kanban & organizational maturity

[email protected] @lki_dja Official Licensed Material Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.

Kanban & Organizational MaturityPatterns of board & system design andcatalyzing evolutionary improvement

Presenter:David J. Anderson

Limited WIP SocietyMunich

March 2016Release 1.0

mailto:[email protected]


Five Forms of Proto-Kanban



Personal Kanban

Backlog

F

HE

C A

G

D

Next Done

3

In-progress

3∞ ∞

IJ



Aggregated Personal Kanban

Backlog

F

H

E

C A

TeamMember

G

D

Next Done3

In-progress

3

Joe

Peter

Steven

Joann

per person∞ ∞per person

At this level, we are still focused on organizing & managing people rather than enabling people to self-organize around the

work & managing its flow



Team Kanban

Backlog

F

HE

C A

G

D

Next Done

3

In-progress

3∞ ∞

GY

PB

DE

IJ Avatar for each

team memberStill at a single team level but maturing

to focus on managing work and less on managing

workers



Poorly Understood or Emergent Workflow

F

HE

C A

G

D

Next Done3

In-progress6 ∞

GY

PB

DE

IJ

Wide in-progress column with tickets positioned

left-to-right with estimate of

completeness

Horizontal position shows percentage complete



O

P

R

N

M

L

J

Per Person WIP Limit

Done

F

H E

C

A

I

Pending

G

DGY

PB DE

MN

AB

Dev/Build/Test/Deploy

DevReady

GY

GY

PB

PB

MN

MN

DE

DE

ABAB

K

Bench

Specify

B

∞∞ ∞

Unbounded

Queue

DelayedWIP

At this level, we are focused on managing work

and enabling people to self-organize around it but we aren’t limiting WIP in the system as a whole. Hence, service delivery will not be predictable

Moving beyond a single team to a service delivery workflow



Decoupled Cadences & Constant WIP

Backlog

F

HE

C AG D

Committed

ReadyFor

Delivery

In-progress

6

∞ ∞

GY

PB

DE

I

J

Delivered

∞

Replenishment

The frequency of system replenishment should reflect

arrival rate of new information and the transaction &

coordination costs of holding a meeting

The frequency of delivery should reflect the transaction &

coordination costs of deployment plus costs &

tolerance of customer to take delivery

WIP limit should be sufficient to keep the team busy until the next replenishment

meetingDelivery

CONWIP



Aggregated Team Kanban

Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3

Team 1 Kanban

∞ ∞

Team 2 Kanban




Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3∞ ∞

Also known

as “infinite

done queues”




Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3

Infinite limits on Done columns means that there really isn’t a kanban pull system present.

This style of proto-kanban controls multi-tasking but doesn’t limit workflow WIP

∞ ∞



Benefits of proto-Kanban implementationsBenefits

TransparencyRelief from overburdening

Reduced multitaskingImproved qualityPeople engaged

emotionallyMore collaborationGreater empathy



Discussion – Proto-Kanban



H

QP

OM

LK

J

I

Kanban can be represented with slots

Ideas

D

E

A

Engin-eeringReady

G

Ongoing

Development TestingDone

TestReady

F

B

CPullPull

*

UATDeploy-

mentReady

An empty slot signals pull

Pull

Pull

PullIPhysical slot is a kanban

The tickets on the board are not the kanban. Believing the tickets are the kanban is a common misconception

This board and the next two all look different but they all visualize the

same identical kanban system



H

FF OM

NK

J

I

Using movable tokens as kanban is more flexible

Ideas

D

E

A

I

DevReady

G

Development TestingTest

Ready

F B

C

UATReleaseReady

In-progressLegend

Done

Blocked - issue

Blocked - defect

Colors are used to denote state

Physical token such as a magnet is a kanban

Moving done items down below a line is an optional enhancement

seen in some implementations



H

FF OM

NK

J

I


Ideas

D

E

A

I

DevReady

G


Ready

F B

C

UATReleaseReady

In-progressLegend

Done

Blocked - issue

Blocked - defect

Override on kanban limit introduces additional

“blocked – issue” kanban

People working on blocked item “A”

have been redirected to work

on item “I”



H

FF OM

NK

J

I


Ideas

D

E

A

I

DevReady

G


Ready

F B

C

UATReleaseReady

In-progressLegend

Done

Blocked - issue

Blocked - defect

Using physical slots in the previous example has been shown to create

inertia to modification & improvement

Using movable tokens allows for WIP limits to be easily modified and provides a natural signal

token mechanism



H

FF FF FF J

I

Declaring a kanban quantity is even simpler

Ideas

D

E

A

I

Engin-eeringReady

G

5Ongoing

Development Testing

Done

3 3

TestReady

5

F

B

CPull

PullThese are the virtual kanban

*

These are the virtual kanbanThese are the (virtual) kanban These WIP limits serve the same function as the

magnets or slots

This board has even less maintenance overhead than the magnet board

UATDeploy-

mentReady

∞ ∞

A “virtual kanban” pull signal is created by subtracting the column

number from tickets currently in the column



Single Service, Multiple Classes of ServiceAllocate capacity with kanban limit per color

5 4 4 5 2= 20 total

Allocation

10 = 50%

...

+1 = +5%

4 = 20%

6 = 30%

InputQueue In Prog DoneDoneIn Prog

DevelopmentAnalysis BuildReady Test

ReleaseReady



3 Services Aggregated Together

5 4 4 5 2 = 20 total

Change Req12

Maintenance2

Production Defect6

AllocationTotal = 20

InputQueue In Prog Done

BuildReady Test

ReleaseReadyDoneIn Prog

DevelopmentAnalysisReleased



ChangeRequest

s3

1

Prod.Defects

Maintenance

UsabilityImproveme

nt

2

1

Improving Liquidity through Labor Pool Flexibility

Teams

F

HE

C A

Engin-eeringReady

G

D

GY

PBDE

MN

2

P1

AB

Ongoing

Analysis Testing

Done VerificationAcceptance3 3Ongoing

DevelopmentDone3

Joe

Peter

Steven

Joann

David

Rhonda

Brian

Ashok

TeamLead

Junior who will be rotated through all 4 teams

Generalist or T-shaped people who can move flexibly across rows on the board to keep work

flowing

It’s typical to see splits of fixed team workers versus flexible system

workers of between 40-60%

Roughly half the labor pool are flexible workers

Promotions from junior team member to flexible

worker with an avatar clearly visualize why a

pay rise is justified. Flexible workers help manage liquidity risk

better!



ChangeRequest

s3

1

Prod.Defects

Maintenance

UsabilityImproveme

nt

2

1

Improving Liquidity through Labor Pool Flexibility

Teams

F

HE

C A

Engin-eeringReady

G

D

GY

PBDE

MN

2

P1

AB

Ongoing

Analysis Testing

Done VerificationAcceptance3 3Ongoing

DevelopmentDone3

Joe

Peter

Steven

Joann

David

Rhonda

Brian

Ashok



Personal Kanban

Aggregated Personal Kanban

Team Kanban

Emergent/Undefined Workflow

Per Person WIP LimitCONWIP

Physical spacekanban

Physical token kanban

Virtual KanbanClasses of service

Capacity allocationLiquidity optimization

Aggregated teams

Patterns of Kanban Board Designs



Relief

from

Overb

urde

ning

Predictability

Fast, Smooth Flow

Risk Hedging

Risk Management

Benefits of improving maturity



Lear

ning

& im

prov

emen

t

Formula for evolutionary change …

Stressor Reflection

Mechanism Leadership

Stre

ssor

Refle

ctio

n M

echa

nism

KanbanMeeting

Risk Review & SDR

Ops Review

Strategy Review

Personal WIP Limit

Column WIP Limit

RowWIP Limit

Strategy vs Capability

Visualization

Replenishment & Delivery

Planning

Personal Reflection



About

David Anderson is an innovator in management thinking for 21st Century businesses. He leads a training, consulting, events and publishing business making new ideas accessible to managers across the globe.He has 30 years experience in the high technology industry starting with computer games in the early 1980’s. He has led software teams delivering superior productivity and quality using innovative agile methods at large companies such as Sprint and Motorola.David is the pioneer of the Kanban Method an agile and evolutionary approach to change. His latest book, published in June 2012, is, Lessons in Agile Management – On the Road to Kanban.David is Chairman of Lean Kanban Inc., a global management training, events & publishing business dedicated to offering high quality, innovative, modern management training for the creative knowledge worker industries of the 21st Century.



Appendices



Books



2010 – Kanban “blue book”



2012 Lessons in Agile Management

The heavily under-rated book that underpins the Kanban Coaching Masterclass and most of the theory behind the Kanban Method



2014 Kanban from the Inside



Discovery Kanban



Discovery Kanban Prepares OptionsReady

forEngin-eering

F

H

I

Comm-itted

D

4 Ongoing

Development

Done3

JK

12

Testing

Verification3

L

Commitment point

4 -

Requi-rementsAnalysis

2412 -

RiskAnalysis

4824 -

Poolof

Ideas

∞

Min & Max limitsensure sufficientoptions are alwaysavailable

Committed WorkOptions

Discarded

OReject

P Q

$$$ spent acquiring options $$$ spent converting

options

Embedded Options

Done

Delivery KanbanDiscovery Kanban



Roles



Kanban Roles Are EmergingReady

forEngin-eering

F

H

I

Comm-itted

D

4 Ongoing

Development

Done3

JK

12

Testing

Verification3

L

Commitment point

4 -

Requi-rementsAnalysis

2412 -

RiskAnalysis

4824 -

Poolof

Ideas

∞

Service Delivery ManagerService Request Manager

Discarded

OReject

P Q

Marshals Options Manages Flow

Done


kanban & organizational maturity

Leadership & Management