Visualising DecisionsIntegrating Decision Making with Kanban

What is a decision

Why visualise decisions?https://www.flickr.com/photos/emagic/56206868/

Timehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/8025277486/

Apply Kanban to DecisionsPractices

Visualise

Limit WiP

Manage Flow

Make Process Policies Explicit

Feedback Loops

Improve and Evolve

Agendas

Sustainability

Service Orientation

Survivability

The Decision Map

Decision map components

The dependency

Shows relationship between items

Denotes input flow direction

OwnershipWho in the organisation makes the decision

Certain owners may have decision making cadences

Timing

• When do we need this decision made?

• What is the lead time for the decision maker?

Decision Mapping Examples

The basic

The decision blob

Circular decision logic

Independent Decision Clusters

Translating decisions to kanban

Mapping to cards

Timing can relate to class of service

Fixed Date

Standard

Ownership

Can track owners

Blockers

Things can get in the way of decisions

Tracking flow

Are there categories of decisions you can track?

How long are decisions or their dependent inputs waiting in queues?

What's the cycle time for repeated decisions?

How does decision making get expedited and what does that do to overall system flow?

Decision Making From discovery to Kanban

Listing

4 Points Contextualisation

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cynefin_as_of_1st_June_2014.png

The Decision Map

The Kanban Board

NotesOften standard decisions already have a expedite pathway (eg offline approval)

Don't forget to use WiP limits for decisions

Decisions may have a different flow than regular kanban items (may need a specific board). There may be unique types of decisions that need their own specific flow

Stakeholders & decision makers need to be able to access the Kanban board

Combine with Upstream Kanban Board for "Decision Options" - discard unnecessary decisions

Evolve your Kanban Board as you discover!

Backlog ReplenishmentUse the decision map to understand what decisions to "pull" next

Dependencies can influence risk and sequencing

What is the value of the decision - what will it enable?

Decide which decisions are within the team and which are outside

Tracking

Standard Kanban tracking can apply:

Lead time / Delivery rate for decisions

Wait / blocked time

Cumulative Flow diagrams

We can now

Track Information flow / decision pathways through the organisation

Optimise these in the same way we optimise work flowing through the organisation

Common ImprovementsRevisit necessary inputs & decision flow - waiting too long for decisions can be costly

Establish alternate decision pathways to avoid blockers or long wait times

Understand common decision patterns in the organisation (eg at portfolio / program level)

Establish Cadences for common decisions

How do decisions flow in your organisation?

Daniel Ploeg@danploeg dploeg@gmail.com

Daniel is an Agile & Lean/Kanban coach based in Melbourne, Australia. This is a snapshot of my current state of thinking with regard to decision making in Agile environments and as such will continue to improve and evolve. If you have any experiences or potential improvements with this that you'd like to share, please

contact me.