Kanban 101

Kanban 101
Improving Economic Outcomes
Through Evolutionary Change

What is Kanban?
Kanban is a method to:
enable evolutionary change …
help implement and scale Agile …
establish a culture of ongoing improvement.

Roots of Kanban: Lean
Muda, Muri, Mura
Waste, Unreasonableness, Unevenness
Goals of Lean
Improve Quality, Eliminate Waste, Reduce Time, Reduce Total Costs

System of Profound Knowledge
How to achieve evolutionary change, implement and scale Agile, establish a culture of ongoing improvement?
Understand the system
Operate with variability
Understand how to act on the system
Understand human psychology
PDSA
Plan, Do, Study, Adjust
But the cycles have to be very fast

Roots of Kanban: Opposite of Push
Push Systems: Plan-Driven
Gantt Chart
Start as soon as possible
Committed Finish Dates
Drives delaying and value destroying behavior

How Push Creates Value Destroying Behavior
Start date is planned up front
Finish date is planned up front
But we don’t know exactly what we need to build and how long it will take to build it
(how long will it take to test and fix the problems you find on a piece of code we haven’t clearly defined?)
So we estimate at the 99% likelihood for each task – which is typically double the likely duration.
Because we are focused on the Finish Date we operate with the 50% duration in mind and deliver late 50% of the time anyway.
So we add more pad to our estimates.
Ensures late delivery or excessive padding in estimates (usually both)

Roots of Kanban: Pull
Kanban: a card that represents a unit of work
Flow work in single units or small batches
Pace the work by limiting WIP
Use signaling to trigger pull
The number of kanban equals capacity
New work can start only when a space is available
A space becomes available when previous work is complete
Level of mix and quantity to spread risk and optimize portfolio

Types of Pull
Maintaining the system at the pace of the bottleneck (Herbie) – breaks down when a failure occurs before the bottleneck
DBR
CapWIP
ConWIP
Kanban
DBR with protective WIP limit before the bottleneck – for when a failure occurs before the bottleneck
In a stochastic process, the bottleneck moves – ConWIP provides protective WIP limit across the system – doesn’t highlight current bottleneck
Supports a stochastic process - highlights current bottleneck

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Columns for each Work Type
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Acceptance Tests Green
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
Test Case Examples Done
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
WIP Limits –Maximum number of kanban in each column
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Split Work Types between doing and done
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Criteria for Done defined at the for each column
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
In this case, all the queues are full. No more work can be added to the Kanban.
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Kanban Board
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Doing
Doing
Done
Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Getting Started with Kanban
Agree on Goals
Visualize the Work
Limit WIP
Measure and Manage Flow
Make Process Policy Explicit
Use Models to Identify Improvement Opportunities

Agree on Goals
Business Goals
Improve Lead Time Predictability
Optimize Existing Processes
Improve Time to Market
Control Costs
Management Goals
Provide Transparency
Enable Emergence of High Maturity
Deliver Higher Quality
Simplify Prioritization
Organizational Goals
Improve Employee Satisfaction
Provide Slack to Enable Improvement

Capture and Identify All WIP
Analyze
Develop
Accept
Prod
Ready
Doing
Done
Doing
Done
Doing
Done
Feature
Feature
Maint
Feature
Feature
Feature
Task
Urgent
Criteria
Change
Feature
Task
Days in work-On board
Blocked
Days in queue
Defect
Maint
Days Blocked

Visualize the Work
Tracking
Description:
TR: 1245Size: M
Business Value:
As a … I want to … so that …
Entry Date:
Due Date:
Start:Finish:
Days in queue
Days Blocked

Change Management Benefits of Visualizing Work
Transparency
Alignment
Shared Goals
Expand the Tribe

WIP and Multi-tasking
A reduction in WIP also reduces bad multi-tasking which will help with the stability of the system

Determine & Visualize WIP Limits
Work Queue WIP Limits
as small as possible
One or two stories per resource in each queue
Use a limited item done buffers to keep work flowing – enough to keep the team busy but still avoid premature work and excess inventory
WIP Limit Doing and Done Together
Strive for lowest possible WIP Limits

Kanban BoardPull and Swarming
Analyze(3)
Develop(5)
Ready(5)
Accept(3)
Ready for Release
Ready for Accept
Ready for Dev
Dev
Analyze
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Urgent
Business Analysts or Developers can work to exploit the constraint or relieve the bottleneck.
Manual Testing Okay
PO Acceptance
Doco Complete
Design Complete
UIX Input Ready
Code Complete
Source Checked In
Unit Tests Green
Build Succeeds
Criteria

Limit WIPPull and Swarming
Limiting WIP highlights where the inherent variability of the system and work type has shifted the bottleneck
WIP limits will block the line – responding to these blocks leads to swarming behavior
Remember - flow trumps waste
If the bottleneck is consistently in a specific location this points to a system level bottleneck that should be addressed

Measure and Manage Flow
Lead Time / Cycle Time
Waiting Time
Blocks
Issues – Work Not Ready
Defects

Measure and Manage FlowOn the Card
ED: Entry Date
SPD: Start Processing Date
FD: Finish Date
Days in Queue: Count the blue dots
Days Blocked: Count the red dots
Calculate
Total Waiting: SPD – ED + Blue Dots
Total Lead Time: FD – ED
Lead Time (Cycle Time): FD - SPD

Change Management Benefits of Managing and Measuring Flow
Understand the system
Create targets to organize around
Promote data supported decisions
Show costs and benefits
Sustain improvements
Promote higher maturity behavior

Make Process Policies Explicit
Involve upstream and downstream stakeholders as collaborators to agree on the rules of the game. This will enable collaborative behavior later, when the system is put under stress.
Use data to define and verify process policies.

Make Process Policies ExplicitService Level Agreements
WIP Limits
Lead-Time Targets
Classes of Service
Prioritization
Negotiating Policy
Due Date Performance
Release Planning
It is all about making commitments you can keep(most of the time)

Classes of Service
Silver Bullet
Expedite
Fixed Delivery Date
Standard
Intangible

Change Management Benefits ofMake Process Policies Explicit
Make promises you can keep
Identify targets for upstream and in-team planning
Enable collaborative behavior later, when the system is put under stress
Build interest in the system
Build trust in the team
Delay commitment to the last responsible moment

Use Models to Identify Improvement Opportunities
Deming: Reduce Variability
Goldratt: Theory of Constraints
Lean: Waste, Overburden, Unevenness
Communication: About the work and about the system

Question?
Advanced Topics
Estimating
Prioritization
Handling Defects
Scaling Across Complex Projects

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Kanban 101

by Dennis Stevens on Jul 13, 2010

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