What is lean product development?
Definition: Lean product development is a process for developing new products and services that focuses on maximizing value and minimizing waste. It is based on the principles of lean manufacturing, which were originally developed in the automotive industry and have since been applied to a variety of industries.
The lean process cuts cost by eliminating unnecessary practices, shortens the development cycle by reducing the number of workflows, and prevents errors by empowering employees to participate equally in each iteration.
Principles of lean product development
The 4 principles of lean product development are:
- Eliminate waste & deliver fast
Eliminate unnecessary protocols and inefficient communication that delay production. The results are a constant, steady workflow and fast delivery.
- Respect teamwork & amplify learning
Make sure teams get the full score of the project, see the bigger picture, and share their knowledge. The outcome is finding diverse solutions and fixing issues quickly.
- Quality > Quantity
Not sacrificing quality over quantity. The goal is the production of small quantities based on customer demand, so customers’ needs are met accordingly.
- Optimize the whole system
Different stages of product development run simultaneously rather than one after the other, resulting in a shorter development timeline.
Read about agile product development here.
