Little bits of cardboard
A study of a project using Kanban processes
New infrastructure projectUnknown and rapidly emerging requirements. Architecture evolved as the project progressed.New clients for the product meant rapidly emerging
requirementsThe application had to be deployed ASAP to meet
contractual obligations
Details
The project was at a standstill, cards were not moving across the board.
Large numbers of cards clogged the board and the team felt paralysed.
It was difficult to prioritise, as the backlog was so big and undefined
4 months of development work done with no production deployment of any code.
Problems
The board before
Backlog
Story card
Story card
Story card Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Ready for Dev
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Jim
Jim
Mel
Mel
Tom
In Dev
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Ready for test
In test Signed off
Story card Story card
Blocked
Story card
Test failed
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
A story board can provide a lot of information about a team and how it is performing.
The team board had a lot of signals about were problems were occuring
Problems
Backlog
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Ready for Dev
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Jim
Jim
Mel
Mel
Tom
In Dev
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Ready for test
In test
Story card Story card
Blocked
Story card
Test failedLarge backlog column:
The backlog column contained upcoming stories for the entire project
Competing priorities meant the development effort wasn’t focused
Stand ups tended to focus on backlog items that hadn’t even made the “Ready for Dev” – (current sprint) column.
Time was spent estimating and planning on stories that never ended up getting prioritised
Story card
Story card
Story card
Story card
Jim
Jim
Mel
Mel
Tom
In Dev
Problems
Team members were deployed across multiple cards, they found it frustrating and difficult to focus on getting things done.
Problems
Story card
Story card
Story card
Blocked Story cards would land in the blocked column and often stay there for days
The reasons for this were varied, but there was a lack of ownership or urgency
After a few different approaches were discussed, we trialled a Lean/Kanban approach/process
This helped us focus on our constraints and get back to getting things done.
What we did next
Limit Work In ProgressOnly start a new task/item when last item was completeBalance demand against throughput The cards become signals (Kanban) to indicate when
something needs to happenCreates a pull system where an empty slot triggers a
demand for a card further up the supply chain.
What is Kanban
Story card This is Kanban
We started by limiting WIP (Work in progress) on the swim lanes, including the “In analysis” and “ready for Dev” lanes
How we got there
Limiting WIP
In Analysis2
Story card
Story cardStory card
Ready for Dev2
Story card
BenTom
In Dev2
Story card
Story card
Ready for test
2
In test2
Story card
Mel Jim
Ready for Sign off
3
Signed off
Story card
Story card
Parking lot
Story card Something to talk about tomorrow
Cards on the lanes limited to available pairs in the sprint. New cards are demand pulled into the lanes to reach capacity as cards
are completed and moved across. Developers only allowed to be on ONE card This ensured the cards coming through were really the “highest” priority Helped minimise discussion and pre-work on low priority cards
Story card
Worked out what the bare minimum was to get our “first” production release out, even if it meant the application was feature poor.
This was what is termed a “MMF” or “Minimum marketable feature”
Allowed us to target incremental delivery rather than “big bang”
if nothing else, this helped prove the “Path to Production” getting early feedback on performance across all your environments in invaluable.
“Please, just let us release something!”
Release token/card
In Analysis2
Story card
Story card Release Card
Story card
Ready for Dev2
Story card
BenTom
In Dev2
Story card
Ready for test
2
In test2
Story cardStory card
Mel Jim
Ready for Sign off
3
Signed off
Story card
Story card
Parking lot
Story card Something to talk about tomorrow
We introduced a “Release” token which followed the last of the cards in the MMF across the board.
This card behaved just as any other card did, occupying slots and requiring owners
Any card that followed the release card was not checked into the main trunk until after the release card was “signed off” – which meant deployed
We released when we had enough, not at the “end” of a sprint cycle.
Tom JT
Reducing clutter/confusion
In Analysis2
Ready for Dev2
Story card
Story card
In Dev2
Story card Story card
Ready for test
2
In test2
Story card
Mel Jim
Ready for Sign off
3
Signed off Parking lot
Story card
Story card
Something to talk about tomorrow
Reduced the amount of clutter that was on the board by removing the backlog column Backlog items were removed and placed out of immediate sight
Removed the blocked column, changed how “blocked cards were dealt with” Blocked cards had to find an owner, and therefore a swimlane, or
were deprioritised
Story card
Adding buffers
In Analysis2
Ready for Dev2
Story card
Story card
In Dev2
Story card Story card
Ready for test
2
In test2
Story card
Mel Jim
Ready for Sign off
3
Signed off Parking lot
Story card
Story card
Something to talk about tomorrow
We got excited about removing lanes so; We removed the test failed lane and created a buffer zone above
“In Dev”. These cards were considered the highest priority in that lane.
Buffers added to other lanes as well, these helped create strong signals of constraints in the system that needed to be acted upon.
Story card
Sprint cycle and release cycle were “uncoupled”Planning was done, as required, not by timetables Retained sprint cadence for “retros” and “demos”Team aggressively split cards to look for smallest item of
“business value”Having limited “fixed backlog” meant we could react very
quickly to changeRolled technical stories into stories that deliver business
value forced us to change course slowly and justify changes, also reduced Technical debt
What changed
Delivering a constant stream of small but valuable stuff into production every week is VERY motivating.
Splitting stories can reveal just how little business value certain aspects of stories contain
We almost never get through everything that was “planned”We almost always ended up doing stories that weren’t
“planned”Just-in-time stories can enable the business to leave
decision of what’s important to the last possible moment.Trying to deliver everything to everyone can lead to
delivering nothing at all to anyone
What did we learn?
Simplifies workflowReduces confusionEncourages small incremental releasesAccepts and encourages changeTeams with highly flexible backlogs (BAU, support) are ideal
candidates for KanbanAllows teams to focus on their constraints and support them Is motivating to developersForces prioritisation by limiting WIP Works well for new product development teams
Take home message
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Thank you
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