Over the last few years I have learnt a number of techniques that introduce lean system thinking into running development projects. This is a summary of the techniques I have found useful and examples of how I have applied them.

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A lot of source code is written using mono-spaced fonts which seems odd when you consider most other published text you read uses a proportional font (eg. this blog post).

When reading a coding book, all of the text is in a nice proportional font so you can quickly read thorough the book, yet any source code included is often written in mono type just to make it lined up or to distinguish it from the rest of the text.

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It is not uncommon in IT projects that you are required to learn something on the fly or you see an opportunity to introduce a new technique or tool that would bring great benefits to a project.

How do you manage the learning curve required for something new without major impact to the project?

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Having an inquisitive minds is a great thing but there can be a tenancy to be interested in too many things that you never learn something deeply enough. How do you stop the inquisitive monster in you mind and get on with just one thing?

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When I started thinking about cloud computing, I asked myself some questions:

• Is cloud something new?
• Do we know what cloud is?
• Is cloud just the sum of all the services available on the Internet?
• Are we really moving towards something new (the cloud) or away from something current/legacy (the local data centre)?

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I’ve added a new task to my personal kanban to look into how the Drizzle project would provide a high performance database system for the cloud.

As the project is still in alpha phase it will be interesting to see what concepts and features are discussed through the projects growth. I hope studying Drizzle will give me another perspective on the transition of computing to the cloud.

I’m also adding Planet Drizzle to my Google Reader account to keep up with the Drizzle project news.

Thank you.
@jr0cket

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 ShareAlike License, including custom images & stylesheets. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at @jr0cket

If you find your browsing a little slow or find that some sites are blocked by your ISP, then you can try using the Google Public DNS as an alternative (full set up details). Here is the how and why of setting up your Internet connection via Google DNS on Ubuntu.

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In a Linked in post, someone asked if its possible to be both lean and agile. I think it is possible and this is what I replied:

If you are considering the value of the activities and your deliverables within your process, be that an agile process or not, you are starting to tend towards lean. How far you go towards lean depends on how much introspection you do and how much you act on the results.

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A Google Wave has been set up for the Lean and Kanban exchange being held at Skills Matter on Tuesday 1st December.

The wave will be updated during each talk with a summary, please add your contributions at the same time if you can - wave is collaborative so join in… Dont worry if what you type it not perfect…

Direct link to wave: http://bit.ly/7yiiQ2

Or search for the wave in the Navigation panel or type in the search criteria in the Inbox panel search box. Either way you should use the following text:

with:public tag:#leankanbanX 
with:public tag:skillsmatter

Until you follow a wave or are added by someone, you need to include the with:public, otherwise google wave will just look at your inbox.

Once you are following the wave you can find it in your overcrowded inbox by using tag:#leankanbanX or tag:skillsmatter GoogleWave accounts are by invite only at present, if you need an invite please let me know.

Thank you.
@jr0cket

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 ShareAlike License, including custom images & stylesheets. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at @jr0cket

A Google Wave has been set up for the Agile testing and BDD exchange being held at Skills Matter on Friday 27th November. Search for the tag #agiletextingX and you should find it.

To search for a tag in GoogleWave, add a new search in the Navigation panel or type in the search criteria in the Inbox panel search box. Either way you should use the following text:

with:public tag:#agiletestingX

GoogleWave accounts are by invite only at present, if you need an invite please let me know.

Thank you.
@jr0cket

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 ShareAlike License, including custom images & stylesheets. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at @jr0cket