personas
• Minimalism
– Deliver only content
that is known to be of
value to customers


28

Frequent deliveries to customer
• Publish continuously
• Make sure content is
published to all alpha and
beta tests, internal and
external
• Mark pages as unreviewed with appropriate
cautions, but make sure
they are read early and
often
• Provide a feedback
mechanism

29

Keep your options open
• Learn first, then
write
• Start as late as
possible
– More information is
available later

• Isolate volatility
– Media
– Subject matter

30

Do the simplest thing that works
• Don’t try to guess
what future needs will
be.
– You will guess wrong
and waste effort

• Do the simplest thing
that works today
• The simplest solution
will be easiest to
change when future
needs arise

31

Refactor constantly
• Maintain
simplicity by
refactoring to
eliminate
complexity and
redundancy


32

Evenness
• You don’t win the
Tour de France by
trying to win all stages
• Different techniques
optimize different
parts of the process
• Strive for evenness
• Optimize the whole
rather than the parts

33

No Best Practices
• “Best practices are only ‘best’ in certain
contexts to achieve certain objectives. A
change in either the context or the
objective can quickly transform a ‘best
practice’ into a stupid approach.”
Donald Reinertsen
Managing the Design Factory, p3.


34

Reading List
• Lean Thinking, James P.
Womack and Daniel T. Jones,
The Free Press, 2003.
• The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K.
Liker, McGraw Hill, 2004.
• Managing the Design Factory,
Donald G. Reinertsen, The
Free Press, 1997.
• Lean Software Development,
Mary Poppendieck and Tom
Poppendieck, Addison
Wesley, 2003.


35

Reading List
• Every Page is Page One
• By Mark Baker
• XML Press
– http://xmlpress.net/publications/eppo/

• The Every Page is Page
One design pattern is well
adapted to lean content
development.


36

Contact information
• Mark Baker
• Analecta
Communications Inc.
• www.analecta.com
• mbaker@analecta.com
• @mbakeranalecta
• +1 613 422 9400

37

Applying Lean Thinking to Content Development

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