The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development

Few developers realize that queues are the single most important cause of poor product development performance.

Developers are unaware of DIP, they do not measure it, and they do not manage it. They do not even realize that DIP is a problem.

design-in-process inventory (DIP

The orthodox beliefs are quite well-defended, so we will need to assault them with heavier weapons later in this book

Today’s orthodoxy has institutionalized a set of internally consistent but dysfunctional beliefs.

FIFO prioritization is almost never economically optimal in product development, because product development deals with high variability, nonrepetitive, nonhomogeneous flows. Different projects almost always have different delay costs, and they present different loads on our resources.

example, manufacturing deals with predictable and repetitive tasks, homogeneous delay costs, and homogeneous task durations. As a result, manufacturing sequences work in a simple first-in-first-out (FIFO) order

At its heart, this new paradigm emphasizes achieving flow. It bears many similarities to the methods of lean manufacturing and could be labeled lean product development (LPD).

These three specific methods are actually broadly applicable throughout the development process

Among other things, this paradigm emphasizes small batch transfers, rapid feedback, and limited work-in-process inventory (WIP