Lean Learning - Applying Lean Techniques to Improve Software Engineering Education

Building a programme of education that reflects and keeps pace with industrial practice is difficult. We often hear of a skills shortage in the software industry, and the gap between what people are taught in university and the "real world". This paper is a case study showing how we have developed a programme at Imperial College London that bridges this gap, providing students with relevant skills for industrial software engineering careers. We give details of the structure and evolution of the programme, which is centred on the tools, techniques and issues that feature in the everyday life of a professional developer working in a modern team. We also show how aligning our teaching methods with the principles of lean software delivery has enabled us to provide sustained high quality learning experiences. The contributions of this paper take the form of lessons learnt, which may be seen as recommendations for others looking to evolve their own teaching structures and methods.