The Principles of Product Development Flow: A Deep Dive into Second Generation Lean
However, as the weeks turned into months, the team's velocity began to slow down. Defects piled up, and the team found itself stuck in an endless cycle of bug fixing and rework. The product owner, Rachel, was getting anxious, as the delayed release was starting to impact the company's revenue projections. The Principles of Product Development Flow: A Deep
In the modern era of software and hardware innovation, speed is the only currency that matters. Yet, most organizations remain trapped in "First-Generation Lean"—optimizing manufacturing efficiency rather than product development flow. In the modern era of software and hardware
Variability is inevitable, but not all variability is bad. High variability in task arrival or processing time destroys flow. Instead of trying to eliminate all variability (which is costly), Reinertsen recommends variability using buffers: time buffers (slack), capacity buffers (extra people), or inventory buffers (small WIP limits). The economically optimal buffer size balances the cost of delay against the cost of the buffer. High variability in task arrival or processing time