Discover the 8 Hidden Wastes Slowing Down Your Value Stream 🧊

What if tests were just the tip of the iceberg?

A confession: I spent my early years as a manager thinking all our problems stemmed from a lack of tests. More unit tests, more integration tests, more end-to-end tests... I was convinced it was THE solution.

Then a coach asked me a simple question: "What if tests were just the tip of the iceberg?"

This question changed my vision of software development. After 20 years leading product & tech teams, I can tell you one thing: we tend to focus on symptoms rather than root causes. The real question isn't "how many tests do we have?" but "how do we create a continuous value flow pulled by real demand?"

Let's dive into the 8 types of waste that disrupt this flow, with a different perspective on their impact. And trust me, some will surprise you!

1. Over-Production 📦

Ah, over-production! Teams' guilty pleasure. "Let's do it now, it'll be useful later," that phrase that costs us entire sprints of development... for features that end up forgotten.

Flow anti-patterns I've observed:

• Backlogs that look more like letters to Santa than action plans

• Features pushed by the team without real user demand

• Sprints so loaded they look like holiday season menus

To restore flow:

• Implement a real kanban system (and no, your Jira board doesn't automatically count as kanban 😉)

• Strictly limit work in progress (WIP) - yes, even that "quick ticket"

• Align your production capacity with customer demand rhythm

2. Waiting ⏳

Let's talk about waiting, that silent productivity killer. Throughout my value stream mappings in different organizations, one observation stands out: time spent waiting between development stages can regularly exceed development time itself. It's like those poorly synchronized traffic lights that make you curse in traffic jams: each stop breaks your momentum and concentration.

Classic breaking points:

• Validations that take longer than a Jenkins build on a Friday evening

• Dependencies between teams as complex as a Game of Thrones family tree

• Test environments more congested than downtown at rush hour

Restoring continuity:

• Visualize your queues (you can't improve what you can't see)

• Measure your lead time like you monitor your compilation time

• Create truly autonomous teams (not just on paper)

3. Unnecessary Transport 🚛

In our digital world, transport takes more insidious forms than a truck stuck in traffic.

The transports that weigh us down:

• Tickets that travel more than a backpacker on a gap year

• Code that navigates through 15 different branches before reaching production

• Specs that magically transform between initial idea and final implementation

Optimizing flow:

• Automate synchronizations (your time is worth more than copy-paste)

• Reduce intermediaries (each hand-off is an opportunity for error)

• Favor direct and visual communication (a good old whiteboard sometimes works wonders)

4. Over-Processing 🎯

Sensitive topic alert! No, I'm not saying we should neglect quality. But when your log management microservice has higher test coverage than your payment module, there might be a priority issue...

Telltale signs:

• Code optimized as if it had to handle Amazon Prime Day traffic... for an internal site

• Microservices architecture for a single-user application

• Code reviews longer than the initial development

The balanced approach:

• Define required quality levels by functional domain

• Accept "good enough" engineering when relevant

• Focus your efforts where it really matters (tip: follow the money)

5. Inventory 📚

In development, inventory is sleeping code. And like fine wine, code doesn't always improve with time.

Costly inventory:

• Feature branches aging like forgotten JIRA tickets

• Technical documentation as dated as jQuery

• POCs that never finish proving their concept

For lean flow:

• Aim for short and frequent integration cycles (I've seen teams go from monthly to daily releases applying this principle)

• Automate your deployments as if your life depended on it

• Treat documentation like code (with reviews and tests)

6. Unnecessary Movement 🔄

Every superfluous click is a small stone in a developer's shoe. By the end of the day, that's a lot of stones.

Movements that exhaust:

• Dev environments that require more clicks than a GDPR modal

• Validation processes worthy of an obstacle course

• Tools whose user experience seems to have been an afterthought

For more efficiency:

• Invest in good tools looking beyond direct purchase cost (that $200 mechanical keyboard? Considering productivity gains, fatigue reduction, and developer satisfaction, its true cost is negative)

• Automate everything that can be automated

• Train your teams on shortcuts (an efficient developer is a lazy developer)

7. Defects 🔧

The cost of a bug increases exponentially with time, like consumer credit interest.

Sources of avoidable corrections:

• Specs as clear as a quantum physics lecture

• Technical debt we repay at loan shark rates

• Misunderstandings between teams that create more bugs than features

To minimize corrections:

• Invest in the discovery phase (one dollar upstream can be worth 100 downstream)

• Plan time for technical debt like you plan your vacations

• Establish context-sharing rituals that aren't sleep-inducing meetings

8. Underutilized Talent 🌟

The worst waste: having rock star teams and making them play recorder.

Wasted talents:

• Senior architects spending their days in PowerPoint meetings

• Creative developers stuck on legacy maintenance

• Innovation initiatives dying in the egg for lack of time

To unleash potential:

• Give real responsibilities (not just LinkedIn titles)

• Create concrete innovation spaces (the famous 20% time that isn't 120% time)

• Invest in training like you invest in your servers

Pull Flow: The Keystone of Lean Engineering 🔄

Since falling into Lean Engineering two years ago, I had my "eureka" moment: pull flow isn't just a concept, it's THE solution. Let me explain why.

What is pull flow?

Imagine a starred restaurant: each dish is prepared only when ordered. In dev, it's the same:

• We only code what users really need (not what we imagine they want)

• We only move to the next step when it's ready (no more features gathering dust in staging)

• We smooth out tasks and maintain a regular rhythm (like a good orchestra conductor)

  Pull flow principles:

1. The Pull Signal: Each action is triggered by real demand (goodbye "just in case" features)

2. WIP Limitation: We limit work in progress like we limit tables in a restaurant

3. Continuity: A regular flow is better than a marathon sprint

4. Adaptation: Capacity adjusts to demand (like a good elastic)

How to implement it without overthinking:

• Visualize your flow (a good old physical board often does the job)

• Track your bottlenecks like a detective

• Standardize the essential (not everything!)

• Measure what really counts

Gemba: Your Best Ally 👀

Gemba (現場), literally "the real place" in Japanese, is where value is created. In tech, it's not just pretending to listen during dailies - it's diving into your teams' daily reality. Observe, question, understand. It's trading your manager hat for that of a code and product anthropologist.

Key questions for your "gemba walks":

- Where does work accumulate like unread emails?

- What are the breaks that really annoy your teams?

- What prevents having a rhythm as regular as a metronome?

Conclusion: Beyond Waste

These 8 wastes are just symptoms. The real challenge? Creating a value flow as smooth as your morning coffee. By eliminating these obstacles one by one, you transform your team from a gas factory into a well-oiled machine.

#LeanEngineering #PullFlow #ProductDevelopment #Engineering #Leadership #TechLeadership #Innovation #ContinuousImprovement