Lean and Kanban An Alternative Path to Agility
Chris Hefley
CEO of LeanKit
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Chris Hefley, CEO and Co-founder of LeanKit, is a practitioner and thought leader in the global Lean/ Kanban community. In 2011, he was nominated for the Lean Systems Society’s Brickell Key Award, and he is one of the founding fellows of the Lean Systems Society.
After years of coping with “broken” project management systemsin the world of software development, Chris helped build LeanKit as a way for teams to become more effective.
Prior to LeanKit, Chris worked with globally distributed teams in leadership positions at HCA Healthcare and IMI Health. He believes in building software and systems that make people’s lives better and transform their relationship with work.
About Chris Hefley
Per
form
ance
Time
Status QuoChange
The Valley of Despair
New Normal
Upward Pressures
The Change Curve
Per
form
ance
Time
Status Quo
New Normal
Incremental, Evolutionary
Change
A Small Change
The Kanban Method
Foundational Principles
• Start with what you do now
• Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change
• Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities and titles
Evolutionary Change
• “Kanbanize” your existing process
• Kanban can co-exist with Scrum, XP, Waterfall, or whatever yourcurrent process is
The quickest path to agility is to start from where you are today.
1.Visualize your Work
2.Limit Work in Process
3. Focus on Flow
4. Continuous Improvement
What is Kanban?
This is Greek to me. So are many/most project deliverables to non-specialists
A picture translates complexity into a simple pattern we can all digest
Ready
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1
F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)(6)
- Daniel and Stephen, Developers
Yay! More Codez to write!
This queue replenishment process is a example of
“Push”
- Jon (Product Manager)
It’s my job to replenish the ready queue – I prioritize the top 6 items every 2-3 days
Day 1
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1
F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
- Daniel and Stephen, Developers
Finished One!
Day 2
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
- Chris (Tester)
Now I have something to pull
- Jon (Product Manager)
Better replenish the queue…
Day 3
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
- Chris (Tester)
This one is ready to deploy…
Day 4
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
- Scott (DevOps)
I’m on it…
Day 5
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
Day 6
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2F3
F4
D1F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9 - Chris (Tester)
I’m stuck…This one isn’t working…I’ll go ahead and pull some more to test…
Day 7
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2
F3
F4
D1F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
D2
F11- Daniel and Stephen, Developers
Rock and Roll…We’ve been very productive these last couple of days
Day 8
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
D2
F11- Daniel and Stephen, Developers
Oops…can’t do that…it would break the WIP limit
What can we do to help?
F2 is broken…
Ok, we’re on it
Day 9
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1
F2
F3F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7F8
F9
F10
D2
F11
F12
Work is flowing nicely now…
Day 10
In Process Done
Development Test
Done DeployIn Process Done
F1
F2
F3
F4
D1
F5
(3) (3)Ready
(6)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
D2
F11
F12
- Scott (DevOps)
Now we’re really getting some stuff done!
Day 11
Why Kanban Systems Work
1) The means to observe the flow of work
2) The mechanics to improve the flow of work (WIP Limits, Explicit Policies)
3) The evidence to show improvement, run experiments, and make adjustments
A KANBAN SYSTEM GIVES YOU
1.What are we going to finish today?
2.What is needed to push this item over the line?
3. Is there any hidden WIP?
Stop Starting, Start Finishing
Eliminate Waste
Build Quality In
Create Knowledge
Defer Commitment
Deliver Fast
Respect People
Optimize the Whole
Lean PD System
Process
Skille
d Peo
ple
Tools & Technology
1. Work-In-Process2. Delays3. Extra Features4. Technical Debt5. Handoffs6. Task Switching7. Defects
Lean Principles nicely map to & enhance Agile IT best practices
The Kanban Method
Foundational Principles
• Start with what you do now
• Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change
• Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities and titles
1. Visualize the work and workflow
2. Limit WIP
3. Manage flow
4. Make process policies explicit
5. Improve collaborativelyusing Kanban to become Lean
Evolution
The quickest path to agility is to start from where you are today.
The Kanban Method
Resources• Stop Starting, Start Finishing
by Arne Roock
• available on Amazon.com
Resources• Implementing Lean Software Development
by Mary and Tom Poppendieck
• available on Amazon.com
Resources• Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for
Your Technology Business
by David J. Anderson
• available on Amazon.com
Resources
• The Phoenix Project, a Novel About DevOps, IT, and Helping Your Business Win, by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford
• available on Amazon.com
Resources
• KANBAN Roadmap: How to Get Started in 5 Steps
by Chris Hefley and Liz Llewellyn
• Available at the LeanKitbooth here at the show
• Download at http://leankit.com/gartnerppm
Questions?