In this webinar, Dominica DeGrandis, shares her experience helping teams find ways to identify and measure hidden and unplanned work.

1. @dominicad
Time Theft – How Hidden & Unplanned Work
Commit the Perfect Crime
Dominica DeGrandis - Director, Training & Coaching

2. @dominicad
How to make
uncertainties
visible

3. @dominicad
5Unplanned
work
The Thieves
Conflicting
priorities
Too much
WIP
Neglected
work
Unknown
dependencies

4. @dominicad
THIEF #1 – TOO MUCH WIP
When demand exceeds capacity
demand
capacity

5. @dominicad
WHY TOO MUCH WIP MATTERS
Effective
people say
yes
deliberately
Too much WIP delays work

6. @dominicad
WIP is a leading indicator

7. @dominicad
YOU KNOW THIEF #1 STEALS TIME WHEN...
Ø Context switching is common.
Ø We start new tasks before finishing
older tasks.
Ø Work gets neglected and ages.
Ø We say, “Yes, I’ll do that.”
Molecules
Of
Emo-on:
The
Science
Behind
Mind-­‐Body
Medicine,
Candace
B.
Pert,
1999

8. @dominicad
hAps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UKjHHM7Y-­‐
emzSo4p0RLhzLaIR4Yp3owWR3JdT5QghoY/edit#gid=0
delivered
Build/
fix
Study
Silver
Bullet
Team
work
feedback
Business
requests
cycling done
(5)
(3)
(1)
EXPOSE WIP

9. @dominicad
THIEF #2 – UNKNOWN DEPENDENCIES
Time delays due to:
Ø Tightly coupled architecture
Ø Bottlenecks from specialized skillset
Ø Work outside of our control

10. @dominicad
WHY DEPENDENCIES MATTER
Every dependency increases the
probability that you will be
late by 50%.
Dependencies are asymmetrical
in their impact.
Troy Magennis

11. @dominicad
Dependency x 3
you
friend
brother
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 chance
in 8
= 12.5% of
arriving
on time

12. @dominicad
YOU KNOW THIEF #2 STEALS TIME WHEN...
Ø Coordination needs are high.
Ø People aren’t available when you need
them.
Ø A change in one part of the code
unexpectantly changes something else.

13. @dominicadEXPOSE DEPENDENCIES
deliveredinvestigate
Expedites or
Unplanned
Dependencies
feedback
Everything
else
waiting
8 days

14. @dominicad
THIEF #3 – UNPLANNED WORK
An Interruption –
usually to fix a
problem
Ex: Break fix,
expedites, incidents,
fires

15. @dominicad
WHY UNPLANNED WORK MATTERS
https://puppet.com/resources/white-paper/2016-state-of-devops-report
Unplanned work steals
time away from planned
work.

16. @dominicad
YOU KNOW THIEF #3 STEALS TIME WHEN...
Someone joins your slack channel and within 2
min, 4 people are sucked into the vortex.

17. @dominicad
donedoingTo do
Unplanned
work
Planned
work
validate
EXPOSE UNPLANNED WORK

18. @dominicad
THIEF #4 – CONFLICTING PRIORITIES
Conflicting
priorities are
when people are
uncertain or
disagree on what
to work on.

19. @dominicad
WHY CONFLICTING PRIORITIES MATTER
If people can’t prioritize
effectively, they try to
do too much at once.
Too much wip = longer Cycle Time.

20. @dominicad
YOU KNOW THIEF #4 STEALS TIME WHEN...
Ø “When will my thing be done?”
Ø “My thing is a high priority!”
Ø “If my thing doesn’t get done by ____,
then…

21. @dominicad
EXPOSE CONFLICTING PRIORITIES
mainmnai
delivereddoingTo do
Expedites
validate
Project 1
work
Project 2
work
On-hold
work
Maintenance
work

22. @dominicad
THIEF #5 - NEGLECTED WORK
Neglected, often important work
sits idle when other work is
seen as a higher priority.

23. @dominicad
WHY NEGLECTED WORK MATTERS
Important work sits waiting – until it
eventually becomes an emergency.

24. @dominicad
YOU KNOW THIEF #5 STEALS TIME WHEN...
“When are we going to finish x?”
“We can’t get to x right now,
because we’re working on y.”

25. @dominicad
EXPOSE NEGLECTED WORK
5
donedoingTo do
Expedites
Unplanned
work
validate
9 days 13 days
Revenue
protecting
Revenue
generating

26. @dominicad

27. @dominicad
The
5 Thieves

28. @dominicad
5
delivereddoingNext
Expedites
Revenue
protecting
validate
Revenue
generating
ALL THE TIME THIEVES EXPOSED

29. @dominicad
THE TIME THIEF O’GRAM
Unplanned
work
Unknown
dependencies
Conflicting
priorities
Neglected
work
Too much
WIP
20
10
5
15
1

30. @dominicad
AGGREGATED TIME THIEF O’GRAM TREND
20
10
5
15
1
Oct
3
Oct
10
Oct
17
Oct
24

31. @dominicad
CONGREGATED TIME THIEF O’GRAM
20
10
5
15
1
OCTOBER, 2016
Unplanned
work
Neglected
work
Unknown
dependency
Conflict
priority
Over
WIP

32. @dominicad

33. @dominicad
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