While kanban is necessary, it is not sufficient. Other elements of lean startup, such as innovation accounting, are independent of kanban. And while kanban can help lean startup, lean startup also can help kanban. In this pattern, the lean startup concepts apply to the evolutionary change of a technology organization enabled by the kanban method.
References
- Ries, Eric. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. New York: Crown Business, 2011.
- Anderson, David J. Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business. Sequim: Blue Hole Press, 2010.
- Womack, James and Daniel Jones. Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated. New York: Free Press, 2003.
- Anderson, David J. “Understanding the Process of Knowledge Discovery.” http://agilemanagement.net/index.php/Blog/understanding_the_process_of_knowledge_discovery/ Accessed in Oct. 2011.
- Anderson, Jeff. “Applying Lean Startup techniques to Kanban (or any other) Organizational Transformations.” http://agileconsulting.blogspot.com/2011/11/eric-ries-definition-of-startup-is-as.html Accessed in Nov. 2011.
- Yeret, Yuval. Kanban Method Change Machine – As a Story Map. http://www.slideshare.net/yyeret/kanban-method-change-machine-as-a-story-map Accessed in Mar. 2012
About the author
Alexei Zheglov was introduced to agility before he was introduced to Agile. In 2002-06, he worked in a startup that built, measured, and learned (yes, the motto of future lean startups). He learned that releasing software and getting feedback from users can take a lot less time than he had previously thought.
In later years, Alexei studied and practiced Agile more systematically, starting with unit testing and code craftsmanship and then moving into “process” topics. He had a short Scrum phase as his quest quickly lead him to Lean and Kanban.
Alexei's current interests are Lean thinking, understanding flow, process improvement, Kanban, and combing them with agile engineering practices.
