Scrum vs Kanban - Implementing Agility at Scale

Scrum vs KanbanCory Foy

@[email protected]

Tuesday, February 25, 14

mailto:[email protected]


Cory [email protected]

@cory_foy

blog.coryfoy.com

prettykoolapps.com


My name is Cory Foy and my background includes all of those. Through my company, I and my colleagues with with organizations large and small helping adopt agile and lean practices and principles. But my background is also from a software side. I have clients that I do software development for, and I also serve as CTO of Pretty Kool Apps, building mobile apps for kids and therapists. So my approach to the process side isn’t from the traditional PM perspective, but from a “how is this best for the teams on the ground” approach. You can also see this in my posts on my blog, where you’ll be able to find these slides after the conference. Ok, enough shameless self-promotion, because I want to start with Agile.



Agile


When I asked how many of you “do Agile” what came in to your mind was likely the thought of agility, gracefully dancing across your software product.

Agile

http://www.flickr.com/photos/b1ue5ky/3621908203

/ˈajəl/1. Doesn’t Exist2. Describes project management that wants to seem “hip”3. May refer to the Agile Manifesto, or one of the myriad of frameworks and methodologies sprung from the manifesto, or a collection of practices and tools which somewhat resemble one of the myriad of frameworks and methodologies under the agile manifesto


But oftentimes when I ask people who say they do agile what they actually do, it becomes a little stranger. While I’m sure ironing on the top of a flipping SUV does require great agility, it’s not quite what I think of. In fact, if we were to define agile...




In fact, it might even go as far as this. But even if an Agile Methodology doesn’t exist, the agile movement has create some really valuable elements, starting with the agile manifesto


What happened was just over 10 years ago people who had been well versed in heavyweight processes got together to say there must be a better way. Some of them had already begun working towards other ways. But in coming together they found agreement in this 4 values

Continuous DeliveryWelcome Change

Deliver FrequentlyBusiness + Development

Trust TeamsTalk Face-to-Face

Measure via Working SoftwareSustainable Pace

Technical ExcellenceSimplicity

Self-Organizing TeamsContinuous Improvement

12 Principles


These 4 values and 12 principles have been behind many of the methodologies and frameworks in the agile movement, including


things like XP, Crystal, DaD, DSDM, AUP and many others. The goal behind all of these is to respond to change faster, delivering better value in a lightweight fashion. In fact, Alistair’s Crystal methodology defines various levels depending upon the adoption. But the arguably best known of these is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/royskeane/413103429

Scrum


In Scrum, the visual is that we all come together to move the ball forward. And I want to spend a little bit of time explaining what Scrum is so we can see how it ties together. So where did Scrum come from?



Scrum

- A Project Management Framework- Designed to Protect Teams- Focuses on Delivering Chunks of Value


Scrum came about as a way to protect teams from micromanagement...We think of Scrum as the 3 of 3s

Sprint PlanningSprint ReviewDaily Standup

Scrum “3 of 3s”

3 Roles 3 Meetings 3 ArtifactsScrumMaster

Product OwnerTeam

Product BacklogSprint BacklogScrum Board

Retrospective Impediment Board


Scrum


Sprint Planning

Product Backlog

In Sprint?

Daily Standup

Do WorkSprint Demo

Retrospective

Done?Ship and Party!

Yes

No

Yes

No

RepeatDaily

Scrum


Scrum

“75% of those organizations using Scrum will not succeed in getting

the benefits that they hope for from it”

- Ken Schwaber

Scaling Scrum


Product Owner Teams

Scrum

Scrum of Scrums

Large Scale Retrospectives

Scaling Scrum


Scrum Scaling Scrum


The problem is that many of the approaches to scaling are highly prescriptive. People want to know the “how” just long enough to understand the “why”. And our tools have to support this.

“In posing this question, they were

not asking about specific

techniques...[but] what are the key

principles to guide our actions?”


Womack and Jones ran into this problem as well. Executives are typically smart people - they may not know the lingo, but they can understand success in many cases.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyotamheurope/6250072249


Not only for us working together, but for our entire team and organization. After all, teams are made up of people. And people have different points of views, expectations, visions, and goals. We need a way to work within all of that - and prescribing to them how to work without getting feedback from them will miss many valuable learning opportunities.



LeanContinuous Process Flow

Use Pull Systems to Avoid Overproduction

Level Out the Workflow

Stop to Fix Problems

Use Standardized Tasks and Processes

Use Visual Controls

Become a Learning Organization (hansei / kaizen)Tuesday, February 25, 14

This approach of using empirical data to define and improve our processes, was labeled “Lean” by Womack and Jones as a way of signaling being able to do more and more with less and less - in a good way. They identified 14 principles of Lean, 7 of which I chose to highlight here






Use Visual Controls

Become a Learning Organization (hansei / kaizen)

- Provide customers what they want, when they want it, in the amount they want








Use Visual Controls


- Bring Problems to the Surface

- Reduce to zero the amount of time work is idle








Use Visual Controls


- Unevenness causes waste in forecast, planning and

production, so work towards smooth work








Use Visual Controls


- Build into the system the capability of detecting

problems- Control of Error








Use Visual Controls


- Use simple visual indicators to know if in standard condition or

deviation- Reports should be one

page, even financial reports








Use Visual Controls


- Use stable, repeatable methods

- Capture the current method, learn from it, then capture the new method








Use Visual Controls


- Hansei - Relentless Reflection

- Kaizen - Continuous Improvement


These principles formed the basis of what Womack and Jones saw as Lean thinking across industries. Then, in 2003, Tom and Mary Poppendieck

LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning

Decide as Late as Possible

Deliver as Fast as Possible

Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole


published one of the first books bridging the gap to the software world. In it, they took the 14 principles and boiled them down to 7 principles and 22 tools.

LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- Waste are things not directly tied with bringing value to a customer

- Value is something someone would pay for

- Queues, Delays, Rework


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- Every solution we create is unique

- Our product is about what is used, rather than how well

it met the requirements- Feedback is critical


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- We decide Schedule, Scope, Cost at the beginning of a

project- Don’t make critical decisions

when you know the least!


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- The longer work is in progress, the more time it has

to collect bugs- Once you’ve decided a

feature is necessary, deliver it!- Unrealized features are

inventory


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- Most people want to do the best job they can

- Let them help set and understand policies


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- Perceived vs Conceptual Integrity

- Focus on Quality from the beginning


LeanEliminate Waste

Amplify Learning



Empower the Team

Build Integrity In

See the Whole

- Root Cause Analysis- Retrospectives- Visualization

Systems Thinking-


Lean Systems Thinking


The idea of systems thinking is one of the most critical, because it highlights that if we want to change behaviors, we have to change the system which produced the behaviors. For example, a companies culture comes out of peoples’ experiences, so if you want to change the culture, you have to change the way they are managed. Therefore, if our goal is to slap our name on something, then we can adopt whatever we want. But if we want to truly affect change, we need a process which can help us adapt to where the real issues are

Kanban


While Mary and Tom’s book introduced several tools to implement the principles, in 2010, David Anderson published a book introducing the idea of Kanban in the technology world. Kanban literally means card - it’s a signaling mechanism

Kanban/kahn-bahn/


While Mary and Tom’s book introduced several tools to implement the principles, in 2010, David Anderson published a book introducing the idea of Kanban in the technology world. Kanban literally means card - it’s a signaling mechanism

Kanban5 Steps to Kanban

- Visualize Workflow- Limit Work-in-Progress- Measure and Manage Flow- Make Process Policies Explicit- Use Models to Recognize Improvement Opportunities


But Kanban is also a system with five key properties that have been observed in teams which are successful with it. Those are

- Limit Work-in-Progress


- Visualize Workflow

- Measure and Manage Flow- Make Process Policies Explicit- Use Models to Recognize Improvement Opportunities



WIP Limits, Expedite Lanes, Queues





Systems ThinkingTheory of Constraints

Muda (Waste)


Muda (Waste)

Kanban


Kanban

Scrumvs

Project�� Management�� Finals

2014


Recreating Scrum with Kanban

http://blog.coryfoy.com/2011/07/recreating-scrum-using-kanban-and-explicit-policies/

2 Week Sprint

SprintPlanning

SprintDemo

Retros(2 Weeks)

(2 Weeks)

(2 Weeks)

2 Weeks!

2 Weeks!

2 Weeks!

1 Week!

On Demand!

Velocity





What about standups? The board answers our questions, so the standups become about focusing on flow, since everything else is visualized (Inventory in UAT)

Scrum Kanban

Need a set of prescriptive practices

Are unique in any way

Work in timeboxesCan work in timeboxes, but

have work which takes longer

In a Scrum Environment In a Lean Six Sigma environment

Need to protect the teamWant to enable collaboration

and reflection

Kanban Scrumvs


Scrum when you need an adoption with prescriptive practices and can work in a cycle

Kanban vs Scrum

Kanban with visual boards, cadence and explicit policies for everything else


Cory [email protected]

@cory_foy

blog.coryfoy.com

prettykoolapps.com




Scrum vs Kanban - Implementing Agility at Scale

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Transcript of Scrum vs Kanban - Implementing Agility at Scale