Lean vs Agile Project Management: What's the Difference?

When you are seeking to improve operational efficiency within your manufacturing operation, you may be considering implementation of methodologies such as lean and agile project management. With lean and agile project management, you can improve the procedure in which you manage the components within your process/project.  For fundamentals, see lean manufacturing basics.

Project management is by far one of the most challenging areas to control and many companies find themselves struggling with it. Even if you have a good product or service, having improper or inadequate project management can easily lead to disastrous results for the company. Therefore, understanding and implementing lean and agile thinking into your manufacturing and project management can be extremely beneficial to your overall operation and may lead to a drastic improvement in performance. 

The Differences Between Lean and Agile Project Management 

Lean project management is a system that primarily focuses upon improving the overall quality of how an organization works. With lean, it takes into consideration every process in an organization, and it aids in efficiency enhancement, waste reduction, overall effectiveness of each employee and process, and cost enhancement. Lean’s overall focus is on waste reduction - there is not any amount of waste that is considered “okay”. Therefore, improving the quality to the product or service and giving better value for money to the end customer is ideal. 

Agile project management is the process in which every project is managed and executed in small parts. Each selection is completed, reviewed, and critiqued as the project is continued. The overall idea of this system is to aid in decision making and solve prevalent issues more effectively with less wasted time and resources.  For background, see Agile 101 overview.

These two project management systems are different but also are extremely similar as well. While they are similar, the way that they are applied are quite different and are applied to various aspects within an organization. Some of the aspects to consider of these methodologies include the following: 

• With lean methodology, it comes from the manufacturing sector. Agile methodology came from software development. 
• Lean management is considered a long-term process improvement system for a company while Agile is usually utilized for quick decision making within projects. 
• Lean methodology manages the overall work of an organization and applies to all areas of management to get a more efficient and effective overall process. Agile methodology concentrates on making efficient quick decisions and overall solving issues in the best way possible in the least amount of time possible. 

A software that can aid with lean and agile methodology implementation is PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software. This software allows you to have overall insight into your manufacturing operation and project and manipulate areas that need efficiency enhancement. APS software is becoming increasingly prevalent within operations that need efficiency enhancement, cost reduction, and profit maximization. APS software can be implemented into manufacturing operations around the globe and enable your company to maintain a competitive edge within your industry. 

Advanced Planning & Scheduling Software 

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software has become a must for modern-day manufacturing operations due to customer demand for increased product mix and fast delivery combined with downward cost pressures. APS can be quickly integrated with a ERP/MRP software to fill gaps where these systems lack planning and scheduling flexibility and accuracy. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) helps planners save time while providing greater agility in updating ever-changing priorities, production schedules, and inventory plans.

• Create optimized schedules balancing production efficiency and delivery performance
• Maximize output on bottleneck resources to increase revenue
• Synchronize supply with demand to reduce inventories
• Provide company-wide visibility to capacity
• Enable scenario data-driven decision making

Implementation of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software will take your manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency, taking advantage of the operational data you already have in your ERP.

Video: Lean Manufacturing – Reducing Waste with PlanetTogether APS

In this video, you’ll see how PlanetTogether Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) helps manufacturers apply lean principles to reduce waste, improve flow, and boost efficiency. Learn how APS supports lean-style planning while agile-style responsiveness allows you to react quickly to changing priorities and customer demands.

Key takeaways from this video:

• How APS helps apply lean waste reduction in daily schedules
• How lean and agile ideas both benefit from a shared, visual plan
• How to reduce waiting, motion, overproduction, and inventory through better sequencing
• How what-if scenarios enable agile responses to changes
• How PlanetTogether APS uses ERP/MRP data to support continuous improvement

Turn Lean and Agile Ideas into a Plan That Makes Money

Comparing lean vs. agile is useful—but real results come from how you actually plan and schedule work every day. Without the right planning approach, lean efforts stall in meetings and agile experiments never make it out of slides. PlanetTogether APS uses the data you already have to create realistic, flexible schedules that reduce waste, improve flow, and support faster decisions.

Download our one-page “The Money Is in the Planning” infographic to see how better planning and scheduling can help you:

• Cut waste from waiting, overproduction, and excess inventory
• Improve on-time delivery and throughput without endless firefighting
• Use your ERP/MRP data to support both lean efficiency and agile responsiveness
• Turn project management philosophies into tangible, measurable improvements on the shop floor

Use it as a quick checklist when you’re deciding how to implement lean or agile practices so you focus on the planning and scheduling changes that actually move the needle