Kaizen – constantly improving productivity

Written in Chinese characters as 改善, Kaizen is Japanese for improvement and the philosophy is as relevant for software development as it is for production

Some of the world’s most innovative companies are employing a Kaizen philosophy following its success at Toyota. In principle , the philosophy involves a constant and underlying search by all personnel for potential improvements in efficiency – no matter how small.

Business changes too fast to accommodate long term, detailed projects with high levels of rigid specifications. Continual developments in technology, competition, customer requirements, and company structures require continual developments in software and systems.

So, compiling requirements, selecting resources, writing a detailed specification, sending it to a programming team, waiting for development, then testing and implementing takes too long.

By the time that process is completed, the world has moved on and requirements have changed

Instead, companies require continuous development using partners whose staff collaborate directly with business managers in the whole process of defining requirements, producing software, testing, training, customising and further defining, developing, testing and so on…

A continuous, evolving software development process gives continuous support to the business that’s continuously adapting to get ahead and stay ahead.