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Discussion on: "The Lean Startup" 10 Years On: Have We Failed?

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Ben Halpern

I sometimes get the impression that Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and Jira tickets -- while still very useful when used correctly -- have simply become a way of signaling "we do lean development", without actually following lean principles.

Ooooooh yes. I'm not sure there's ever been a time when that wasn't the case post "lean movement".

Almost nobody who uses the terms from the book actually read the book and are adopting them in context. They're mostly used as argument winners to jam home the point you otherwise wanted to make.

All that being said, I can't imagine living in a software world that didn't have this book. It put some words to some fairly universal truths about the nature of uncertainty and the need to think in contingencies instead of rigid pre-determined plans.

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Adam Miedema

Almost nobody who uses the terms from the book actually read the book and are adopting them in context. They're mostly used as argument winners to jam home the point you otherwise wanted to make.

I've had the unfortunate experience of working with people where this book was essentially their bible, and they still managed to take pieces wayyyyy out of context and incorporate wasteful practices in the name of being "lean"... And "winning" arguments as you say. 😞Welp, I guess it's like the actual Bible as well! 🤣