đź“ťMake decisions at the Last Responsible Moment

Concurrent software development means starting development when only partial requirements are known and developing in short iterations that provide the feedback that causes the system to emerge. Concurrent development makes it possible to delay commitment until the last responsible moment, that is, the moment at which failing to make a decision eliminates an important alternative. If commitments are delayed beyond the last responsible moment, then decisions are made by default, which is generally not a good approach to making decisions.

—Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit, Mary and Tom Poppendieck

Make decisions as late as you can responsibly wait as this is the moment at which you have the most information on which to base the decision.

There is criticism of this approach but most of it boils down to last responsible moment being too short-sighted and not including some criteria.

There is no universal definition of Last Responsible Moment, but some considerations may help:

Q

See also

Backlinks