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The Lean IT Field Guide - Lean IT Applied For Real!

How many IT books have you read that are long on theory and short on practical application? They are interesting, but not very impactful. They provide a framework from which to think and understand but lack a process from which to act. Addressing this urgent need for the IT community, The Lean IT Field Guide explains how to initiate, execute, and sustain a Lean IT transformation.

Illuminating a clear path to lean IT, the authors integrate more than two decades of combined experience to provide you with a proven method for creating and sustaining a true lean IT workplace. This field guide not only highlights the organizational techniques of more agile and lean processes, but also the leadership work required to help management adopt these new approaches.

Based on proven methods from different industries, including banking, manufacturing, insurance, food and beverage, and logistics, the book details a clear model that covers all the components you need to achieve and sustain a favorable work environment and culture in support of lean IT.

Reviews

"I’m excited about this book because it fills in many of the gaps that we all wanted filled after reading Mike’s first book, Lean IT. It continues the journey of the principles and practices learned through decades of experience, as well as showing concrete patterns that can be applied to technology work.

Like Lean IT, this book focuses on technology value streams that enable the business. Even better, the lessons are equally relevant to any value stream, whether it’s service, manufacturing, healthcare, or other value streams that rely on technology."

Gene Kim

Coauthor, The Phoenix Project and The Visible Ops Handbook

"This short, readable book is a triumph of clarity, dense with practical advice. There’s simply no better work available to anyone looking to kick-start a sustainable lean IT transformation. It provides the necessary tools — and no more — illustrated with vivid, relevant examples, and ties them together into a coherent whole with the bare minimum of theory and exposition. Highly recommended."

Jez Humble

Vice President at Chef, Coauthor Continuous Delivery

"The Lean IT Field Guide answers the fundamental questions posed by so many who read the books, attend the conferences and are inspired by others to transform their own team: Where do we begin? How do we get started? What should our first steps be? Authored by two experienced Sherpas, Tom Paider and Mike Orzen ensure you will never be alone on your path to truly great results."

Rich Sheridan

CEO, Chief Storyteller, Menlo Innovations and Author
Joy, Inc. - How We Built a Workplace People Love

About the Authors

Mike Orzen

Mike Orzen has a consulting and coaching career spanning more than 20 years. He has gathered a unique blend of lean, IT, finance, and operations experience, which he uses to coach organizations in their pursuit of enterprise excellence. His personable approach and people-first philosophy have inspired leaders and empowered workforces to successfully apply conscious awareness, lean, and enterprise excellence practices in many complex work environments.

He is the co-author of the award-winning book Lean IT and the recipient of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. He holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of Oregon. Mike teaches at the Lean Enterprise Institute, the Shingo Institute, and the Ohio State University Fisher School of Business.

Tom Paider

Tom Paider is an IT executive for Nationwide, a Fortune 100 insurance and financial services company. His teams work across Nationwide to foster lean thinking and improve software development capability. He is also a lean coach in the Masters in Business Operational Excellence program at The Ohio State University.

Tom is the co-founder of the IT Leadership Network at the Center for Operational Excellence at Ohio State University, a partnership between industry and academic leaders focused on helping member companies collaborate and sustain their lean journeys.