Category: defer commitment

Seven Principles of Lean Software Development - Defer Commitment

November 6, 2008 by Przemysław Bielicki

Picture courtesy of _fabrizio_@flickr

No matter who you are, where you live and what your job is you have to make decisions. Some decisions are easier, some more difficult (e.g. which way do you want to go on the crossroad with traffic lights from the picture?). But why making decisions is hard? When you make a decision, how do you know it is the right one? What information (if any) you have to posses to make the right decision?

This problem can be referred as "Defer Commitment" principle. Very briefly it tells you to make the decision in the last possible moment when you have enough information to be sure you are going in the right direction. It doesn't tell to you to procrastinate - NOT AT ALL! It's a wrong thinking. It only tells you that you have to wait and collect the data and as soon as you have enough information, make the decision.

In this post I will try to explain "Defer Commitment" principle from "Implementing Lean Software Development - from Concept to Cash" book.