Capping our 10-month series on the Kanban Method; in this presentation we discuss that the Practices of the Kanban Method are a means, not an end. The true end goal: enabling efficient flow of high value, high quality work.

1. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T H E P R A C T I C E S A R E N ’ T T H E
P O I N T

2. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
This American Life:
h0ps://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/561/nummi-2015

3. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC

4. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T E A M WA S R E S O U R C E E F F I C I E N T
Resource Efficiency = Resource Busy / (Resource Busy +
Resource Waiting) * 100%
• 76 Hours Busy
• 4 Hours Waiting (Sprint Planning)
Resource Efficiency = 76 / (76 + 4) * 100% = 95%

5. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W O R K WA S N O T F L O W E F F I C I E N T
Sprint 1 Sprint 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
WaiCng to be Worked
On
WaiCng for
Release
BugFound
WorkingonBug
Released

6. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W O R K WA S N O T F L O W E F F I C I E N T
Sprint 1 Sprint 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Flow Efficiency = Item Being Worked / (Item Being Worked +
Item WaiCng) * 100%
• 4 Hours Being Worked
• 84 Hours WaiCng to be Worked
• 48 Hours WaiCng for Release
Flow Efficiency = 4 / (4 + 84 + 48) * 100% = 3%

7. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
ResourceEfficiency
0%
50%
100%
Flow Efficiency
0% 50% 100%
Resource-Efficient
Not Flow-Efficient

8. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
ResourceEfficiency
0%
50%
100%
Flow Efficiency
0% 50% 100%
Resource-Efficient
Not Flow-Efficient
Flow-Efficient
Not Resource-Efficient

9. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
ResourceEfficiency
0%
50%
100%
Flow Efficiency
0% 50% 100%
Resource Efficient
Not Flow Efficient
Resource-Efficient
and Flow-Efficient
Resource-Efficient
Not Flow-Efficient
Flow-Efficient
Not Resource-Efficient

10. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W H AT I S L E A N ?
• An Operations Strategy:
• Achieve perfect Flow Efficiency and Resource Efficiency
• Flow Efficiency First enables eliminating extra work & waste
• Thus improving Resource Efficiency, at a system level

11. @nycleancoffee #leanNYC
K A N B A N M E T H O D P R A C T I C E S
1. Visualize Work
2. Make Process Policies Explicit
3. Limit Work-in-Process
4. Manage Flow
5. Implement Feedback Loops
6. Improve collaboratively, evolve
experimentally
These are a Means to Lean
Not an End Goal in Themselves
They Help You Answer Questions:
1. Why aren’t you Flow Efficient?
2. What Can You Do About it?

12. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W H Y A R E N ’ T Y O U F L O W E F F I C I E N T ?
1. Work is sitting in Invisible Queues behind Bottlenecks
2. Your people are following Implicit Policies Differently
3. You don’t look for Feedback (enough)

13. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W H AT “ I N V I S I B L E Q U E U E S ” D O Y O U H AV E ?
Some Examples:
•Sprint Backlog
•Waiting to Develop
•Waiting to Test
•Waiting to Deliver

14. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
A FEDCB
I M P L I C I T P O L I C I E S : W H I C H S TA L L , B R O S ?
1.2. 3. 4.5. 6.1. Handoffs between Types of Work
2. Standards within Types of Work

15. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
Y O U D O N ’ T L O O K F O R F E E D B A C K E N O U G H
Some Examples:
•Customer Screaming
•Accountants Complain about Margin
•Developers Quit

16. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W H Y A R E N ’ T Y O U F L O W E F F I C I E N T ?
1. Work is sitting in Invisible Queues behind Bottlenecks
2. Your people are following Implicit Policies Differently
3. You don’t look for Feedback (enough)

17. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
W H AT C A N Y O U D O A B O U T I T ?
1. Find your Bottlenecks and Respect Them
2. Make Process Policies Explicit
3. Continuously Improve Things that Impact Flow & Quality

18. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
F I N D Y O U R B O T T L E N E C K S & R E S P E C T T H E M
Develop
In
Prod
Analysis Testing Ready
for
DemoOngoing Done
Priorities
DoneOngoing
(3)
Ongoing Done

19. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
F I N D Y O U R B O T T L E N E C K S & R E S P E C T T H E M
Develop
In
Prod
Analysis Testing Ready
for
DemoOngoing Done
Priorities
DoneOngoing (10) Ongoing Done
(3)

20. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
A FEDCB
M A K E P R O C E S S P O L I C I E S E X P L I C I T
1.2. 3. 4.5. 6.
1. Handoffs: write “contracts” between work
types
2. Publish Standards & Have Experts teach them

21. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
C O N T I N U O U S LY I M P R O V E T H I N G S T H AT I M PA C T
F L O W & Q U A L I T Y
1. Check Metrics
2. Identify Metric
to Improve
3. Define
Hypothesis
4. Test Hypothesis

22. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
1 - 2 . C H E C K M E T R I C S & I D E N T I F Y I M P R O V E M E N T
O P P O R T U N I T Y
Quality Value
Change Success Rate Delivery Frequency (Customer)
Quality Debt Backlog Size Gross Margin (Company)
Mean Time to Recover Team Morale (Staff)

23. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
3 . D E C L A R E H Y P O T H E S I S F O R W H Y M E T R I C I S
P O O R
Template:
We believe that doing [ action or countermeasure ]
For [ these people / this process ]
Will achieve [ this measurable outcome ].
If it fails we will [ do this ].
And if it succeeds we will [ do that ].

24. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
3 . D E C L A R E H Y P O T H E S I S F O R W H Y M E T R I C I S
P O O R
Example:
We believe that confirming Acceptance Criteria with the
Product Owner on Day One of the next Sprint
For the Content Platform Team
Will improve our Change Success Rate from 40% to 60%.
If it fails we will find out why the PO was wrong about
Acceptance Criteria.
And if it succeeds we will start implementing TDD.

25. @nycleancoffee #leanNYC
4 . T E S T T H E
H Y P O T H E S I S
•Keep Experiments
Short
•Stay Focused:
Prove/Disprove
h0ps://xkcd.com/54/

26. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T R A C K I N G H Y P O T H E S E S O V E R T I M E
Goal: __________________________
Hypothesis Expected Result Actual Result Next Step

27. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T R A C K I N G H Y P O T H E S E S O V E R T I M E
Goal: >80% Change Success Rate
Hypothesis Expected Result Actual Result Next Step
We believe that confirming Acceptance
Criteria with the Product Owner on Day One
of the next Sprint for the Content Platform
Dev/QA Team will improve our CSR from 40%
to 60%. If it fails we will find out why Product
Owners were wrong about Acceptance
Criteria. And if it succeeds we will start
implementing Tests-First Development.
60% Change Success Rate 65% Change Success Rate TDD
We believe that writing Tests before
developing for the CP Dev Team will improve
our CSR from 65% to 80%. If it fails we’ll
stop doing it. If it succeeds we’ll sustain the
practice.
80% Change Success Rate
80% Change Success Rate but
Delivery Frequency degraded
by 2 days.
Reduce Next Sprint Size
We believe that reducing Sprint Size by 2
items will maintain our CSR and allow us to
hit our deadline. If it fails, we’ll stop Tests-
First. If it succeeds we’ll sustain the practice.
80% Change Success Rate and
Improved Delivery Frequency
by 2 days.
80% Change Success Rate and
Improved Delivery Frequency
by 2 days.
Set a new Improvement Goal

28. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T O R E C A P
Lean is an Operations Strategy
to achieve perfect Flow
Efficiency & Resource Efficiency
by focusing on Flow First.

29. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T O R E C A P
Lean is not a Business Strategy.
You have to know what your
company’s trying to do, so that
you can optimize towards that.

30. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYC
T O R E C A P
Kanban gives you tools to answer:
1. Why aren’t you more Flow Efficient?
2. What can you do about it?

31. @nycleancoffee #LeanNYCh0p://www.thisislean.com