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Very frequently, when we discuss a change initiative failure, we point as one of key reasons of the failure lack of support from top management. Much effort on team level is wasted because the organization on high level is set up to preserve status quo. For a change agent looking to set an organization on a path on continuous, evolutionary change addressing the issue of stale mindset of the leaders of the company is frequently the key obstacle to overcome. Usually, a different set of tools is required to achieve that, especially for internal change agents who have hierarchy working against them. I will show how we can use Portfolio Kanban as a low-friction method, which might be used by change agents, to steer mindset change among top managers. Similarly to team-level Kanban a few simple rules help to change how we look at project or product portfolio and how the work flows on high level. Thinking about Kanban on portfolio level introduces the whole new set of challenges that can’t be solved with standard approach, so it is also a story about Kanban versatility and adaptability. After all, if end results include better understanding of how the work is done, improved effectiveness and healthier work environment for teams it is worth giving a try, isn’t it?
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Portfolio Kanban A Backdoor to Organizational Evolution
Pawel Brodzinski
@pawelbrodzinski
Hi, I’m Pawel
Lunar Logic http://llp.pl
Software Project Management http://brodzinski.com
Twitter @pawelbrodzinski
A story of a team...
Failure
A system of local optima is not an optimal system at all; it is a very suboptimal system
Eli Goldratt
Processing the waste more effectively is cheaper, neater, faster waste.
Stephen Parry
If you are doing the wrong thing you can’t learn, you will only be trying to do the wrong thing righter.
John Seddon
Lack of support on
portfolio level
I’ve been supervising multiple concurrent
projects for 8 years...
And it sucks!
Excel frenzy
Oh, there are just too many
of them!
Source: Gerald Weinberg, Quality Software Management: Vol. 1 System Thinking
Cost of context switching
Zeigarnik Effect: Tendency to experience intrusive thought about
an objective left incomplete
Source: S. Greist-Bousquet, N. Shiffman: The effect of task interrupton and closure on perceived duration
Cost of task switching is rooted in interference from thoughts about the task your are not doing
Eyal Ophir
Time to market
Source: E. Ophir, C. Nass, A. Wagner: Cognitive control in media multitaskers
Lower quality
Teams that worked only on a single project were significantly better in terms of defects density
Larry Maccherone
Don’t we know the cure already?
Portfolio Kanban
Portfolio Kanban
Variability stupid!
We should learn to absorb variability,
not to fight it
Stalled board
WIP limits? Oh...
Non-standard board designs
Total capabilities
Different capabilities
Free capabilities
Commitments
Concurrent engagements
Planned time span
Types of work
Future commitments
Planned work
Unavailability
Show me that here
Low hanging fruit
Value-adding items
Value adding !=
value adding
What about WIP limits then?
5O
Free capabilities
WIP limits by conversation
Finally, data from other sources
Cost of delay
Portfolio Kanban is not about choosing
the work you do; it’s about choosing the
work you don’t do
Mind shift from looking through the attractiveness glasses to looking through
capabilities glasses
Best poker players don’t play many games; they play the games that they can win
Todd Little
The outcomes?
Meaningful metrics
Fewer ongoing projects
1O
Fewer emergencies
Healthier work environment for teams
Team-level slack time
Problem we tend to ignore
Low-friction method
Thank you
Pawel Brodzinski
blog.brodzinski.com
llp.pl
@pawelbrodzinski
