#### Step 1: Make your requirements less dumb - Your requirements are definitely dumb - It does not matter who gave you the requirements. Smart people giving requirements are especially dangerous because you're more likely to blindly trust them. - Everyone is wrong some of the time, no matter who you are. - Requirements must come from a person, not a department. A person must always be the owner/champion of a requirement. #### Step 2: Try very hard to delete the part or process - If you're not occasionally having to add things back (maybe 10% of the time, but tune this for your product) you're not deleting enough. - Don't add things "just in case" you need it... You can make "just in case" arguments for almost anything. #### Step 3: Simplify or optimize - Must come after steps 1 and 2 - Do not optimize something that shouldn't exist. Steps 1 and 2 should eliminate things that shouldn't exist. - We're all trained to "answer the question" -- it's hard to avoid optimizing things that shouldn't exist. #### Step 4: Accelerate cycle time - You're moving tooo slowly, go faster. - Don't go faster until you've gotten steps 1 through 3 down pat. (if you're digging your own grave, don't dig faster) - You can *always* move faster. #### Step 5: Automate