Maintenance is a mandatory part of any successful software product. This stage significantly differs from development phase. And standard project management approaches (e.g. Scrum) do not work properly here. And here comes Kanban – method that works just great for support teams.

1. Maintenance fun using Kanban Sergii Maliarov Lohika Systems

2. How maintenance takes away fun How Kanban brings back fun on a real-life example Some tips from my experience And of course some nice cats pictures What we’re going to see?

3. 8 years in software development, 6 years in Java development Worked on different projects with different processes used (Scrum, RUP, different mixes) For the last year working as a Lead Engineer in Lohika Systems on a project that first was managed using Scrum and after that moved to Kanban [email_address] , [email_address] About me

4. New task may arrive any time Some bugs may need to be fixed immediately There is no release date Big tasks can arrive You may need several teams (e.g. development team, release team, etc) So Scrum or RUP are not really great for maintenance And what does it bring us? Support stage specifics

5. A lot of time is wasted on meetings, planning, etc You may stuck for days with some problem Customer is not satisfied Developer is bothered with things other than development Fun goes away

6. Only three principles: Visualize the workflow Limit Work In Progress Measure the lead time Let’s see how it works on a real example Here comes Kanban

7. Use any tool you want. We tried Google Docs and GreenHopper (JIRA plugin) Use as many columns as you need If some column is constantly empty or contains 1 item – you don’t need that column. Or you may descrease its WiP. Visualize the workflow

8. Probably the most important principle Classic WiP is n where n is number of developers We are using n+1 Item should go through cycle as fast as it’s possible Limit Work In Progress

9. Don’t forget to add or remove columns to optimize the lead time Add releases and cycle time if you want. Like we did Measure the lead time

10. Just-in-time Few teams may work on one board Big tasks can be taken Very transparent process Customer is happy Here comes the fun

11. Experiment Take what works for you from another processes Don’t forget about the fun for all What else can be done

12. Resources Henrik Kniberg Lean from the Trenches Henrik Kniberg, Mattias Skarin Kanban and Scrum. Making the most of both

13. Question and Answers