Think Lean When Doing Application Portfolio Consolidation

Packaged applications, custom-built applications, shrink-wrapped applications, and system software all share a common trait: Mergers, acquisitions, and the passage of time have allowed redundancy and overlapping functionality to creep into our portfolios. Lean techniques are helping some firms improve their software development processes and promise to deliver more business value by streamlining waste and driving greater efficiency. However, placing new, Lean applications into overly complex and bloated portfolios is only the first step. We must apply Lean techniques to all levels of application management: the software development level — to deliver more value more quickly and to avoid creating new bloatware applications; the portfolio level — to reduce existing waste and bloat in our packaged and custom-built applications; and the strategic application planning level — to align all application work to real business priorities. In the words of Peter F. Drucker, we must not only "do things right" (improve our systems development processes), but we must also "do the right things" — by ensuring that the work we do is of the highest value to the organization.