Achieving Agile Team Efficiency by the Application of Lean Approach Through Change Management

Abstract

Agile teams are meant to function promptly to deliver product components on time, within budget and to the quality expected. With time, it becomes necessary to bring forward changes to the structure and processes in order to improve efficiency of the team.  Unfortunately, new elements brought forward usually cause some disruptions in the smooth running of the team day to day activities.  This study looks into the application of lean approach towards change management that aims at increasing team by performing proper people management and eliminating wastages.   It is known that lean management is a way of analysing the way a business is being done and going forward with the elimination of rules and processes not bringing any value added.  The study takes into account various projects categorized as small. medium and large to investigate whether the lean approach is beneficial in achieving team efficiency.  A quantitative approach is used involving software developers with experience in using the agile methodology.  The findings reveal that the application of lean approach is quite convincing in managing agile teams for the smooth integration of changes.  While the benefits of lean approach is seen to be meagre on small sized projects, they are found to be quite substantial on large projects.