/dev/mash

Muri: The Root Cause of Overburden - Matt Shaw Uncovering the causes of failure and burnout.

The silent killer of high-performance teams is overburden (Muri).

In the final part of my blog series on Lean Software Delivery, I look beyond the symptoms to expose the source and set out a practical sociotechnical plan to solve it.

#DevOps #DomainDrivenDesign #PlatformEngineering #TeamTopologies

Mura: The Source of Uneven Flow - Matt Shaw Diagnosing the patterns that create waste.

True flow requires a cultural shift (DevOps) and technical rigour (XP, TDD) to achieve "One-Piece Flow". It’s about moving work continuously without queueing.

​Read my full deep dive on identifying and fixing uneven flow here:
matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2025/11...

Watch out for anti-patterns disguised as Agile. "Scrum-fall" (mini-waterfalls), weaponised Story Points (playing Tetris with velocity), and big-batch planning. These practices institutionalise the very unevenness and inventory we need to eliminate.

The solution is shifting from Push to Pull. WIP limits in Kanban aren't constraints on productivity; they are countermeasures to unevenness. They force the team to stop starting and start finishing. Queueing theory is clear: as utilisation approaches 100%, wait times skyrocket. Slack creates flow.

DORA metrics are a detection kit, not just a scoreboard. High variance in Lead Time is your warning light. If one task takes 2 days and another takes 40, your process is chaotic. We must optimise for consistency and reduced variance, not just raw speed.

Ever feel like your delivery is a constant cycle of "hurry up and wait"? That’s Mura (unevenness). It is the root cause of the waste (Muda) we see in software development. Inconsistency makes delivery unpredictable and unsustainable. It’s time to look at the source. 🧵

Muda: The Eight Wastes of Modern Software Delivery - Matt Shaw Identifying the symptoms of inefficiency.

I’ve mapped the 8 Lean Wastes (Muda) to modern software delivery, backed by evidence from Accelerate.

Stop optimising the wrong things.

Full breakdown here:
matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2025/10...

The most damaging waste isn't in the code—it's 'Unused Talent'.

Treating developers as ticket-takers rather than problem-solvers kills innovation. DORA research proves that autonomy is a prerequisite for high performance, not a luxury. Trust your teams to design the solution.

'Overproduction' is the most seductive waste. We feel productive shipping features, but if they don't solve a user problem, we've just burnt cash to increase our maintenance burden.

Building the wrong thing efficiently is still a failure. Outcomes > Output. Always.

Take 'Inventory'. In a warehouse, it’s unsold stock. In dev, it’s that unmerged branch or the PR rotting in review.

​Unfinished code is a liability, not an asset. It blocks flow and hides defects. Until it’s in production, it is just risk.

​Stop starting, start finishing.

We obsess over 'velocity' but rarely talk about the silent killer of momentum: Waste.

​In manufacturing, waste is physical scrap. In software, it’s invisible friction. "Busy" does not mean effective. To go faster, we need to stop looking at what to do, and start looking at what to stop. 🧵

Mura: The Source of Uneven Flow - Matt Shaw Diagnosing the patterns that create waste.

I've published part 2 now, which dives into the systemic cause of waste: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2025/11...

Muda: The Eight Wastes of Modern Software Delivery - Matt Shaw Identifying the symptoms of inefficiency.

In case you missed part 1, looking at the eight wastes: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2025/10...

Mura: The Source of Uneven Flow - Matt Shaw Diagnosing the patterns that create waste.

Your "Agile" process is probably why your delivery feels chaotic.

Unevenness in how work flows is Mura, and it’s the real source of waste. Part 2 of my blog series breaks down how to measure this and how to actually fix it.

#Agile #ContinuousDelivery #DORA #DevOps #Kanban #Lean #XP

Mura: The Source of Uneven Flow - Matt Shaw Diagnosing the patterns that create waste.

Your "Agile" process is probably why your delivery feels chaotic.

Unevenness in how work flows is Mura, and it’s the real source of waste. Part 2 of my blog series breaks down how to measure this and how to actually fix it.

#Agile #ContinuousDelivery #DORA #DevOps #Kanban #Lean #XP

My health and fitness journey: Part 3 - Matt Shaw A deep dive into the science behind a year-long transformation.

Finally got around to writing the last part of my health and fitness blog; bringing the theory and a year of data together to understand not just what worked, but why it did. #Health #Fitness #WeightLoss

Of all 8 wastes, which one do you think is the most damaging in our industry right now?

The Eight Wastes of Modern Software Delivery - Matt Shaw What's really slowing your team down and how to fix it.

What's really slowing your team down? Spoiler alert: it's (mostly) not about technology...

I've written a practical and evidence-based guide that breaks down the eight wastes of modern software delivery.

#Lean #ContinuousDelivery #DevOps #DORA #PlatformEngineering #TeamTopologies

A meme of Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction with the text "Say AI again! I double dare you! Say AI one more goddamn time!"

What's your personal bounding box? The smallest possible rectangle you could draw on a map that contains the furthest points north, south, east and west you've ever been to. Mine:

N: Helsinki, Finland
S: Canary Islands, Spain
E: Oludeniz, Turkey
W: Tampa, USA

🇫🇷❤️🎉

9 month fitness progress report:
- Weight: 94.4kg to 74.0kg (-20.4kg)
- Body fat: 38.3% to 23.3% (-15%)
- BMI: 31.9 to 25.0 (-6.9)

How it started: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2024/08...

How it's going: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2024/09...

GitHub - matthew-shaw/wiremock-openapi: WireMock OpenAPI WireMock OpenAPI. Contribute to matthew-shaw/wiremock-openapi development by creating an account on GitHub.

Here's one with WireMock for comparison: github.com/matthew-shaw...

Did some noodling with Prism to generate a stub / mock server from an OpenAPI spec along with pytest integration tests, pretty neat! github.com/matthew-shaw... #python #pytest #openapi #testing

Here you go: an absolute beast of a starter pack, with many of the UK's most prominent humanists on it. Includes scientists, historians, philosophers, public figures, the New Humanist editorial team and Humanists UK staff. A network for reason and decency.

go.bsky.app/PTC4j2d

After a bit of a stall in progress, I renewed my regimen and have finally lost 3 stone in total (19.2 kg) 🎉😊💪🏻

How it started: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2024/08...

How it's going: matthew-shaw.github.io/blog/2024/09...

There are three hard problems in distributed systems:
2. Exactly-once message delivery
1. Message ordering
2. Exactly-once message delivery
2. Exactly-once message delivery
2. Exactly-once message delivery
2. Exactly-once message delivery
2. Exactly-once message delivery

This is great: endof10.org
- Save money
- More privacy
- Reduce e-waste

got something to say have you? better out than in, not in your case mate.

Ed Balls