Presentation: Lean Essentials: Improving How We Work
Abstract: Lean and Agile practices are sweeping through the project management industry. Agile projects are 3-times more likely to be successful than traditional waterfall projects based on data from the Standish group.
Lean practices are at the heart of Agile. Lean practices were first developed in manufacturing and popularized by Toyota. However, Lean is broadly applicable to project management and knowledge work.
Lean focuses on delivering value and eliminating waste. It provides a framework and process to examine what we do, how we do it, and whether we can do it better. Research shows that out of a typical 8-hour day, we are only productive for about 2.5-hours.
Kanban is one of the lean management tools that helps us manage the flow of work, identify bottlenecks, and deliver value sooner.
In “Lean Essentials: Improving How We Work”, Alan Zucker presents how we can better manage our work environment and projects through Lean thinking. Participants will:
- Be introduced to the 7 Principles of Lean;
- Recognize the 8-types of waste prevalent in knowledge work;
- See the impact of multitasking and task switching;
- Understand the difference between value and waste; and
- Use a rubric to assess value and waste in their daily work activities.
PMI Talent Triangle: Technical Project Management
Biography: Alan Zucker, PMP, PMI-ACP, Velociteach, Senior Instructor
Alan Zucker was practicing Agile well before the term was coined. In the early 1990s he employed the agile principles to deliver a mission critical project for the US Treasury. His agile skills were further honed during his years in the fast paced and dynamic telecommunications industry.
He played a leadership role in the Agile transformation of a major financial institution. During this period, the number of annual production releases increased 4-fold, average release durations declined by two-thirds, and project management execution costs were cut in half.
Alan is a senior instructor with Velociteach, the leading provider of project management education and certification. Velociteach offers public and group classroom-style training for certification and continued education, e-learning programs, comprehensive training kits, and licensing for outside trainers.Alan also developed a Lean/Agile e-learning course available on InSite, Velociteach’s cutting-edge mobile learning environment, specifically built for project managers.
Alan received his undergraduate degree from The George Washington University and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland. He holds a master’s certificate in IT Project Management from the George Washington University and is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and Agile Professional (PMI-ACP®) by the Project Management Institute (PMI). He also holds Agile certifications as a Scrum Master (CSM®) and Scale Agilist (SAFe 4.0 SA®).
