David LoweAgile & lean consultant Scrum & Kanban Ltd

@bigpinots

An introduction to Kanban

#GA_Kanban

Doing too muchDon’t know

where we are

Can’t see our position

Can’t predict our output

Not all playing by the same rules

Revolutionary change

Not improving

Before we start

The Kanban Method is …

a set of ideas (not prescribed processes)

for knowledge work (not manufacturing)

from lean (not agile)

No “Big Bang” changes

No “Big Bang” changes

Foundational principles:

1. Start with what you do now

2. Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities & titles

3. Agree to pursue evolutionary change

6 core properties

1) Visualise your work

Map current processes; not roles

Identify dominant activities that discover new knowledge

coding & testing

analysing

designing

releasing

Visualise your work

Visualise your work

Helps you understand how work flows through your system

Helps spot areas needing change

Visualise your work

Common to translate processes to a board

Consider how best to visualise your workflow

different types of work

different priorities

different customers

blocked items of work

who is working on what

2) Limit work-in-progress

Limit WIP

Use a pull system? Agree capacity of the system Use tokens (e.g. cards) to denote capacity Attach a token to each piece of work When run out of tokens, stop taking on new work Only take on new work when a token is available

System can’t become

overloaded

Limit WIP

East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Limit WIP

East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Limit WIP

East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Limit WIP

East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo

?

Limit WIP

Kanban assumes stable flow (i.e. one in, one out, similar sized stories) and pull system

Allowing too much work in progress at the same time can have negative effects …

… but so can having too little

Aim is to get WIP limits to the “sweet spot” where you have the optimum/optimal flow

Limit WIP

Fast food drive-thru video to explain: WIP limits Cycle Time/Lead Time Throughput Rate (now ‘Delivery Rate’)

“WIP: why limiting work in progress makes sense” on YouTube http://youtu.be/W92wG-HW8gg

Limit WIP

Limiting WIP helps because it: encourages swarming encourages small work items encourages flow of work encourages finishing work items

“Focus on finishing things, not working on things”

Limit WIP

Start with what you have now …

Can you: Limit WIP of tasks in progress per story? Limit WIP per column on the board? Limit WIP per section of the board? Limit WIP across the whole board? Limit WIP across the whole organisation?

3) Manage flow

Manage flow

Measuring the flow of work through your system helps you identify problems Every process has at least one bottleneck Your system can only work as fast as your slowest point So make changes to your process in an attempt to improve flow

Manage flow

Scrum has a Burndown Chart

Kanban has a variety of reports: Cumulative Flow Diagram Control Chart Histogram

Manage flow

The CFD shows us: Flow of items through process Current level of WIP Lead/Cycle Time Bottleneck warnings

Manage flow

The Control Chart shows us: Mean Lead Time / Cycle Time Upper & lower control limits Outliers

“Investigate performance to attack sources of variability”

Manage flow

The Histogram shows us: Frequency of each Lead/Cycle Time A guide for the time that future stories will take

Gives us much greater understanding than a burndown chart!

4) Make policies explicit

Make policies explicit

It’s difficult to improve a situation if you don’t know the rules (responses will be emotional and subjective)

Acknowledge any policies in your process by stating them explicitly

Make policies explicit

Entry criteria

Definition of ‘Done’

Classes of Service Standard Expedite Fixed Intangible

5) Feedback loops

Feedback loops

Review data and experiences regularly. Encourage feedback from inside and outside the team:

Retrospectives / Operations reviews Daily stand-ups User feedback Stats & reports Feedback from stakeholders / the business …

6)Evolutionary improvements

Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally

Use scientific method

Continuous evolutionary improvements (“Kaizen”), rather than revolutionary change

All the other Kanban ideas lead to this and should provide data to help improve

Start where you are now. Seek to “attack the sources of variability” in your processes

Sources of variability

Differing sizes of work items Differing work types (eg bugs, features, debt) Differing classes of service Having to rework items Accepting unknown work Problems with platforms/environments

Although it’s from lean, it shouldn’t break the

Agile Manifesto

Set of ideas; not prescribed process

Evolutionary change, not revolution

Knowledge work; not manufacturing

Pull system; not push system

That’s the basic … want more?

David J. Anderson “Kanban”

Mike Burrows “Kanban from the inside”

That’s the basic … want more?

scrumandkanban.co.uk

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