5S Kaizen in Software Engineering: Part V Shitsuke

And finally we come to the end: Shitsuke, or usually in English, Sustain.

This is the process by which Seiri, Seiton, Seiso and Seiketsu are maintained and - as for Seiketsu - is not so different from the way Kaizen should be applied to more traditional engineering fields. Indeed, this S is very aligned with the core idea of Kaizen, as it is to do with continuous improvement of the first four Ss. To apply Shitsuke, we must initiate the review process and plan a schedule for the maintenance of all of the ideas and infrastructure we put i place previously. The process for reviewing and assigning responsibilities for the maintenance of the whole and the sub-parts of the systems are dependent mainly on human factors.

To apply Seiketsu to our software development practices, we could:

• Undertake active project review.
• Practice project retrospectives.
• Timetable periodic reviews of the software development infrastructure.
• Assign people (quality engineers, domain experts, administrators, rule enforcers, coaches etc.) to all of the aspects of the practices and infrastructure.
• Facilitate the means for suggested changes to be trialled and rolled out.
• Undertake individual and group level continued professional development (CPD).
• Create opportunities for individuals to promote their personal practices and expertise to the team.

So, that's me done, for a little while at least. These thoughts are doubtless naive in some ways, but I hope I've managed to elucidate some useful ideas, for my own retrospective benefit at the very least. I'm sure this wont be the last I write on this topic, as two of my recent book purchases are 5S Kaizen in 90 Minutes and The Toyota Way...