limitedwipsociety.org » Kanban

From KFC Development to PVC Systems

kjscotland — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:15:25 +0000

I’ve been revisiting my earlier KFC Development work in light of my more recent focus on five primary practices. This blog post an brief overview of what’s changed, and what my mental model looks like now. Read it here.

Five Core Properties of a Kanban Implementation

davidanderson — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:51:15 +0000

In my forthcoming book, I’ve documented the 5 core properties that I see as consistent on teams using the Kanban approach to process evolution and change management. These properties are…

1. Visualize Workflow
2. Limit work-in-progress
3. Measure & Manage Flow
4. Make Process Policies Explicit
5. Use Models to Recognize Improvement Opportunities

These properties represent facets of an organizational process that have been present on all Kanban implementations that I’ve been involved with. They are written in a rough order of focus or implementation. So all 5 properties may not be present initially but over time they should appear providing the leadership/management is dedicated to successful evolutionary approach to change using Kanban.

Visualize Workflow is subtle. It is beyond visualization of work – the concept I pushed hard with my Agile Management book. Visualizing workflow is about revealing the mechanism, the interactions, the handoffs, the queues, buffers, waiting and delays that are involved in the production of a piece of valuable software.

Limit work-in-progress implies the introduction of a pull system from a family of possible solutions: CONWIP, DBR, CapWIP, Kanban.

Measure & Manage Flow highlights a focus on keeping work moving and using the need for flow as the driver for improvement. A focus on flow rather than on waste removal is in my opinion a higher mastery of Lean and much less likely to lead to “Lean and Mean” anti-patterns and dysfunction.

Make process policies explicit is another level of visualization. It’s about holding up a mirror to the working reality and encouraging the whole team and its leadership to reflect on its effectiveness. Thinking of a process as a set of policies rather than a workflow is a very powerful technique.

Use models to recognize improvement opportunities shows that Kanban is quantitative and takes a scientific approach to improvements. The three models I focus on in the book and in most of my teaching are: The Theory of Constraints; an Understanding of Variation and the System of Profound Knowledge; and the Lean models of Waste and Flow, though I teach waste as economic costs rather than the manufacturing-centric approach that is typical.

In my next blog I’ll discuss the properties that didn’t make the cut and why not!

Cumulative Flow Chart in Kanban: Real Usage Example

Michael Dubakov — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:24:48 +0000

Cumulative Flow diagram is a very good starting point for stop-the-line or retrospective meeting. Here is a real example from TargetProcess development.

Kanban at Lonely Planet Presentation

kjscotland — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:34:30 +0000

Following on from his description of the Kanban implementation at Lonely Planet, Bruce Taylor has now made a related presentation available – Little Bits of Cardboard.

Discover Problems and Waste in Kanban Flow

Michael Dubakov — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:25:51 +0000

Simple yet effective technique to discover wait and waste in your development flow. All you need to do is to visualize a complete flow of a single user story.

Process Safeguards and Ski Slopes

kjscotland — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:48:15 +0000

I’ve posted some thoughts on describing processes in terms of safeguards and ski-slopes, and how that can help teams decide an appropriate process.

One of the joys of working as a coach for EMC Consulting are the regular opportunities to have deep conversations on various topics with my colleagues when we are in the office together. For example, earlier this week myself and Simon Bennett began to discuss way of talking to our clients about process such that we can guide them towards the most appropriate choice. However much we may have our preferred approaches, they may not always be the best solution in any context. In the course of the conversation we compared various styles including waterfall, scrum and kanban, and looked at them on various scales, including risk, reward and control. None of these seemed satisfying as a language to use, until Simon suggested safety.

Kanban and Scrum – making the most of both (new book)

Henrik Kniberg — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:29:11 +0000

A new book has been published: “Kanban and Scrum – making the most of both”

The purpose of this book is to clear up the fog, so you can figure out how Kanban and Scrum might be useful in your environment.

The book includes:

Foreword by Mary Poppendieck
Foreword by David Anderson
Updated version of original “Kanban vs Scrum” article by Henrik Kniberg
In-the-trenches case study by Mattias Skarin

You can read it online for free (InfoQ registration required though) or buy the printed version.

Translators: If you are interested in translating this book to your language, please get in touch with my editor Diana Plesa (diana AT c4media.com).

Merry X-mas!

Kanban Psychology. Can You Say No?

Michael Dubakov — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:18:38 +0000

Kanban looks so simple. In theory. Map your flow, set limits, draw some lines and stick stories on the wall. There you go. Is that it? Obviously, no. One of the hardest things is to change your behavior, shift from “push mindset” to “pull mindset”.

High-level introduction to Kanban

Henrik Kniberg — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:30:10 +0000

Here’s a high level introduction to Kanban: http://www.crisp.se/kanban

Kanban board

Kanban results

dpjoyce — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:10:13 +0000

I have blogged data from two teams who have been using Kanban over the last year.