Lean project management and its implementation

Abstract

Lean management is a popular approach to improving efficiency, reducing waste, and enhancing quality. Lean management is a way of thinking and a systematic approach to eliminate waste, and lean project management is using this approach to create efficiency and delivery better results for costumer’s needs. Lean project management focuses on removing obstacles in the project plan to speed up the project by eliminating unnecessary waste from the project process.

Lean management originated from the Japanese car manufacturing companies such as Toyota in the 1940s and 50s as a response to the country’s socio-technological economic problems of increased competition levels and resource limitations. Lean management has 3 principal sources of waste: Muda, Mura, and Muri. Lean project management seeks to eliminate all 3 sources of waste.

This article will cover the theory behind lean management and lean project management. This will include the background of lean management, and further elaboration on the 3 sources of waste in relation to lean management and lean project management, the 7-types which is specific types of waste, the principles of lean project management, and explain multiple tools and techniques project managers can use in managing lean projects.

This article will also cover how project managers can implement lean management. Implementing lean management can be challenging, and many project managers struggle to achieve the desired results of improving efficiency, reducing waste, and enhancing quality. The project managers must clearly set goals for the implementation and communicate them to the team. In addition, the project manager must have sufficient knowledge of lean and analyze where improvements are necessary for the project process. The lean project manager can introduce lean tools into the project process and provide training to the employees. Lean management is based on continuous learning and improving the project process and because of this monitoring and analyzing progress is a good way to keep the project lean.

Lean project management has many advantages such as high customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and efficient project process. But there are also some limitations for the project manager and the project process such as lack of analysis of which process needs improvement, time-consuming management, and higher risks. All these limitations can cause the opposite effect of the benefits of lean management. Because of this, some areas in the industry make the lean approach more suitable than others.