The Agile Story Card Wall A Tool for Applying the Principles of Agile, Lean and Theory of Constraints

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The Beer Game within Agile Teams

The Caipirinha Game within Agile Teams

Tom Looy Senior Consultant Tacit Knowledge LLC

Scope Schedule Budget Quality? Quality! The Impossible Triangle The Iron Triangle “ Management by Counting” Warning!

Can we count stuff to assure we have Quality?

So how do we effectively manage Quality?

If you want to you have to go fast have quality …

The right kind of ‘going fast’ can assure that we have Quality.

Apply Lean and ToC using an Agile Wall in order to achieve Speed and Quality

Apply Lean and ToC

using an Agile Wall

in order to

achieve Speed and Quality

Five Focusing Steps Identify the Constraint Exploit the Constraint Subordinate Everything Else to the Constraint Elevate the Constraint Go back to Step 1

Identify the Constraint

Exploit the Constraint

Subordinate Everything Else to the Constraint

Elevate the Constraint

Go back to Step 1

Let’s get specific…

An Animation of One Project’s Agile Wall Lifecycle of a Story Card As a… I want to… in order to…

Release small batch sizes into the system Keep WIP (Work In Progress) down Short workcycles Lean Principles on the Agile Wall

The Drum is the constraint – it sets the pace for work all work done in the system. The Buffer protects the Drum from being starved for work. The Rope controls the release of work into the system by tying it to the constraint. ToC’s “Drum-Buffer-Rope”

Other Things of Interest on This Agile Wall Velocity is based on Story Cards, not Story Points. Iteration 9 is included in the plan as a contingency. Each team’s capacity (and size) was determined through several previous Iterations of adapting.

Why the Agile Wall Is So Effective Focuses on completing work, not resource utilization Transparency (Information Radiator) Helps Manage Constraints Supports Lean Thinking and Systemic Thinking

Focuses on completing work, not resource utilization

Transparency (Information Radiator)

Helps Manage Constraints

Supports Lean Thinking and

Systemic Thinking

What else…

What else…

Why project slippages accumulate but gains don’t. Why specialization adds risk. Servant Leadership. “ Leading from the Future as it Emerges”* *Subtitle of Otto Scharmer’s book Theory U

Why project slippages accumulate but gains don’t.

Why specialization adds risk.

Servant Leadership.

“ Leading from the Future as it Emerges”*

The Beer Game

Agenda Run the animated Agile Story Card Wall Examine ‘what if’ scenarios using Excel

Run the animated Agile Story Card Wall

Examine ‘what if’ scenarios using Excel

Thinking tools not counting tools

Thinking tools

not counting tools

Management Paradigm Shift

Organizational Learning Lean/ToC Thinking Agile XP Scrum … © 2006-2008 Allan Kelly, Software Strategy Ltd. More prescriptive More philosophical: value, idea based Applicability Kanban

Tom Looy [email_address] http://www.vimeo.com/6440653

The Agile Wall – A Thinking Tool