AGILE / LEAN / KANBAN
Sudipta Lahiri, Digité
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Let’s bust some myths first... Agile methods are NOT:
Sloppy Whatever-you-want-to-do No-questions-asked, no-managers or no-dates Compressing schedule Throwing out documentation Coding till the last minute
You can get temporary speed... but not sustainable
Speed needs much more discipline that otherwise! Think Formula One racing!
Agile teams need testers... with strong testing skills04/09/2023
Many are doing it today… 3
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Even the Government is doing it…
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So, what is all this noise about?
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The evolution of SDLC
1970s: Waterfall 1980s: SSAD
1985: CMMI 1990s
OOD/RAD
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Changing Focus7
Building the product RIGHT
Are we building the RIGHT product?
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Emergence of Agile
2001: Agile Manifesto individuals and interactions over processes
and tools Colocation/pair programming
Working software over comprehensive documentation Sprints: deliverable software
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan Plan/Scope committed to the current Sprint
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Agile and Lean9
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Thinking progressed in 2 tracks...
XP SCRUM Lean Kanban SCRUMBAN Many others...
TDD + BDD Build Automation
=> Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery
Continuous Deployment
Management Methods Engineering Methods
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Lean applied to Software
What is a “Lean” system? A system in which we: Eliminate waste:
Focus on hand-offs, source of errors Amplify learning; create knowledge Defer commitment Deliver as fast as possible Respect people; Empower them Build quality in; optimize whole
Improvements can happen when you can see what is happening in the system => reduce waste
Focus on better economic outcome than better utilization of resources
Think of it as a pipeline... Anything, that slows things flowing out of the pipeline is a waste
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A different balancing act...12
Traditional software
development
Scope
Time Cost(resources)
Scope
TimeCost
(resources)
Agile software development
(Target business goals &
outcomes)
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SCRUM
Img Src: Scrum Primer by Pete Deemer
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What is Kanban?
David Anderson formulated the method Kanban = kan ("visual") +
ban ("card" or "board") Coined by Toyota during
the late 1940s and early 1950s and has spread to the manufacturing industry all over the world as a tool of Lean Manufacturing
Kanban: signal Used to support non-
centralized "pull" production control to gain visibility into the process and execution status, reduce waste (and costs), and help achieve JIT production
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The Kanban Method:Core Practices Visualize the Work
Map your value stream Making invisible work, visible!
Limit Work in Process (WIP) Manage Flow; Establish a Cadence
Remove bottlenecks and improve the flow Increase throughput
Make Process Policies Explicit
------------------------------------------------------- Improve Collaboratively, Evolve Experimentally
(using models and scientific method) Implement Feedback Loops
Focus is on creating a
continuously improving
system; NOT on creating the most optimal system
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A Board looks like this...16
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Value Stream
Through metrics you can evaluate your efficiency. How much time spent on value add vs non value add
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Why Pull? Why Kanban
We don’t want to: Build features that nobody needs right
now Write more specs than we can code Write more code than we can test Test more code than we can deploy
Work on Tickets/ Transactions that are not priority
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Limiting Work-In-Progress (WIP) Reduces multi-tasking
Prevent context switching Performing tasks one-at-a-time yields
results sooner Maximizes throughput Enhances teamwork
Working together to make things done Increase cross-functionality
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Making policies explicit
Policies are not evil Defining policies vs QMS A framework for common understanding across all team
members For example:
Process Flow Input Cadence; Output Cadence WIP Limits Definition of “Done” Entry and Exit Criteria (moving from one stage to another) Handling rework
Should the card be send back on the work board OR stay in the same lane till it is reworked?
Handling Class of Service How to handle Expedite cards?
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Here’s what happens…
Courtesy: Henrik Kniber
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How work happens today?
Project Managers do scope/work decomposition and assign tasks to people Typically, done in a very
deterministic manner We make a MS Project schedule;
gives a planned end date
Tasks start slipping Multiple reasons: some in control
of project team and some not...
Unscheduled tasks start coming in Some anticipated and some
unanticipated... Defects: you don’t know how many
will come and their flow New RFPs/CRs that need to be
estimated that may or may not ever fructify
Some visible to the Project manager and some not...
These get assigned to people who are already behind
Team members try to juggle between what is planned (and kept on schedule) + new arrivals! In most cases, people avoid re-
prioritization (you can’t do it for every incremental piece)
As a result: Planned tasks start slipping Quality drops because people
multi-tasking and context switching
Management asks questions but very difficult to justify and show the problem!
Teams works in a reactive mode (as opposed to a planned proactive manner)
Team feels there is no time to breathe... the pressure seems endless!
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How a “Project Board” changes this?
Shows all work items, their current state of progress and the people who are on it Work items move forward as
they progress! Brings out many “hidden”
things that people are working on
Makes it obvious where work is getting piled up to everyone You will see this when we show
this in a fast simulation model Colors help you visualize the
pattern of work For e.g., are you doing more
value enhancement work or more rework?
Help collaborate between the project team: Everyone knows what others
are working on If someone needs help, they
can “block” without escalation/follow-up
If someone is overloaded, others in the team can respond
Provide for additional social tools to collaborate within project team Chat/Threaded Discussions
“What-if” simulation models Project Board is touch screen
enabled and available on mobile platforms
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How a “Project Board” changes this?
Putting a limit on the work in process determines what really needs to be done
Creates a scorecard with just having a simple Kanban board You know how many get done!
The board keeps us accountable The person who owns the card
has to move it forward
Encourage teamwork as the tasks that are not being completed will focussed and worked on, together
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Kanban – an evolutionary approach Kanban is an
adaptive capability for evolutionary change Not a process
definition or a framework to be tailored
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Break ke baad...
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The Daily Standup Meeting
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The Challenges of Status Calls… People report to leader…
Leader summarizes the status update … and sometimes “massage” the status
update Often, there is chaos, no agenda, too
many people Louder personalities (few) dominate Many sit quiet in tacit acceptance
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Rationale behind the Standup call Regularly communicating, working
together and helping each other is the best team practice
Gaining a shared understanding of what work is done and what remains to be done
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Standup Call is the Team Huddle! We have all seen the “HUDDLE”… in
action
Why not in your teams?
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This is what happens…
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Team Meeting to provide a Daily Status Update in 15 min Gather issues during the Standup Process issues after the Standup: take discussions offline
Each person tells their peers (not their manager) What they did yesterday and what they plan on doing today Where are they stuck or need help?
Think ahead your elevator pitch Use the Board; have a facilitator Same place; same time
Do not wait; do not repeat
Ideally, start the day with a Standup
GIFTS (goals) of a Standup Call
G – Good Start to the day Give energy; instil a sense of
purpose/urgency Clear understanding what
needs to be done to achieve it No "false urgency“: where
people are geared up for activity but are without shared direction
BUT… if you cannot START the day, schedule it at the end of the day so that it is not linked to starting work in the day
I – Support Improvement Expose problems to allow us to
improve Share better techniques and
ideas
F – Reinforce Focus on the Right Things Focus on moving work through
the system to achieve our objectives
T – Reinforce the sense of Team Effective teams are built by
regularly communicating, working, and helping each other
Strongly tied with team members helping each other with shared obstacles
Effective teams are autonomous (self-organizing)
S – Communicate Status How is the work progressing? Is there anything else interesting
that the team should know?
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Some more guidelines
Who Attends? “All Hands”
Replace some meetings/reports with Standup
“Stories” are the participants People are giving update
on behalf of the stories Reject any meeting that
risks that timeline Including your manager’s
or your customers They will appreciate your
commitment to the “Huddle”
Set your reminder 5 min ahead of start time
Speaking order: Round-robin… OR… The last person who
arrives speaks first Speak loudly; don’t
whisper… You have to energize!
End the meeting with a high note
Break eye contact with the manager
For larger teams May not be possible in 15
min Focus on Blocked Cards,
Expedite Cards Leave time for something
that someone feels important
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Standup Call - Mistakes
Be cautious of few issues dominating the call Take them offline
Not Standing: Take out the chairs! Some people get into “story telling” Team members not showing up on time
Pick a time that everyone is OK with Get support from line managers Provide buffer between meetings
Allowing distractions Location, No mobiles/laptops Meeting etiquette
Not having a dedicated team room Not using Standup for distributed teams
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Retrospective41
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The Retrospective Template:For mid-size projects
Appreciations
Puzzles
Risks
Wishes
Actions
Let everyone write their own points on a post-it and stick it on the white board
What do they mean: Puzzles: Questions for which
you have no answer, represented by a question mark.
Risks: Future pitfalls that can endanger the project, represented by a bomb.
Appreciations: What you liked during the previous iteration, represented by a smiley face.
Wishes: Not improvements, but ideas of your ideal project, represented by a star.
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Scope
What did we plan to do? What actually happened? Why? What would we do next time? What do we want to do more of, what do
we want to change or stop? (5 mins max)
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The method
Nominate a facilitator Consider an outside
facilitator to eliminate inter-personal issues
Consider removing chairs => No more endless debates
Define ground rules. Consider: Be respectful ; Do not
interrupt Put away laptops and
phones Park long discussions in
the designated lot Recap what you hear to
ensure understanding What is said here stays
here
Avoid the product owner (unless you have a great one!) Tend to hijack the
discussion with “all problem with dev”
Collect data for 15 min Go round the group – what
have we done for the improvement actions we committed to last week? (2-3min per person)
Look at Cumulative Flow, Cycle Time and Lead Time – what issues do we see, what actions can we take? (5 mins max)
Collate your blockers
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Break ke baad...
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getKanban Game
Each team has a playing board representing a Kanban task board, and a collection of story cards representing work to be done.
Each card has a value associated to it and an estimated effort for each stage
Team earns as cards complete the Value Stream Teams compete to maximise net profit by optimizing the
flow of work All resources can do everything except when the system
specifically mentions a constraint System generates events and you have to keep re-planning
based on the same Lookout for Expedite or FixedDay cards; there is price for
missing deadlines When you pull cards, from the Backlog, new cards will
appear; notice for the value of the cards So, keep prioritizing and allocating card carefully! That is the
game...
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