ideas worth stealingThe Kaizen Software Manifesto
Today, I launched The Kaizen Software Manifesto.
Why? Because I think the software industry has limited itself through its current processes and standards, and the best way for the industry as a whole to move forward is to continually focus on finding new solutions, ones that haven’t yet been discovered and ironed out. The software industry is not designed to stagnate. Quite the opposite. In fact, the constant in-flux nature of the technology world is exactly why I love it so much.
That said, the industry is fairly settled on ideas like Agile development, and User-Centered Design, which, at their core, have changed very little over the years, despite that they have so much room for improvement. Since the goal is to keep moving forward, what’s needed is not a new process, it’s a mindset that enables us to continually develop new ideas.
Kaizen is uniquely qualified to play this role. Kaizen is the practice of continuous, incremental improvement. The Manifesto simply applies this idea to the software industry.
From the site:
“The Kaizen Software Manifesto is offered to create a foundation that processes themselves cannot provide. Instead of proposing another process, the Manifesto offers a mindset - a culture - that can be used to give birth to new processes, whatever they may be. Instead of confining practisioners to the restrictions of any one process, it enables them to improve the process, or even to invent a new one. The goal of the Kaizen Software Manifesto is not to confine, it is to enable.”
I first wrote about kaizen in the context of web and software design in Designing the Obvious. Since then, I’ve come to realize the limitless potential and power of kaizen when applied to other aspects of the software business. It applies to marketing, customer support, internal and customer-facing processes, product development, and even meetings.
My hope is that The Kaizen Software Manifesto will mark the beginning of a new conversation, focused on new ideas.
Take a few minutes to look around and see what you can gain from adopting the mindset of kaizen, and by developing a culture of continuous improvement.
Posted by Robert on February 28th, 2007
4 comments
I agree with you, there is lot to happen..Software development is at its early stages…So there is always room for improvement, it would keep happening. One should be open to adopt/come-up-with a process that does the best in the given situation..
Incremental development is a good way to go in current context. All web 2.0 applications go through alpha, beta, gamma etc phases..People still do it differently…
-abdul
Agile’s not changed much over the last few years? Doesn’t seem that way to me I have to admit :-)
Awesome!
Thank you for doing this. As a product manager, I’ve been a fan of Kaizen for a while. It’s a great way to maintain product vision across an organization, and make change a pleasant word to hear in meetings.
Josh -
Glad you like it. Kaizen has a lot of potential in this industry, and I think it also helps companies see their potential, so it’s definitely something worth exploring.
Spread the word!