War of the Frameworks – Is Lean IT losing its relevance?

Comments off 4636 Views0


I recently received an email from a colleague of mine who, after 15 years in IT, was wondering if Lean (and particularly Lean IT) is just an over-used term losing its value. Today we hear and read about Agile, DevOps, ITSM, IT4IT, Lean Startup and other frameworks all purporting to transform and revolutionize the effectiveness of IT operations. How do we make sense of it all?

In my opinion, these frameworks and the methodologies they apply to the “IT challenge” are not at all at odds with one another. On the contrary, they each bring unique insights and applications to the array of complexity within IT and support our progress towards more effective and efficient flow of information to those who need it. 

The Chassis

The principles of Lean IT, serve as the chassis to the engines of Agile, DevOps, and other IT frameworks. In 2011, I attempted to capture those principles in Lean IT – Enabling and Sustaining Your Lean Transformation. The principles included a foundation of purpose, respect for people, and relentless improvement. The next level addressed self-driven behavior where people do the right thing based on intrinsic motivation. From there we explored core ideas of Lean including voice of the customer, quality at the source, and systems thinking. Building on that, we moved into production concepts such as flow, pull and just in time. The outcome is a culture of trust, transparency, accountability and performance impacting quality, delivery time, cost, and organizational morale.

The details of the model can be downloaded here (scroll to the bottom of the page). Reflecting on the essence of what all the models are attempting to achieve, it boils down to this: 

Create Value

Flow Value to the Customer

Create a Great User Experience

Keep Getting Better  

There are many frameworks and tools to help us accomplish this, but the core principles do not change – they are universal, timeless, and self-evident once we apply them. With the advent of other frameworks, is Lean IT irrelevant? Are the core principles of an auto chassis irrelevant to a Tesla? I think not! Regardless of which frameworks your organization deploys, keeping these core principles in mind will help you maintain focus and stay the course. 

Mike Orzen is one of the early practitioners of Lean IT and contributed to the development of the “Three Ways of DevOps” found in The Phoenix Project. He has been practicing the application of Lean IT, Agile and DevOps for over 20 years. Mike is on the content board of LITA and a certified instructor.