Is your infrastructure for Lean and Agile as stable as it should be?

Softhouse are about to launch a new service that helps customers work in Lean and Agile ways more effectively. The service, called Leanfrastructure, makes it easy to create an infrastructure for existing and new processes, methods and tools which is better adapted
– all tailored to the individual companies’ circumstances and needs.

In fact, the idea is pretty obvious. We have a business, Softhouse, which is among the best in Europe at Lean and Agile. At any one time a hundred Softhouse developers are engaged on projects for corporate customers in Scandinavia. What could be more natural than that these hired consultants help the client companies to build up effective support for their approach?

Powerful tools
Leanfrastructure is about infrastructure – creating the tools and environment for systems integration, automated testing, version management, deployment, issue tracking and so on to achieve a continuous deployment of business value with shortest possible feedback loops. In short, everything needed for the methods which Softhouse advocates to be put into practice. The idea is also to develop packages or suites of tools that Softhouse itself has positive experience of, and that work well together.
“We know that our combined knowledge at Softhouse in this area is considerable, and that we can support each other to a greater extent when we are out on the road if we collect and organize this knowledge. Then we will also be able to see if there are gaps in our collective skills and do something about it,” says Christian Pendleton, Configuration Management Expert and Agile consultant at Softhouse in Malmö, and one of the driving forces behind the project.

Hands-on perspective
Softhouse currently has an excellent reputation as knowledge brokers in the form of training, coaching and the provision of information. Leanfrastructure is a complement to these educational programmes, going right to the heart of the customer’s business activities.
“You might say that we take over where courses and brochures stop,” says Payam Norouzi-Alam, developer and Agile consultant at Softhouse in Malmö. “We roll up our sleeves, grab hold of the tools and get our hands dirty.”

Leanfrastructure makes it possible to create a stable infrastructure for Lean and Agile. Usually the job involves strengthening and complementing processes, methods and tools already in place.
“If you want to build a robust bridge between order and execution you have to make it both strong and flexible. If the foundations and structures are not completely solid from the outset, you’re bound to get problems later on,” says Payam Norouzi-Alam at Softhouse Malmö – one of the initiators of the Lean­frastructure project.