Lean Software Factory – Applying The Toyota Way to the continuous crafting of embedded evolving software

In 2011, Bouygues Telecom built a “software factory” to deliver software for its “boxes” (IPTV set-top boxes and internet routers). A Software Factory is a combination of tools and methods to promote automated building and testing, with a focus on configuration management. Since then, we have started a transformation journey, combining the ambition of agile software development and lean product/management culture. This talk focuses on the “factory” metaphor, since we have found that the way the software is built is as important as the software product itself when the competitive context requires a constant stream of changes. The key characteristics that are required from business come more from the production process than from the manufactured object itself. This talk describes our attempt to combine lean long-term vision and principles with the adaptability of agile development. We borrow from SCRUM, Extreme Programming, Devops, The Toyota Way, as well as our own experience and culture for building complex large-scale systems. I will reflect on both the similarities and differences from these various influences and explain how we are trying to build a multi-scale software product development methodology and factory.