Due to relatively short duration, scope and lower complexity - Kaizen Lite have only 2 phases: Requirements (egg) and Construction (metamorphosis).

Due to the fact that support tasks might not always require involvement of Stakeholders (in cases of bug fixes), architecture is (most likely) already defined and less management/planning is required - SME’s and Tech Lead can work on up to 2 projects (based on Kaizen Lite) and BA, TL, PM can work on up to 3 projects (based on Kaizen lite).

Please be aware that load should be controlled and people shouldn't be overloaded (muri), as overloaded people might become main source of waste in the project

It is very advisable to use Kanban method and Kanban board with this model, as it would help focus on topics that are outside of scope of this document and significantly improve organization / visibility which, as a result, would substantially improve efficiency of process as a whole.

Every project, with time, tends to increase amount of business and technical debt, so one of main goals of Kaizen Lite is to constantly visualize, analyse and remove waste.

Lifecycle

• Support is the most costly and lengthy phase of product life cycle
• Amount of waste in the process/product grows with time

Challenges

• With time process/procedures tend to become complicated and amount of paperwork increases
• With time architecture tends to become „broken” and quality of code decreases
• Often people wait for work or are overloaded with it - due to unbalanced process/procedure
• Due to lack of pride in workmanship – unhappiness, lack of commitment and high attrition rate

Kanban

• Provide visibility and control supply of milestones (work) to the Team

Cycle

• Two phases: Requirements (Egg) and Construction (Meta) instead of standard four
• Cycle recommended length is 2 weeks

Checkpoints

• It is recommended to have 2 checkpoints: 1h after Egg and 2-4h after Meta. Duration can be changed if cycle length is longer than 2 weeks

Roles

• Vision pair (BA+Tech Lead) can work on multiple projects, but workload to be controlled to avoid overload (muri)
• SME’s and Tech Lead can work on up to 2 projects (based on Kaizen Lite). BA, TL, PM can work on up to 3 projects (based on Kaizen lite)

Waste

• Direction pair reviews Recycle log constantly and takes action to remove business debt
• At least every third cycle - action items in Recycle log to be reviewed and implemented to remove technical debt

Unless explicitly specified – existing guidelines of Kaizen model apply

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