Over the last decade all kinds of e-government processes have been developed. Governments are seeking rationalization of these processes in order to save money while maintaining or improving service levels. In the private sector Lean methods have been used to achieve these goals, whereas these are hardly explored for e-government. The goal of this paper is to translate the concept of Lean to the field of government. An in-depth case study was conducted in which Lean was applied. Lean concepts like value stream and removing of waste proved to be useful. Some public sector characteristics impede the direct use of Lean concepts. We recommend to adjust Lean to the nature of e-government. Attention should be given to public values, fragmentation, financial aspects and culture when applying the concept of Lean in the public sector and e-government.