- Prologue
- Preface
-
Part I: Foundations
- 1. Introduction to Lean Software Development
- 2. Lean concepts relevant to software development
- 3. The basal cost of software
-
Part II: The Lean principles in practice
- 4. Eliminating waste in software development
- 5. Amplify learning
- 6. Decide as late as possible
- 7. Deliver as fast as possible
- 8. Empower the team
-
Part III: Sustainable quality
- 9. Build quality in
- 10. Detect errors before they hurt
- 11. Quality as the foundation of sustainable development
- 12. Quality from the start
- 13. Overcoming resistance
-
Part IV: Systems thinking
- 14. Optimize the whole
- 15. Lean, XP, and the product mindset
- 16. If you do nothing
- Epilogue: Why I don't talk about AI (and why that matters)
- Appendix: Cases and voices of the transformation
- Glossary
- References and sources
Less Software, More Impact
How to keep your team from collapsing under the weight of its own code
This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-09-29
Your team isn't slow because it writes bad code: it's slow because it writes too much code. A practical guide to managing the basal cost of software and reclaiming your team's capacity, combining Lean Software Development, Extreme Programming and a product mindset.
This book is a translation into English of Menos software, más impacto which was originally written in Spanish
Minimum price
$14.99
$19.99
You pay
Author earns
Buying multiple copies for your team? See below for a discount!
PDF
EPUB
About
About the Book
Your team isn't slow because it writes bad code. It's slow because it writes too much code.
It always starts well: you ship fast, the impact feels real. But with every feature, integration, and technical decision, the system accumulates weight. And one day, without anyone deciding it, almost all of the team's capacity goes into sustaining what already exists. It's the Red Queen's race: running ever faster just to stay in the same place.
Behind that decline is a concept that is rarely named: the basal cost of software. Every living line of code consumes team capacity every day, whether it is used or not. It isn't technical debt: it's the permanent price of existing.
Less Software, More Impact is a practical guide to managing that cost and reclaiming your team's capacity. Drawing on more than 25 years building and leading high-performing teams, it integrates Lean Software Development with Extreme Programming (XP) and a product mindset to:
- Eliminate waste and build only what creates real impact.
- Amplify learning and decide at the last responsible moment.
- Deliver continuously and sustainably, without heroics.
- Build quality in from the start and optimize the whole system.
This isn't a book to make your code better. It's for the people who decide what gets built, what doesn't, and what gets removed: Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, Staff Engineers, Product Managers, and CTOs. The decisions it proposes aren't technical. They're organizational. And they hurt.
Less software. More impact.
You get the book in two DRM-free formats (EPUB and PDF). Chapter-by-chapter resources, references and the glossary are at https://less-software.eferro.net
The book is also available in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon.
This book is a translation into English of Menos software, más impacto which was originally written in Spanish
Team Discounts
Team Discounts
Get a team discount on this book!
Up to 3 members
- Minimum price
- $37.00
- Suggested price
- $49.00
Up to 5 members
- Minimum price
- $59.00
- Suggested price
- $79.00
Up to 10 members
- Minimum price
- $104
- Suggested price
- $139
Up to 15 members
- Minimum price
- $149
- Suggested price
- $199
Up to 25 members
- Minimum price
- $224
- Suggested price
- $299
Author
About the Author
Eduardo Ferro Aldama
Eduardo Ferro Aldama (eferro) has spent more than 25 years growing teams and software rather than accumulating them. He has worked as a developer, architect and technical lead at companies such as Alea Soluciones, The Motion, Nextail and Clarity AI, helping teams deliver value sustainably.
Along the way he has learned that speed does not come from running faster, but from learning step by step, building quality in from the start, and knowing what to leave out. He champions Lean software development, Extreme Programming and continuous delivery not as trends, but as the most humane and effective way to work.
More resources at https://less-software.eferro.net
Translations
Translations
Languages
Contents
Table of Contents
The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Write and Publish on Leanpub
You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!
Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.
Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.