Working in a software company, I often hear my colleagues talk about challenging projects and demanding clients. I understand both parts: the challenging and the demanding because I know there’s unending challenge in software development and yes customers have the right to demand.
If I were the customer, submerged in a sea of technology competition, I would do the same. In the same manner that if I were the developer, I’d probably use all my powers to turn in an excellent work, may it be from scratch or modified existing application.
Perhaps the challenge in software development that is closest to the customer’s heart is cycle time. In simpler terms, cycle time refers to the time the project is started (i.e., goal-setting and team building) to the time the finished product is operationally available to the customer (tested, documented, installed, trained and supported).
If the process is smooth, well and good. Everybody’s happy. However, there will most likely be snags along the way. That is why in every project development, there are people who are assigned to do time and motion study. This is in the hope of reducing cycle time.
Toward this end, project managers use strategies to reduce cycle time. One is the Agile method, which reduces cycle time in many situations because of the following reasons:
- Smaller teams undertake smaller units of work and are hence more efficient.
- Smaller iterations facilitate parallelism. Iteration A can be tested while Iteration B is being built and Iteration C is being defined (requirements are being determined).
- Smaller units of functionality are less complex, and defect insertion rates are consequently lower.
- Shorter iterations reduce the consequences of requirements changes driven by changing business circumstances.
- Most Agile teams are structured so that they have end-to-end responsibility – hence fewer hand-offs and shorter queues or backlogs of incomplete work.
- It may, in some instances, be less difficult to manage and reduce interruptions.
Other factors that contribute to longer cycle times merit study and measurement, too. For now, if you notice, the operating words on the list above are smaller, shorter, fewer. These are the same operating words for lean—manufacturing or Six Sigma. Thus, I believe reducing cycle time is more effective with Lean Six Sigma, which emphasizes root-cause solutions.
Related story: Applying Lean Principles to Product Development
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