Best Product Innovation Book

The Lean-Agile Dilemma

If you are a chunky corporate trying to apply Lean-Agile software development principles, you are probably struggling with inefficiency, tension, and lack of alignment. The Chunky Corporate toolkit can help get your teams back on track and unlock previously inaccessible productivity.

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Katie Tamblin
Author of The Lean-Agile Dilemma: Product Management Inside a Chunky Corporate

Signs you are a chunky corporate

What makes a chunky corporate? Companies with lots of history and a strong track-record of growth are more likely to be chunky corporates.

500+

You have several
hundred employees

Networks are complex, and effective communication is a challenge.

10+

You've celebrated
at least 10 birthdays.

You have a long history that influences your future.

51%

Investors own the majority of your shares.

Leadership answers to a range of stakeholders, many of whom are outside the business.

Common Challenges

- Your shareholders want predictable performance, not innovation.

- You have existing software platforms that need rebuilding.

- Lean-Agile isn't working for your organization.

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Embracing your identity

The call to serve external stakeholders changes the fabric of the business, shifting focus from radical innovation to disciplined delivery of predictable performance. The transition from lean startup to chunky corporate means adapting to this new pursuit.

Applying appropriate tools in your business depends on a shared understanding of what your business is. If your business is a Lean Startup, owned by its founders and attempting to grow, you will pursue constant innovation. The aim of your constant innovation will be determination of the markets you can capture with your software products. However, if you have a defined market and aging software platforms, you need a different toolkit to manage software development. Lean-Agile wasn't built for that.

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Book Topics

The luxury of a lean startup

Lean startups are short on resources but long on freedom.

Execution not innovation

With great power comes great stability: when boring is good.

Scaling up

Can software development benefit from economies of scale?

Chief Poo-Poo Officer

You can't be everything to everyone. Focus is the name of the game.

Deciding what to build

Scope for enhancements is greater than capacity to deliver.

The challenges of replatforming

Replatforming is fundamentally different from building new products.

Replatforming the right way

Lean-Agile will not help you. You need to apply the Orienteering methodology to replatform well.

Dealing with data

Data, data, everywhere: how overlooking existing data can derail replatforming.

Managing customer demands

You can't deliver everything your mature customer base wants. How should you prioritize?

Products don't sell themselves

Product-sales alignment is critical to the success of monetizing new features.

Communication and making good decisions

Empowering good decision making relies on effective communication.

Driving cross-functional collaboration

Stop typing and start talking. Strong alignment starts with good relationships.

About The Author

Katie Tamblin is a data and software consultant who offers training and advisory services to businesses and investors. She is Chief Product Officer and serves on the Board of Alcumus Group Limited. With over 20 years of experience, Katie has led product, data science, technology, and marketing teams.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Keep reading to see if your question has already been answered below.

Why did you decide to write a book?

I didn't actively decide, rather, I started writing down anecdotes, lessons learned, and mistakes I had made. As I was writing and sharing thoughts with others, I found common threads. Colleagues, friends, and peers nodded in furious agreement with my experiences. I started using the book to guide my interactions with businesses I advise. It dawned on me: we are all making the same mistakes. Most of those mistakes are rooted in the misapplication of Lean-Agile at large, mature organizations. I've been helping companies to find another way to manage software development, so I decided to write it down.
What is wrong with Lean-Agile?

Nothing is wrong with Lean-Agile, but the concept is widely misplaced these days. Lean and Agile principles were written to guide activity in a specific set of circumstances. Those circumstances include the characteristics of being small and unaware of customer demand. Large, mature software organizations have neither of those challenges, so why do they try so hard to apply Lean-Agile? If your product and engineering teams are regularly banging their heads into brick walls, ask yourself: are they trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? Have I gone wrong asking them to be Lean and Agile? The Lean-Agile Dilemma can show you an alternative: one much better suited for a large, mature software-enabled business.
What is Orienteering?

In sport, Orienteering describes a type of racing in which participants navigate to defined waypoints with a map and compass. In The Lean-Agile Dilemma, I apply this term to the process of software replatforming, demonstrating a better way of organizing teams. Rather than striving to be Lean-Agile, which is in direct conflict with the desires of your investor-owners, Orienteering offers a way that you can maximize efficiency of software development while working within the constraints of being a large, mature software business.
When will the book be available?

The book is now published and available from major booksellers.

The Lean-Agile Dilemma: Product Management Inside a Chunky Corporate is available from major booksellers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Waterstones. You can also sign up for alerts by entering your email address below.