Can you be both Lean and Agile?

In a Linked in post, someone asked if its possible to be both lean and agile. I think it is possible and this is what I replied:

If you are considering the value of the activities and your deliverables within your process, be that an agile process or not, you are starting to tend towards lean. How far you go towards lean depends on how much introspection you do and how much you act on the results.

Tending towards lean should aim to remove as much waste and deliver the most value as feasible. How lean you become would be driven by an understanding of the value chain of your organisation.

In short, you can be agile and lean, but consider how much value you get from what ever you understand from each of those terms.

I am not an expert in understanding in lean, but the above captures the essence of what I understand at present (at a very abstract level).

Here are some discussions I found about this topic:

Richard Durnall - Lean Vs Agile

DZone - Agile and Lean - Closer than you think

Agile and Lean - the same but different

Putting the 'Lean' into Agile - What Can We Learn from Kanban?

Any comments?

Google Wave for Lean and Kanban exchange at SkillsMatter

A Google Wave has been set up for the Lean and Kanban exchange being held at Skills Matter on Tuesday 1st December.

The wave will be updated during each talk with a summary, please add your contributions at the same time if you can - wave is collaborative so join in... Dont worry if what you type it not perfect...

Direct link to wave: http://bit.ly/7yiiQ2

Or search for the wave in the Navigation panel or type in the search criteria in the Inbox panel search box. Either way you should use the following text:

with:public tag:#leankanbanX

with:public tag:skillsmatter

Until you follow a wave or are added by someone, you need to include the with:public, otherwise google wave will just look at your inbox.

Once you are following the wave you can find it in your overcrowded inbox by using:

tag:#leankanbanX or tag:skillsmatter

GoogleWave accounts are by invite only at present, if you need an invite please let me know.

Agile Testing exchange on a wave

A Google Wave has been set up for the Agile testing and BDD exchange being held at Skills Matter on Friday 27th November. Search for the tag #agiletextingX and you should find it.

To search for a tag in GoogleWave, add a new search in the Navigation panel or type in the search criteria in the Inbox panel search box. Either way you should use the following text:

with:public tag:#agiletestingX

GoogleWave accounts are by invite only at present, if you need an invite please let me know.