Playbook Logo transparent
playbook_banners 04 orange

Posts containing:

Milestone Buffer Chart: The Most Important Report You've Never Heard Of

David Paulson - 02/14/24 04:31 AM

In previous posts I’ve written about reports that are meaningless, misleading, and even damaging. (Yes, the last one actually causes your projects to...

Read More

Predictable End Dates - One Company's Journey

David Paulson - 10/19/23 01:01 AM

One of the most difficult things about making process improvements is knowing where to start. Doing the wrong thing is a waste of time and money, and...

Read More

Applying agile to hardware development (part 1)

Eric Graves - 02/5/23 06:00 PM

Agile development

Yes, Agile principles can be applied with benefit in hardware product development (Agile hardware development). However, Agile's...

Read More

Agile principle 1: early and continuous delivery of value

Eric Graves - 01/5/23 06:21 PM

In the next three posts we discuss Agile principles and how to apply the principles in hardware development. In this post we look at delivering...

Read More

Agile principle 2: welcoming changing requirements

Eric Graves - 10/5/22 05:22 PM

Agile principle 2: Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.

Software and hardware product development teams share important...

Read More

Effective Task management

Eric Graves - 02/20/19 12:15 PM

A lot has been said over the last several years about the fallacy of increased productivity when a person multitasks. Lean, Agile, and the Theory of...

Read More

Push vs. Pull

Eric Graves - 02/12/19 02:00 PM

What is the difference between push vs pull?

In a pull system, teams pull tasks from the backlog. As opposed to a push system where work is pushed...

Read More

Resource Management

Eric Graves - 02/4/19 03:09 PM

This is the fifth part of our series on Lean Project Management. In this post, we look at resource management. 

Read More

Lean Project Management Principles

Elyssa Pallai - 01/30/19 11:57 AM

A fundamental principle of Lean is smooth, continuous flow. Flow is achieved by eliminating turbulence caused when the flow through any process is...

Read More

Kanban Board Examples

Eric Graves - 01/24/19 11:34 AM

This is the third part of our series on Lean project management.

In this post we discuss visual management’s and Kanban's role in Lean and Agile...
Read More

Lean Project Management Methods and Principles

Eric Graves - 01/17/19 01:12 PM

This is the second part of our series on Lean Agile Project Management.

In Part 1 we recognized that one of the primary drivers of success in product...

Read More

Resource Availability - How to Calculate It

Eric Graves - 11/13/18 09:43 PM

The project team is falling behind schedule at a rapid rate. The major milestones and planned launch date are becoming further out of reach. You are...

Read More

11 Signs You Need to Look at Lean and Agile Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 08/9/18 04:31 PM

Taking a product from idea to launch is not a simple task. Projects are complex and when you are dealing in the world of hardware development, you...

Read More

Lean Agile Project Management (Part 2): Which Lean practices deliver the highest ROI?

Eric Graves - 07/19/18 05:47 PM

Feeling like you are using the wrong tools to achieve your product development goals?

This is Part 2 of a series of posts on Lean product...

Read More

What is Lean Project Management?

Eric Graves - 07/17/18 11:48 AM

Feeling like you are using the wrong tools to achieve your product development goals?

This is Part 1 of a series of posts on Lean Project Management...

Read More

Lean or Agile, Which is the Best for Hardware Development…?

David Paulson - 07/10/18 02:40 PM

We created a 9 minute video that shares two paradigm shifting ideas around what causes late projects. Here is the video, and why we did it...

Read More

Digital Transformation in IoT Means Transcending Traditional Product Development Borders

Elyssa Pallai - 05/15/18 03:51 PM

If you work in product development, the Internet of Things and connected devices are top of mind. The impact of the IoT transcends industry borders...

Read More

5 Principles of Lean Project Management

Eric Graves - 03/8/18 12:00 PM

I recently read the new book Team of Teams – New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by General Stanley McChrystal. I’d like to share some of my...

Read More

So you want to change the world?

Elyssa Pallai - 08/31/17 07:32 PM

Remember when you wanted to be a super hero?

Not like Superman, but someone who changed the world with great ideas that became cool products. A...

Read More

Lean and Agile Lessons That Make Parenting Easier (Really!)

David Paulson - 04/20/17 04:00 PM

My last blog post was about an example of great packaging design from Girl Scout Cookies, and I pointed out that we can learn Lean and Agile lessons...

Read More

Agile for Hardware - Free eBook

Elyssa Pallai - 02/14/17 06:31 PM

The most obvious difference between hardware and software is that hard goods cannot be undone, twisted, adapted and adjusted at the same rate, or...

Read More

Lean and Agile? Yes, it's both in hardware development!

David Paulson - 12/15/16 05:55 PM

Lean and Agile in Hardware Development

There seems to be some confusion about which works best for the hardware development process. This makes...

Read More

Top 10 Lean and Agile Posts From 2016

Elyssa Pallai - 12/13/16 04:44 PM

At the end of each year we compile our list of the top ten Lean and Agile posts. Here’s 2016’s.

So grab a glass of egg nog, make your way to your...

Read More

The Top Cause of Project Delays (It's Not What You Think)

Elyssa Pallai - 12/1/16 05:02 PM

Welcome to Playbook’s Three Lean Product Development Links. Why are projects late? We spend a lot of time thinking about this very question at...

Read More

Agile Values

Eric Graves - 11/15/16 02:26 PM

Component procurement time, component cost, and the variety of skills needed on most hardware development projects are greater and represent in our...

Read More

Setting a target launch date (project baseline) too early is a recipe for project delays

Eric Graves - 11/3/16 04:31 PM

Lean methods and Agile principles recognize that it’s almost impossible to get anything absolutely right the first time. Testing and iterating are...

Read More

Agile Hardware Development: Agile Principles 4 - 12

Eric Graves - 11/1/16 05:25 PM

We agree. Hardware product development is different than software. So when we apply Agile principles, we need a different approach.

Read More

The invisible, nefarious cause of project delays …!

David Paulson - 10/27/16 05:11 PM

Lean Project Management - The Cause of Project Delays

In a previous blog post, I mentioned how electronic lean/agile/kanban visual project management...

Read More

What is Lean Project Management for Hardware?

Elyssa Pallai - 09/13/16 04:19 PM

What is Lean project management?

Lean is any process improvement that substantially improves the throughput of your system, sustainably.

So, it is...

Read More

Visual Project Management Software: Play the game and see what you've been missing!

David Paulson - 06/2/16 06:39 PM

Does this sound familiar? Intuitively you know visual project management software is worth the investment, but how do you effectively communicate the...

Read More

eBook: Applying Agile to Hardware Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 03/25/16 04:58 PM

Due to the popularity of our blog series on Applying Agile to hardware new product development projects, we decided to create an easily shareable...

Read More

Audible Ready - Lean Project Management

David Paulson - 10/22/13 09:10 AM

Welcome to Playbook's's blog, Lean and Agile product development blog. Running projects requires the ability to adapt to new information quickly and...

Read More
Load More Posts

Popular Blogs