Lean principles for the lean project-based enterprise

Lean principles have been applied extensively to manufacturing and administrative processes. Yet, despite increasing pressure to decrease time to market and maximize stakeholder value in product development, relatively few organizations appear to have applied lean principles to this domain. While there is a clear need to eliminate waste in product development, creating a lean project-based environment requires adaptation of "traditional" lean principles. This paper describes a case application in the Belgian Armed Forces, which illustrates how lean principles were implemented at a functional, project, pipeline and portfolio level, incorporating risk management, theory of constraints, creation of flow, and pull thinking.