Get your Kanban on

David Cook

David_Cook@TechnologyoneCorp.com Commercial in confidence Nov 2011

About meAbout me

Kanban in Japanese literally means “signboard” or “billboard”• kan “visual”• ban “card”

In manufacturing, a kanban is an “order card”• Used to restock goods “just-in-time”• Reduces inventory• Improves production flow

Toyota Production System

Kanban or kanban?

What is Kanban

Taiichi Ohno likened the Toyota Production System to a supermarket

Production components are “pulled” by demand, rather than “pushed” by the production rate of earlier processes

History of Kanban

Improved quality of work

Faster turnaround of work requests

Identification and elimination of bottlenecks

Reduction of time work spends in queues

Improved teamwork

Reduction of wasted effort

Why Kanban

Real World Kanban Systems

An incremental evolutionary change management process geared towards changing process

It’s about knowing what you do

Then committing to getting better at that

Doesn’t preach a systematic change

The Kanban Method

1. Visualise your work

2. Limit WIP

3. Manage Flow

4. Explicit Policies

5. Improve Collaboratively

5 Practices

1. Visualise your work

Allows you and others to see what you’re dealing with

Reduces stress

Reduces likelihood of forgetting important work items

Provides insight

Improves your ability to make good choices• What should you work on right now?• How much more can you commit to?• When should you say “No” to new requests?• What items are currently blocked?• How long does it take new work to get done?

Why Visualise?

2. Limit Work in Process (WIP)

Little’s Law

Arrival rate = throughput

Wait Time = Queue Size / Arrival Rate:

Cycle Time = WIP / Throughput

Length of queue Average wait time

Arrival Rate

Two Ways to Reduce Cycle Time1. Increase Throughput 2. Reduce Work In Process (WIP)

Improving System Responsiveness

Don’t manage utilisation

Don’t manage how busy people are

Metrics• Cumulative Flow Diagram• Daily WIP• Throughput• Statistical Process Control Chart

3. Measure and Manage Flow

Don’t change anything!1. Use your existing process, roles and responsibilities2. Commit to change

Model your process

Identify types of work

Sketch or model the workflow

Create a card wall

Establish and visualise queues/buffers

Implementing Kanban

Model your process

Backlog Dev Test Deploy Complete

Visualise your work

Backlog Dev Test Deploy Complete

A

B

C

D

E

Start “pulling” work

Backlog Dev Test Deploy Complete

A

B

C

D

E

Completing Tasks

Backlog Dev Test Deploy Complete

A

B

C

D

E

Define WIP Limits

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

B

C

D

E

Define Policies

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

B

C

D

E

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Managing Flow

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

B

CD

E

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Managing Flow

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

B

CDE

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Handling “expedite” items

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

B

CDE

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F

Measuring Flow

Backlog Dev (2) Test (2) Deploy (2) Complete

A

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Lead Time

Cycle Time

Manual• Flexible• Tactile

Electronic• Distributed Teams• Audit Requirements• Traceability (e.g. with Work Items / Source Control)• Reportability

Manual vs Electronic

Model your process• States vs Activities and Queues• WIP limit info• Get to know Process Editor

Kanban with TFS

Kanban Process Template

Kanban Process Template

Planned In Progress Complete

Backlog ClosedDesignActive Done

DevelopActive Done

TestActive Done

Removed Work Item State

Fixed Kanban State (no queue)

Configurable Kanban State (with queue)

Kanban Process Template

Demo

Cumulative Flow Diagram

5 days

2 daysCycle Time

Cumulative Flow Diagram

8 days

5 days

Lead Time

Cumulative Flow Diagram

WIP

Throughput

2/7/2012 2/14/2012 2/21/2012 2/28/20120

2

4

6

8

10

Weekly Throughput

Total

Linear (Total)

WIP

2/1/

2012

2/3/

2012

2/5/

2012

2/7/

2012

2/9/

2012

2/11

/201

2

2/13

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2

2/15

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2

2/17

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2

2/19

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2

2/21

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2/23

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20

1

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Daily WIP

In Progress

Linear (In Progress)

1. Focus on Quality

2. Reduce Work-in-Process

3. Deliver Often

4. Balance Demand Against Throughput

5. Prioritise

6. Attack sources of variability to improve predictability

Recipe for Success

2 Rules:1. Visualise your work2. Limit your Work in Process (WIP)

Personal Kanban

1. Gather materials

2. Establish your value stream

3. Make your backlog explicit

4. Establish a WIP Limit

5. Begin Pulling Tasks

6. Reflect

Setting up a Personal Kanban board

A Productivity Tool• Limiting our WIP helps us accomplish more

An Efficiency Tool• Focusing on our value stream encourages us to find ways to work smarter

while expending less effort

An Effectiveness Tool• Making our options explicit helps us make informed decisions

Personal Kanban gives us…

Kanban is a lean agile system that can be used to enhance any software development lifecycle including Scrum, XP, Waterfall and other methods.

Kanban brings the team together and helps teams collaborate

Team Foundation Server can support Kanban by modelling your process and visualising the work

Digital Kanban brings automation and supports geo-distributed teams but trades some flexibility

Summary

Kanban Process Template: http://vsarkanbanguide.codeplex.com/

Resources

Contacting me• Email: David_Cook@TechnologyOneCorp.com• Twitter: @David_Cook

Thank You