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?