A self-paced foundations course for IT professionals who want to apply Lean thinking to IT services, operations and delivery. Seven lessons cover the five Lean principles, identifying waste, measuring and improving flow, visual management, standard work, structured problem solving and Lean leadership behaviours. Each lesson includes a practical exercise using your own team’s work.
What you will learn
- Explain the five Lean principles in an IT context
- Identify the main forms of waste in IT work
- Measure lead time, flow efficiency and work in progress
- Use visual management and WIP limits
- Create standard work that supports improvement
- Solve problems with A3 thinking and root-cause analysis
- Practise Lean leadership behaviours
Lessons
- Lean Principles in IT
- Recognising Waste
- Flow, Lead Time and Work in Progress
- Visual Management and Pull
- Standard Work
- Problem Solving with A3 Thinking
- Lean Leadership and Culture
Self-paced course from Tech Skills Library. Educational content only; it is not an accredited qualification, licence or credential.
Lessons
Lean Principles in IT
Recognising Waste
Waste is anything that consumes time or resources without creating value. Learning to see waste is the core Lean skill, because most waste in IT is hidden in systems and queues. The classic wastes translated to IT Overproduction: building features or reports nobody uses. Waiting: tickets waiting for approval, information or a specialist. Transport and […]
Flow, Lead Time and Work in Progress
Flow is the smooth movement of work through a value stream. Measuring flow reveals where work gets stuck and helps teams deliver faster without working harder. Key measures Lead time: elapsed time from request to delivery, as experienced by the customer. Cycle time: time from starting work to finishing it. Throughput: number of items completed […]
Visual Management and Pull
Knowledge work is invisible. Visual management makes work, problems and priorities visible so teams can manage flow and spot issues quickly. Kanban boards A Kanban board shows each work item as a card moving through columns representing workflow stages, such as “ready”, “in progress”, “review” and “done”. Use the actual stages your work passes through, […]
Standard Work
Standard work is the current best known way to perform a task. It is not bureaucracy; it is the baseline that makes improvement possible, because you cannot improve a process that is done differently every time. What standard work looks like in IT A checklist for onboarding a new user. A runbook for restarting a […]
Problem Solving with A3 Thinking
Lean organisations solve problems systematically rather than jumping to solutions. A3 thinking, named after the paper size originally used, structures a problem on a single page. The A3 structure Background: why this problem matters. Current condition: facts and data describing what is happening. Goal: the measurable target condition. Root-cause analysis: why the problem occurs. Countermeasures: […]
Lean Leadership and Culture
Lean is sustained by leadership behaviour. Tools introduced without changes in how leaders act tend to fade within months. Respect for people Lean rests on continuous improvement and respect for people. Respect means involving people in improving their own work, listening to their ideas and removing obstacles that frustrate them. Go to the work Leaders […]