Abstract

Lean principles have been seen as a potential answer to the current issues of faster development cycles and more frequent releases, as software businesses are changing towards more service-oriented offerings and cloud-based business structures. Agile software development methods have played an important role in resolving the same issues at development level. This article creates a framework for lean software enterprise theory by linking lean theory, lean software development, and agile software development methods. The findings are tested through an empirical study conducted in two significant software engineering organizations. This article presents a conceptual lean software development system that clearly combines lean and agile. The important role of people and culture is also emphasized. Agile software development methods are characterized as the tools of lean software development and while lean software development is seen as a change beyond agile, agile approach is required for competitive advantage.