Mattias SkarinKanban / Lean coach

www.crisp.se

10 pitfalls when implementing kanbanMay 4, 2011

http://blog.crisp.se/mattiasskarinmattias.skarin@crisp.se

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Me

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#1 Purpose first

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You cannot improve what you don’t understand

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Beware of trojan horses..

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Some purposes from real teams

”Enable higher degree of self organisation..”

”Growing team member skill sets”

”Know when we can deliver..”

”Get focus. (On completing, not starting)”

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”To be able to complete more assignments on time, with less stress and more laughter!”

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#2 Management by absence

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Even we managers need WIP limits..

1. Visualize workflow2. Limit Work in Progress3.Measure and manage flow4.Make process policies explicit

Kanban principles:

(.. living by them; or remove them..)

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My management checklist

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Can I see the most valuable things to work on? Are we keeping WIP limits? Are policies transparent, and in use? Is there any blocking problems that should be dealt with? For learning over time: Are we measuring flow?

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#3 Not ready for the transparency

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Backlog In work

Done

People who build their case on heroic efforts might be in for a surprise..

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#4 Loss of overview

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Backlog Dev Acc. test Deploy Done

[5] [2] [3] [5]

Concerned coach

• I can see the most valuable thing to work on right now

• I can see if we are keeping our WIP limits

• Team members are discussing in front of the board

Kanban sanity check:

I’m I using the right granularity?

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#5 Ignoring WIP limits

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Backlog Dev Acc. test Deploy Done

[3] [3]

”That looks fun,I’ll take that on..”

”..but they asked me to..” ??

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Potential cure: Physical WIP LimitsPotential cure: Physical WIP Limits

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#6 All tasks must be on the board

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Backlog Dev Acc. test Deploy Done

[5] [2] [3] [5]

Potential mistakes.. Confusing tasks with demand Treating all demand equal Ignorant about incurring overhead

Want a coffee?

Sure, write a Jira ticketand add it to the

Kanban board

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Ask: ”What demand do we want to learn about?”

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Low value demand

High value demand

”White noice”

It’s nature And our capability to meet it

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Caught under a big pile of work?

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Treatment #1: Hold back ”Overanalysis”

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Analysis we don’t needright now

Analysis required for next sprint

”Pile of work”

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Treatment #2: Early screening of purpose

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Backlog Dev Acc. test Deploy Done

[5] [2] [3] [5]

Whishlist Dev Acc. test Deploy Done[5] [2] [3] [5]

Uservalue defined

”I understand why this feature should be made”

Senior team member

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Treatment #3: Let your bottleneck set the pace

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In queue

2 stories / week

FlowLegacy team

Front end team

Limit to 2 legacy teamstories already here!

5 stories / week

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Treatment #4: Fix failure demand upstream

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Failure demandValue demand

”Pile of work”

Value demand: Demand for service from customersFailure demand: Caused by failure to do something right for the customer

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#7 Overbelief in value of planning

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Business area

Backlog Dev Done

Plannedwork

Unplanned work

Backlog Dev Done

”How I behave”

Unplanned2.

Project1.

”How I plan”

Project2.

We’re alwaysstressed..

So , what you ratherwant?

[1]

[1]Unplanned1.

Why are you notdelivering the planned

stuff??

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#8 Not having a strategy for dealing with variance

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Work to do

”Does it need a deadline?Define why..”

Flow

$$

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#9 Improvement efforts gets eaten upp by events (lack of endurance)

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External service partner

Business area A

External tech partner

First line support

Problem solving time

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Managers door

Getting endurance in problem solving

Improvement kanban

What we as a teamdo

What we need help with from theorganization?

Next [2]

In work [2]

Done

Example from Fredrik Lindgren, Crisp

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#10

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”Everybody thinks of changing the world, but noone about changing himself”

- Leo Tolstoy

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Good news! Fixes can be applied

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To our demand

And our capability

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Now, go practice!

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Expand your toolkit:www.crisp.se/utbildning

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Kanban training with David AndersonMay 30 – 31, Copenhagen

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www.trifork.com