By Jennifer Zaino

Are you focusing on cutting waste while driving internal and external customer value? You may not know it, but you've taken steps toward creating a Lean IT practice, one that probably stretches across IT domains such as infrastructure and software management, software provisioning, and customer-facing processes. Maybe you're pursuing Lean IT in a bid to help your company prepare for growth after the downturn. Or maybe you are looking to Lean IT as a way to keep up with your industry's rapid transformation.

You are not alone. Both strategies were discussed by senior IT executives at a recent Smart Enterprise Exchange (smartenterpriseexchange.com) online event, as well as in follow-up interviews conducted by Smart Enterprise magazine. IT executives from Manpower Inc., Time Warner Inc. and Nationwide Children's Hospital participated in the discussions.

For example, as a provider of temporary, permanent and contract employees, Manpower Inc. felt the recession early. As such, the company today is among those preparing for growth after the downturn to stay ahead of its competition, says Denis Edwards, CIO at Manpower.

Edwards says one lesson of the downturn is that IT innovation must progress, even when economic circumstances aren't perfect. But this also requires IT to be as precise and efficient as possible in supporting business efforts. This is one reason why Manpower has moved to what's known as Agile software development, a term given to the practice of iterative and incremental software development; Lean development is one of Agile's methodologies.

Clear View
This approach enables Edwards and his team to create greater transparency for internal customers. It also helps them deliver desired functionality more quickly by prioritizing and developing the features that users have indicated are most important to them. Additional features can then be added following initial delivery if and when they are needed. Manpower's embrace of Agile relies on a Lean methodology that reduces waste, both by not overdelivering on features upfront and by making the most efficient use of IT development resources. "Moving to Agile development from waterfall development refines your thinking to the specific functions you need," Edwards says.