Our methodology
Lean Tech®
Our methodology
The rise of AI reinforces our conviction that technology can address the major challenges of our time. It offers the opportunity to design and deploy ingenious, sustainable solutions in service of clients, patients and citizens.
We believe in the Lean Tech® System: a strategy that combines the speed of the world’s best technology companies with the rigour of Toyota’s Lean Management.
We invest for the long term. We invest first in the development of people, before building products. This is how we build a high-performing company — one whose societal role is to learn, every day, how to better live together.
“After more than twenty years, it was clear that the Agile Manifesto needed Kaizen.This book is doing exactly that, based on the rare experience of a tech company that has combined agility with the genuine Toyota Production System (Lean), implemented thoroughly with some of the best sensei. I highly recommend it.”
“Scaling your business while remaining agile can feel like an impossible task, but fear not! Fabrice and Benoît have developed a practical playbook that is based on their deep experience, providing you with the tools you need to continue to reap the benefits of Lean as your business grows.”
“This is an important book. It describes the business system that organizations around the world so desperately need, and it reminds us that when it comes to solving the complex and urgent problems of our time, human decision-making and teamwork are just as important as technology.”
"If you are adopting Agile across your organization, but sense that something vital may be missing from your approach, this is an important book for you. Within these pages you will find a wealth of ideas that may lead you to discover solutions for your particular challenges."
"Le Lean Tech® est une vraie démarche structurante qui nous a permis de livrer dans les temps et dans le budget un produit répondant aux besoins de nos clients et aligné avec l’exigence patrimoniale de notre marque."
The Lean Tech® System brings together a set of principles and practices designed to help technology organisations scale an agile culture. It is the result of more than 15 years spent observing the most high-performing tech companies and experimenting in the field, while supporting our own growth at Theodo.
Inspired by the Agile Manifesto, Lean Tech® extends its spirit by incorporating the principles of Lean Management and best practices from the technology world. At the heart of the system lie five interdependent principles:
Clarifying the value sought by end users aligns the entire organisation — from tech teams to executive committees — around a shared compass.
It prevents us from wasting time on elegant but useless solutions, and pushes us to deliver early what truly matters.
What changes: we stop talking about “features” and start talking about impact. We build organisations oriented around problems to solve, rather than roadmaps to execute.
A Lean Tech® organisation is a network of autonomous, accountable and interconnected teams, supported by high-performing technology tools and a modular architecture.
Each team is able to deliver end-to-end value without relying on centralised processes.
What changes: fewer silos, greater responsiveness. Teams no longer suffer from complexity — they master it.
In a Lean Tech® organisation, quality is not a phase that comes after development.
It is a requirement embedded from the very start, at every level.
We put practices in place to detect issues as early as possible, address root causes, and prevent them from recurring — Dantotsu, code reviews, TDD, automation, observability tools, and more.
What changes: fewer bugs, less rework, teams proud of their products, and long-term customer satisfaction.
This pillar aims to synchronise the organisation’s efforts with real customer demand.
It relies on a pull-based workflow, work-in-progress limits, reduced feature inventory, and short delivery cycles.
Teams learn to deliver just what is needed, at the right time — without overload or bottlenecks.
What changes: faster learning from the market, without compromising quality. Greater predictability, smoother flow.
Finally, Lean Tech® is a learning system.
Where many organisations lock themselves into rigid processes, Lean Tech® is built around continuous improvement, grounded in real problems encountered in the field.
Teams are trained in problem-solving, standards remain alive, knowledge is actively shared, and improvements are driven by those doing the work.
What changes: every problem becomes an opportunity to improve. The organisation grows smarter as it scales — and remains flexible in responding to customer needs.
Building Lean Tech® organisations that are both high-performing and human-centred cannot be done alone.
The Lean Tech® community brings together product, technology and transformation leaders who share a common vision: learning together to better serve our customers by developing our people.
The Lean Tech® community is active in London and Paris:- Lean Tech® Circle London
