Why Limit WIP?

• Why it’s important• Why It’s hard• What you can do about it

Chris Hefley, CEO of LeanKit@indomitableHef

Kanban: An Evolutionary Approach to Agility

Why Limit WIP?

Chris Hefley, CEO and Co-founder of LeanKit, is a practitioner and thought leader in the global Lean/ Kanban community. In 2011, he was nominated for the Lean Systems Society’s Brickell Key Award.

After years of coping with “broken” project management systemsin the world of software development, Chris helped build LeanKit as a way for teams to become more effective.

Prior to LeanKit, Chris worked with globally distributed teams in leadership positions at HCA Healthcare and IMI Health. He believes in building software and systems that make people’s lives better and transform their relationship with work.

follow @indomitableHef

ABOUT CHRIS HEFLEY

What is Work-In-Process?

all materials and partly finished products that are at various stages of the process

Value Demand that has been started, but is not yet providing value to the customer

What is Work-In-Process?

Total Story Lead Time

30 days

Development Time5 Days (~ 15%)

Testing Time 2 Days

Defect Rework 2 Days

Release / DevOps Time 1 Day

Blocked and Waiting Time 9 Days

Waiting Time 3 Days

Waiting Time8 Days

By Troy Magennis, FocusedObjective.com – used by permission

What is Work-In-Process?

Total Story Lead Time

30 days

Development Time5 Days (~ 15%)

Testing Time 2 Days

Defect Rework 2 Days

Release / DevOps Time 1 Day

Blocked and Waiting Time 9 Days

Waiting Time 3 Days

Waiting Time8 Days

By Troy Magennis, FocusedObjective.com – used by permission

What is Work-In-Process?

Total Story Lead Time

30 days

Story / Feature Inception5 Days

Waiting in Backlog25 days

System Regression Testing & Staging 5 Days

Waiting for Release Window5 Days

“Active Development”30 days

Pre Work

30 days

Post Work

10 days

Total Story Lead Time

30 days

Story / Feature Inception5 Days

Waiting in Backlog25 days

System Regression Testing & Staging 5 Days

Waiting for Release Window5 Days

“Active Development”30 days

Pre Work

30 days

Post Work

10 days

9 days (70 total)approx 13%

What is Work-In-Process?

Partially Done Work Has Zero Value

1. Visualize your Work2. Limit your Work in Process

3. Focus on Flow4. Continuous Improvement

What is Kanban?

This is Greek to me. So are many/most project deliverables to non-specialists

A picture translates complexity into a simple pattern we can all digest

ReadyIn Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1

F2

F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)(6)

- Daniel and Stephen, Developers

Yay! More Codez to write!

This queue replenishment process is a example of “Push”

- Jon (Product Manager)

It’s my job to replenish the ready queue – I prioritize the top 6 items every 2-3 days

Day 1

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1

F2

F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

- Daniel and Stephen, Developers

Finished One!

Day 2

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2

F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9- Chris (Tester)

Now I have something to pull

- Jon (Product Manager)

Better replenish the queue…

Day 3

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2

F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9

- Chris (Tester)

This one is ready to deploy…

Day 4

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9

- Scott (DevOps)

I’m on it…

Day 5

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9

Day 6

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2F3

F4

D1F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9 - Chris (Tester)

This one isn’t working…I’ll go ahead and pull some more to test…

Day 7

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2

F3

F4

D1F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6F7

F8

F9

F10

D2

F11- Daniel and Stephen, Developers

Rock and Roll…We’ve been very productive these last couple of days

Day 8

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1F2

F3

F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9

F10

D2

F11- Daniel and Stephen, Developers

Oops…can’t do that…it would break the WIP limit

What can we do to help?

F2 is broken…

Ok, we’re on it

Day 9

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1

F2

F3F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7F8

F9

F10

D2

F11

F12

Work is flowing nicely now…

Day 10

In Process Done

Development Test

Done DeployIn Process Done

F1

F2

F3F4

D1

F5

(3) (3)Ready(6)

F6

F7

F8

F9

F10

D2

F11

F12

- Scott (DevOps)

Now we’re really getting some stuff done!

Day 11

Why Kanban Systems Work

1) The means to observe the flow of work

2) The mechanics to improve the flow of work (WIP Limits, Explicit Policies)

3) The evidence to show improvement, run experiments, and make adjustments

A KANBAN SYSTEM GIVES YOU

From the Book: Stop Starting, Start Finishing, by Arne Roock

Three Kinds of WIP Limits

• Personal WIP Limits

• Team (Execution) WIP Limits

• Organizational (Structural) WIP Limits

The Zeigarnik effect:

When we finish tasks, we get

closure and move on. When we

don’t finish tasks—we don’t.

Managing Team (Execution) WIP Limits

• Why: To Improve Flow

• Challenges: –Variability–Constraints–Personal WIP

Lowering WIP Surfaces Problems

From the book: Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash by Mary Poppendeick and Tom Poppendeick

Managing Organizational (Structural) WIP Limits

• Why: Clear Focus, Limit Options to increase the chance of achieving goals

• To Make It Work–Limit your options–Systems Thinking–Watch for Hidden WIP

Limiting WIP at LeanKit

The Focused Intent

Standup Meetings, Kanban-Style

1. What are we going to finish today?2. What is needed to push this item over the line?3. Is there any hidden WIP?

All work is the Team’s Work

Resources

• Stop Starting, Start Finishing, by Arne Roock

• available on Amazon.com

Resources

• The Phoenix Project, a Novel About DevOps, IT, and Helping Your Business Win, by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford

• available on Amazon.com

Resources

• Why Limit WIP: We are Drowning in Work, by Jim Benson

• Available in a 2-3 weeksat moduscooperandi.com

Resources• KANBAN Roadmap: How to Get Started in 5 Steps, by Chris

Hefley and Liz Llewellyn

• Available at the LeanKitbooth at PathToAgility2014 and at LeanKit.com

• Download the electronic copy at http://leankit.com/path-to-agility