Brought to you by

How to build the best Software Products

Modern Kanban Workflow Best Practices for Software Teams

Part 4

Workflow Best Practices for Software Teams

WIP Limits1 Idea/Backlog Handling

Define Work

Define Stage Policies

Visualize Work

2

3

4

5

Ready Indicator6

Blocked Indicator7

Workflow Best Practices for Software Teams

Bug Handling8

Idea/Backlog Handling

1

Recommendations: !

Separate Board Collect the "ideas" or "cards to be implemented" on a separate board and create a new card in your project as soon as the idea ready to be implemented. !

High-Level Roadmap As an alternative use a high-level roadmap where you create cards related to your higher level goals on demand.

Idea/Backlog Handling1

1

Separate Idea Board

Idea/Backlog Handling

1

Or use a high-level roadmap. Free text format. Recommended Method: Objectives & Key Results

Idea/Backlog Handling

Define Work

2

The team should define a way how work gets on a board: !

• Either choose a idea/feature to implement depending on what’s important and valuable for the customer

!

• or a board owner defines the work

Define Work

Pro Tip It’s ideal if the whole team has a good understanding of what’s important to work on next.

2

Define Stage Policies

3

3

Describe what each stage is in a stage policy. This clarifies what it means for a card to be in a stage. !

Considerations or requirements that should be met at a certain stage of the process can be defined as well in a stage’s policy. !

Pro Tip Stage policies set quality standards and minimum requirements for cards to be in a specific column.

Define Stage Policies

3

Make sure every involved team member understands the policies well.

Define Stage Policies

Visualize Work

4

Visualize Work4

By mapping your software development workflow you get overview about who is working on what and most importantly why. !

Work gets visible to all involved stakeholders, collaboration and communication increases instantly.

Visualize Work4

If a feature on your idea board or your roadmap is defined as ready to be implemented, add it to the project board.

Visualize Work4

Pro Tip Only add features that you are actively working on. By doing this you’ll prevent having a backlog piling up.

Visualize Work4

Cards move along the process from the first stage …

Visualize Work4

… to “Implementation” …

Visualize Work 4

… to “Review” …

Visualize Work 4

… until they reach the last stage …

Visualize Work 4

… until they reach the last stage …

Visualize Work 4

… two cycles done. Time to celebrate :)

Work In Progress Limits

5

Work In Progress Limits5

Setting the optimal amount of work that your team can handle at one time will lead to a smooth & continuous workflow. !

It also improves quality because you can give greater focus to fewer tasks. !

These benefits improve efficiency and you eventuallyget more work done in less time.

Work In Progress Limits5

The WIP Limit in the “Implementation” Stage is 0 of 2.

5 Work In Progress Limits

The WIP Limit in the “Implementation” Stage is 1 of 2.

5 Work In Progress Limits

The WIP Limit in the “Implementation” Stage is 2 of 2.

5 Work In Progress Limits

The WIP Limit in the “Implementation” Stage is 3 of 2.

An Indicator that you are probably doing to much at once.

5 Work In Progress Limits

Ready Indicator

6

Ready Indicator6

Mark a card as ready to be pulled to the next stage of the process.

Ready Indicator

If a slot is free in the upcoming stage the card can be “pulled” to into it.

6

Ready Indicator56

Blocked Indicator

7

Blocked Indicator7

Let’s assume a feature you are working on is blocked for some reason. !Example: the API of a service you are integrating with doesn’t work as described.

Blocked Indicator

Make the blocker visible to the whole team by marking the card as blocked. Also add the reason why it’s blocked or on which action you are waiting.

7

Blocked Indicator

Hovering the red stamp shows the reason for the blocker in a tooltip.

7

Bug Handling

8

Bug Handling8

Recommendations: !

• Add a separate board for bugs !

• Create new cards for bugs in the main process board

Bug Handling: Separate board

Create a separate board for bugs, with stages defined appropriate to your bug fixing process.

8

Bug Handling: Separate board

Define bug fixing policies & when to work on bugs to fit to the main process workflow.

8

Bug Handling: Separate board

Add research information that helps to make bug fixing easier in the first stage.

8

Bug Handling: Separate board

As soon as research is done, a team member with an open work slot pulls the card into the next stage …

8

Bug Handling: Separate board

… the card flows through the process …

8

Bug Handling: Separate board

… until the card reaches the last stage.

8

Bug Handling: Main process board

Create a new card for the bug and add a card title prefix “B:” for example.

8

Bug Handling: Main process board

The card flows through the main process depending on the policy the team defined for fixing bugs. For example immediately, as soon as possible, …

8

Bug Handling: Performance Metrics

An example metric to measure bug fixing performance could be the average time of how long a card with the label "B" is.

8

Bug Handling: Performance Metrics

Other things to look out for: Is the processing time steady over time? Did the bug fixing cycle time get shorter or longer?

8

Thank you for reading!

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

If you found this useful, share it with your followers:

Learn moreAdvantages & Benefits of Agile