An Introduction to Visual Management Systems

Traffic Lights to Burndowns

an introduction to

Visual Management Systems

Session # AGL04

Derek Huether

LeadingAgile

“PMI” is a registered trade and service mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

©2012 Permission is granted to PMI for PMI® Marketplace use only.

2

What Am I Going to Talk About?

• Defining a Visual Management System (VMS)

• How are they different from Information Radiators

• VMS in everyday context we understand

• Transitioning to the workspace

• Visual Management Systems on a team level

• Visual Management Systems on the enterprise level

• Your turn

• Conclusion



3

Defining a Visual Management System

• Visual management (or control) is a “technique

employed in many places where information is

communicated by using visual signals instead of texts or

other written instructions. The design is deliberate in

allowing quick recognition of the information being

communicated in order to increase efficiency and

clarity.”

Source: Wikipedia (Visual Control, 2012, ¶2)



4

Relearning What We Know

• Since our teenager years, we have been conditioned to

heed the warnings of automobile indicator lights and

traffic signals. When reaction time is sometimes critical,

these simple visual controls are all that are necessary to

keep us happy and safe.



5

What’s the difference

• In his book (Crystal Clear, 2004), Alistair Cockburn

introduces the idea of a highly visible information

radiator that allows the viewer to understand information

at a glance.

• A VMS makes problems, abnormalities, or deviation from

standards visible to everyone so corrective action can be

taken immediately.



6

Establish a Sense of Urgency

• Not all indicators are created equal



7

Actionable Feedback

• Which has a more powerful message?

• What is the expected outcome?



25

8

Transition To The Workplace

• Old traffic equipment sometimes is the best notification

system for communicating the current state of software



9

Team Level



10

Has Anyone Seen Davis!?

• Have you ever spent too much

time tracking someone down in

the office?

• Members of team self-manage

• Provides the right level of data

to allow others to make

decisions



11

The Burn Chart

• We just finished iteration 11 of 14

• Would you rather have a 11 status reports or this?

• Do something?

• Do nothing?

• What about Scope?

• What about Budget?

• What about Risk?



12

Burndown versus Velocity

• Both “Information Radiators” are illustrating the same data

• What story do they tell?

• Is there a sense of urgency? What should we do?



13

Cumulative Flow Diagram

• Visualize the

workflow

• Limit work in

process to

increase

throughput

• Get more

things done



14

Starfish Chart

• Is the team working

to its potential or

spiraling out of

control?

• The starfish chart

provides direction to

the team in their

goal of process

improvement.



15

Team Emotion

• Upon review of historical

data illustrating a

correlation between the

happiness of the team

and their productivity,

the organization

changed their focus to

keeping the team happy.



I

I

(

(

(

(

16

Enterprise Level



17

Total Project Status (TPS) Report

• Bill Lumbergh should have used this



18

Portfolio/Program/Product (P³)

Alignment Wall Card

• Business Architecture

(Portfolio Level)

• Solution Delivery

(Release Level)

• Component Delivery

(Iteration Level)

• 15 Step Portfolio

lifecycle visualized



1 2 3 14 15

4 5 6 12 13

7 8 9 10 11

19

Portfolio/Program/Product (P³)

Alignment Wall



20

Your Turn

• Time to teach me something

• Break into groups

• Collaborate

• Create a VMS

• Review



21

Conclusion

• Though communications is critical to keep projects and

people moving forward, sometimes the effectiveness and

simplicity of these tools are forgotten. Volumes of

instruction and status are written in the hope of

communicating a common message.

We don’t need an accurate document, we need a shared understanding

Quote Source: Patton, J. (2012, August) The Product Owner Role is a Stupid Idea: Improving How We

Handle Customer Requests. Agile 2012, Dallas, Texas, United States.





Contact Information

Derek Huether – Enterprise Agile Coach

www.leadingagile.com

(301) 244-8441

Twitter: @leadingagile

Twitter: @derekhuether

LinkedIn: /derekhuether

Session # AGL04