Agile Scrum and Lean: a beautiful marriage!
Today, many organizations are improving their processes and their organizations. Often necessary due to digitalization, budget cuts or increased (international) competition. Being agile and achieving good results seems feasible only in excellently organized and functioning organizations. Various improvement methods can be used for this purpose: Lean, Agile/Scrum and many more. However, for many organizations, it is often unclear which choice to make and what is the best approach for them.
In our view, an organization does not have to make a choice because Lean and Agile/Scrum make a beautiful marriage! The thinking is complementary, the tools complement each other well, and they offer organizations a multitude of tools to be successful.
The goal of Lean is to create a process that adds as much value as possible and eliminates waste. This results in an output in line with customer expectations in minimal lead time with minimal waste. The most appropriate Dutch translation of Agile is flexible or agile. The thinking of the Agile manifesto is reflected in every contemporary Agile development approach such as Scrum. Scrum is a systematic approach based on some clear principles such as commitment, problem solving and simple.
Continuous improvement in an agile organization
Of course, there are differences in that Lean originated in Automotive (Toyota) and Agile/Scrum originated in IT development environment. And Lean focuses on streamlining the entire organization, while Agile/Scrum has focus on the team. But the similarities are much greater. Both Lean and Agile/Scrum are really focused on continuous performance improvement within an organization. Creating a culture of continuous learning and adaptation (short-cycle) are central to both. In doing so, in both Lean and Agile/Scrum, people are the most important factors, not technology or tools. And lastly, both Lean and Agile/Scrum are very output-driven. The end result counts based on the client’s wishes and expectations. It is about an agile organization that is able to meet ever-changing customer demands in the most efficient manner.
A beautiful marriage! Lean and Agile/Scrum complement each other perfectly. The philosophies have many similarities where the instruments do differ, but often complement each other as a result. So in these times of choice stress, thankfully you don’t have to choose between Lean and Agile/Scrum. Depending on your goal and concrete situation, you can easily switch between different tools as long as the goal remains continuous improvement. Dare to experiment and fail, and learn from that. Lean and Agile/Scrum will help you do that.