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Anti-Lean Quotes


Set of quotes which usually highlights Anti-Lean behavior

Create waste instead of Eliminate waste

'Developer who is not working at least on 4 projects is not properly utilized' - less is definitely more and only done-done work counts by end of the day, limited work in progress is helping to focus on right priorities
'In case of any network issues please create a ticket on the help desk system at our partner's web-page' - creating catch 22 situations by design is craziness, such a process does not make any sense
'Yes, this is what our customers really need but could we add also this small feature, just in the case?' - extra feature creates an extra complexity, it is better to stay focused on real value and make it great for the users

'I know that you are working on the top priority but I am sure that you can do also this small task till noon' - probably there will be nothing really done by noon, task switching is more expensive than it looks like
'I cannot continue till back-end guys finish that API I need' - in this case feature oriented team should be better that typical functional teams to avoid the waitings like this

'Development is over and next week we will do handover to the ops team' - if they have to operate the solution they should be involved sooner

'We will fix this bug later' - ouch, known bugs shall not pass!
Disable learning instead of Amplify learning
'You have to make it perfect at the first attempt, you are an expert' - James Bond is just a movie not a real person, also experts need experiments and learning
'I know it the best and I do not care about your opinion' - appropriate feedback could help also this James Bond
'It is not possible to do it in small steps, it is all or nothing' - identification of meaningful increments is not always easy, but needs to be done anyway; it is development not big-bang magic
'We should kill all stand-ups and grooming meetings, people should work instead' - work on what? communication and alignment is the key
'We have exactly this one possibility' - spend little bit much more time and find more options could bring new light into solution
Big up-front planning instead of Decide as late as possible
'Only when back-end is fully finished and deployed we can start with front-end implementation' - some mocking could help to apply more concurrent development
'In order to prepare budget for a next year I will need detailed overview how much virtual machines we will need, how much RAM, CPU and disk they will occupy' - oracle ball is needed for such a report, probably this decision could be delayed when we have better understanding
Jeopardize delivery instead of Deliver as fast as possible
'Even I know that there is no customer who wants this but I am sure that this will be a game changer' - do not forget that customers should pull features into production, make some prototype to test your idea at first 

'We cannot deliver faster then once a year' - in most cases we can, but we have to change the way we are working 

'XY is the best one, call him now and let him fix it!' - protect your 'best ones' that they could be focused only on really top priority work and delegate rest

Create pushovers instead of Empower the team
'We have to plan it in details up-front and then let monkeys execute precisely our plan' - old way of management does not do the job anymore, best solution emerge from the real team work 

'They do not have a clue about our goal therefore we have to take care about each detail' - avoid micro management and coach teams to be self-organized and self-determined 

'I can hire hundreds like you in India in a second' - motivate and encourage people is not easy job but this is not very helpful

'Just do what I said' - if people are treated as push-overs they hardy become innovative and self-organized heroes

'I do not have budget for a such expensive training' - not all learning is about spending money, it is also possible to invest some time into internal groups of expertise


Disrupt integrity instead of Build-in integrity
'It is not a bug it is feature'
Focus on my desk instead of See the whole
'I am responsible only for architecture of communication layer and I do not care how it is connected with rest of the system' -  see the big picture is very helpful to optimize and invest an effort into the right place


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