Lean Principles

5 minutes 5 Questions

Lean manufacturing or Lean production, often simply referred to as 'Lean', is a systematic method for waste minimization within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity. Lean principles are derived from the Japanese manufacturing industry. The five key principles include defining value from the standpoint of the end customer, identifying each step in a business process and eliminating steps that do not create value, making the value-creating steps occur in tight sequence, and continuously improving the process.

Guide and Exam Tips: Understanding Lean Principles

Importance of Lean Principles:
The importance of Lean Principles in Scrum lies in their ability to eliminate waste, streamline production, maximize customer value and optimize efficiency. These principles provide a framework which helps in identifying wasteful practices, thus fostering improvement and innovation.

What are Lean Principles?
Lean Principles are a set of guidelines originating from the Japanese manufacturing industry, especially from the Toyota Production System (TPS). There are five core principles: Define Value, Map the Value Stream, Create Flow, Establish Pull and Pursue Perfection.

How it Works:
Lean principles provide a pathway to achieve a smooth production flow; it ensures the right things reach to the right place at the right time. It helps in creating value without wasting resources.

About the Exam:
In an exam context, questions around Lean Principles are typically centered around understanding the principles, recognizing scenarios where they can be applied and identifying practices that align with these principles.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Lean Principles.
To answer effectively, first thoroughly understand each principle. In the exam, pay attention to the question and identify which of the five principles it relates to, before providing your answer. Use specific examples of how the identified principle can be applied in a given scenario. Remember, your goal is to show that you can use these principles to improve process efficiency and customer value.
Test mode:
Start practice test

PSM I - Lean Principles Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Lean Principles

Question 1

The Scrum team has been working on high-priority tasks, however, the low-priority tasks are piling up, leading to a larger backlog. Which Lean principle would best manage this situation?

Correct Answer: Optimize the whole system by managing flow

Optimizing the whole system by managing flow is a core Lean principle that addresses the issue of tasks piling up by ensuring a balanced workload throughout the process, rather than tackling tasks based on priority alone or changing team structure. Prioritizing tasks strictly on deadlines can lead to important but not urgent tasks being consistently neglected. Scaling the team or changing the focus of stand-ups does not directly address the principle of managing work flow to improve efficiency across the entire system.

Question 2

A Scrum Team finds themselves consistently delivering complex features which don't align well with the product vision. They are using too much time in dealing with technical debt. What Lean principle can be applied?

Correct Answer: Apply 'Optimize the whole': work to ensure that efforts align with the overarching product vision while minimizing technical debt.

The correct answer focuses on the Lean principle of optimizing the whole system rather than its constituent parts. This approach ensures that the team's efforts are aligned with the product vision and reduces technical debt. 'Amplify learning' and 'Empower the team' are also valuable Lean principles, but they don't directly address the issue of aligning with the product vision and managing technical debt. 'Build integrity in' is also an essential principle; however, the suggested implementation in the wrong answer doesn't effectively address the problem of ensuring alignment with the product vision and instead may introduce unnecessary delays.

Question 3

Your Scrum Team is demotivated due to working on the same project continuously with minimal progress. What Lean principle could be applied to enhance team motivation and productivity?

Correct Answer: Empower the team to pull tasks based on their current capacity.

Applying the Lean principle of 'Empower the team' by allowing them to pull tasks based on capacity can enhance motivation and productivity by making the team feel in control of their work. Frequent retrospectives, while beneficial, might not directly address motivation tied to project monotony. Strict deadlines could potentially add pressure without addressing the underlying issue of motivation and engagement. Reallocating team members might seem like a solution but could lead to disruptions and loss of project knowledge.

More Lean Principles questions
26 questions (total)
Start 26 question test

Other Scrum and Lean Principles concepts

Agile Values and PrinciplesRoles in ScrumScrum Meetings (Daily Stand-Up)
All Scrum and Lean Principles questions · PSM I practice test