Second Generation Lean Product Development – Applying the Principles of Flow – By Donald Reinersten

An intensive two-day workshop on practical, economically justifiable approaches for improving flow in product development.

Initial attempts to apply lean methods in product development simply copied behaviours that worked in manufacturing. This doesn’t work — development is a profoundly different domain. Eliminating all variability works in manufacturing; in product development it eliminates all innovation. Second Generation Lean Product Development takes a different, science-based, approach. It relies on understanding mechanisms of action and quantifying trade-offs. It uses economics, statistics, queuing theory, and concepts from telecommunication network design.

This workshop covers the ideas contained in Don Reinertsen’s bestselling book, “The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development.” It focuses on proven leverage points and specific practical methods that have helped participants achieve as much as a 90 percent reduction in cycle time.

It is fundamentally different from other workshops in its intense focus on quantification, economic justification, and the use of a science-based approach for applying lean.

Topics covered include:

• Using economic frameworks and calculating Cost of Delay.
• Managing queues using insights from queuing theory
• Designing processes that function in presence of variability.
• Understanding the science of batch size reduction and how it enables flow.
• Using Kanban and other advanced approaches to controlling WIP.
• Using cadence to manage the accumulation of variance.
• Sequencing work based on economic principles (the basis of WSJF).
• Using synchronization to lower coordination costs.
• Accelerating process feedback loops.
• Decentralizing control to deal with uncertainty.
• Examining approaches to implementation

Workshop Details