Kanban India 2023 www.kanbanindia.org

1. Building Agile Communities
with Kanban
Join me as I share my journey of how we built Kanban SG, a thriving and
collaborative community, using Kanban. Together, we'll explore the
importance of agile communities and the impact they can have on
individuals and organizations.
by Debbie
Siah
www.kanbanindia.org

2. Debbie Siah (AKT, KCP)
● Government Technology Agency,
Singapore
● Senior Delivery Manager & Agile Coach
○ Agile Team Coaching
○ Agile-related & Kanban Training
○ Community Building
● Supports over 50 government agencies
across Singapore
Introduction
www.kanbanindia.org

3. Dissatisfaction
in the
Organisation
● Duplication of efforts across
different teams and departments
leading to frustration
● Staff work long hours and are
unhappy due to overburdening
www.kanbanindia.org

4. Need for an
Agile Community
• Share learnings across government
agencies to avoid having to reinvent the
wheel
• Network with other colleagues working in
other sites
• Experienced practitioners share good
practices to uplift overall agility
www.kanbanindia.org

5. Challenges in Organising Events
Demoralising Outcomes
• Decrease in attendees
and interest
• Pain points and the
need for Kanban
• Organisational
challenges emerge
Challenges in Organising Meetups
• Difficulty finding
speakers
• Coordination
challenges
• Situation gradually
descent into chaos
www.kanbanindia.org

6. Starting Kanban Singapore
• Seizing the Opportunity
• Finding like-minded practitioners
• Using Kanban SG as a platform for
experimentation
Debbie Pearly Elson
www.kanbanindia.org

7. Understand our
Service
02
04
01
Identify
Dissatisfaction
Analyse Demand &
Capacity
03
Model the
Workflow
Discover Classes of
Service
05
Design the Kanban
System
06
The STATIK Framework
www.kanbanindia.org

8. Applying the
STATIK
framework
● Providing a platform for Kanban
practitioners in Singapore to
connect and learn together
● Bringing together people who
want to share and people who
want to learn
Understanding our Service
www.kanbanindia.org

9. Identifying Dissatisfaction
Internal Sources
• There is only 3 of us! Limited time
to spare
• No funding
• No absolute idea of what the
Kanban community in Singapore
wants
External Sources
• In-person Agile meetups are rare
since Covid times
• Existing Agile community mainly
into Scrum
• Lack of networking opportunities
for Kanban enthusiasts
www.kanbanindia.org

10. Analysing our Demand & Capacity
Our Capacity
• Organisers’ bandwidth is limited
• 1 meetup every 2 months might be
realistic
Our Demand
• Demand for Kanban community is
definitely there but unsure about
the volume
• Work types identified include
venues, logistics and publicity
www.kanbanindia.org

11. Modelling the Workflow Part 1
Logistics
• Registration Counter
• Name-tag Stickers
• Feedback collection
Publicity
• Publicity Plan
• Round 1 : 1-month Before-event
publicity on Meetup.com &
Linkedin
• Round 2 : 1-week Before-event
publicity on Linkedin
• After-event publicity on Linkedin
www.kanbanindia.org

12. Our first
Kanban board
was born
Swimlane by
work types
(only 2)
Simple 3
column setup
Publicity
needed more
granular
workflow
www.kanbanindia.org

13. Kanban Coffee
• Event held in Kanban Coffee format
• No data on community’s actual
dissatisfaction and needs
www.kanbanindia.org

14. The 1st
Meetup!
• Event was smooth except original
host got Covid 1 day prior
• Attracted close to 20 volunteer
organisers, hosts & speakers for
future events
• Some attendees offered their
company premises for future
meetups
www.kanbanindia.org

15. Applying the STATIK framework AGAIN
Internal Sources
• Lack of capacity to explore
potential volunteers, speakers
and host
• Need to start sourcing for
non-GovTech event venues
External Sources
• Feedback data indicates that
majority of attendees are new
to Kanban
• Lack of information on
real-life implementation of
Kanban
Uncovering new sources of dissatisfaction!!
www.kanbanindia.org

16. Re-assessing our Demand & Capacity
Our Capacity
• More than 10 volunteers joined the
organizing team, but availability
and commitment level is
uncertain
• Still zero funds
Our Demand
• Audience is mostly new to Kanban
and require beginner topics
• New work types: Event venues,
Speakers & Hosts
www.kanbanindia.org

17. Workflows for New Work Types Part 1
Event Venue
• End-to-end flow of
sourcing for venues and
ensuring they are
event-ready by the
event date
Merchandise
• Procurement of
Merchandise
www.kanbanindia.org

18. Workflows for New Work Types 2
Speaker & Hosts
• End-to-end flow of
exploring their interests
& community needs,
defining their topics,
preparing, feedback
walkthrough to be
ready by the event date
www.kanbanindia.org

19. Evolutionary change towards the 2nd
Meetup
Venue,
Logistics,
Speaker & Host
have the same
workflow
Merchandise &
F&B have the
same workflow
Doing is split
into
Explore/Plan
and Prepare
stages
New work
stages
identified for
publicity
www.kanbanindia.org

20. It’s time for the
2nd
Meetup!
www.kanbanindia.org

21. The 2nd
Meetup!
• 3 community members present
foundational Kanban topics
• 70% increase in attendance
• New batch of volunteers
• Surprise! Approached with offers to
sponsor venues and F&B
www.kanbanindia.org

22. Applying the STATIK framework YET AGAIN
Internal Sources
• Sourcing for potential venues
prove to be a challenge due
to availability and cost
• Merchandise production
lead-time is highly variable
External Sources
• Attract more advanced
practitioners who found our
foundational topics too
simple
• Not enough food
New sources of dissatisfaction emerge with every iteration!
www.kanbanindia.org

23. New Demand & Capacity
Our Capacity
• More than 10 volunteers joined the
organizing team, but availability
and commitment level is
uncertain
Our Demand
• A new audience type has
emerged: the experienced Kanban
Practitioner
www.kanbanindia.org

24. Continuous Improvement for the Board
Explicit Policies
Discard Zone Abort Zone
Policy for
Publicity built
into the board
Upstream
applicable for
certain work
types
Commitment
Point
www.kanbanindia.org

25. Impact and Success
of Kanban SG
• Organisers have hands-on learning
in using a Kanban System for event
management
• Half of the volunteers are inspired
and went on to try out applying
Kanban in their daily work
• Increased engagement and
participation in community events
to grow the Kanban population in
Singapore
www.kanbanindia.org

26. Key Takeaways
Kanban is not just for
IT development.
www.kanbanindia.org

27. Key Takeaways
STATIK is an
iterative process,
not a one-off workshop.
www.kanbanindia.org

28. Key Takeaways
The ability to give back
to the community is a
gift & privilege.
www.kanbanindia.org

29. CREDITS: This presentation template was
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Thank you!
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Do you have any questions?
DebbieSiah@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiesiah/
www.kanbanindia.org