Why 5S Applies to Software Engineering

I've heard a few comments lately about how the Toyota Way practice of 5S is not really applicable to software development. The argument usually goes along the lines of:

We don't need to tidy up: everything we do is inside a computer.

This worried me for some time, but I only recently realised exactly what the problem is with this: 5S is not about tidying up, it is about minimising waste.

In relation to the manufacture of auto-mobiles, Taichi Ohno identified seven wastes:

• Overproduction
• Unnecessary transport
• Inventory
• Excessive motion
• Defects
• Over-processing
• Waiting

There have been additionally proposed fundamental wastes in businesses, most notably:

• Goods that don't meet user demand
• Unused human potential

In software development, only some of the physical wastes at first seem to apply, but I suggest that almost ALL of the wastes apply to software development. Just think about it.