Discovery Kanban is a synthesis of a number of distinct threads of entrepreneurial thinking --Lean Startup, Kanban, OODA, PCDA, and Optionality--into an approach that helps firms address the challenge of executing and refining proven business models in parallel with exploring options for novel business opportunities. It fosters a management discipline of dual strategies of both exploitation and exploration, delivery and discovery that is applicable at different levels of scale in the organization. In this presentation we will elaborate on the core principles of Discovery Kanban and some practical examples. We will show how (traditional) Delivery and Discovery Kanban are similar but different. We will discuss several examples of Discovery Kanban systems based on dual strategies and how they catalyze a different change in the organization. We will demonstrate how Discovery Kanban assists the discovery process and the integration of discovery and delivery at the different levels of scale.

1. Not all Kanban is alike
@PatrickSteyaert
patrick.steyaert@okaloa.com

2. Bombarded with change

3. Exploring new knowledge
Danger zone
Exploiting existing knowledge
Episodic change

4. Either-Or thinking
Bureaucracy
Conservatism
Self-organization
Risk taking
PlanningExperimentation
Authoritarian decisions
Local decisions

5. Continuous change

6. And-thinking
Exploiting
existing
knowledge
Exploring
new
knowledge
Bureaucracy
Conservatism
Self-organization
Risk taking
PlanningExperimentation
Authoritarian decisions
Local decisions

7. Single
loop
Managing
uncertainty
Double
loop
Managing
how
uncertainty
is
managed
Double loop thinking

8. Meet Mary Program
manager
large transformation program
program management team
uncertainties

9. Managing work
Plan
defined objectives, scope, budget, high-level timing, …
plan and check tasks
Do
Check
Adjust

10. Managing uncertainty
Future
Now
OPPORTUNITY
CREATION
PROBLEM
SOLVING
uncertainty reveals itself mainly in the disguise of (delivery) problems

11. Managing how
uncertainty is managed
NowFuture
PROBLEM
SOLVING
OPPORTUNITY
CAPTURING
PROBLEM
AVOIDANCE
OPPORTUNITY
CREATION
Problem
Opportunity

12. Continuous change
Exploiting
existing
knowledge
Exploring
new
knowledge
adapt to an
evolving reality
control and
continuously improve

13. Exploitation
Plan-Do-Check-Adjust
Plan
Do
Check
Adjust
Exploration
Observe-Orient-Decide-Act
Orient
Decide
Act
find and create
opportunities
Observe
solve and prevent
problems

14. Meet Paul Product
manager
leading software product
expanding in new markets
product in need of renewal

15. Managing work
Flow
Design
Build
Test

16. Managing uncertainty
4. Sustaining
innovation
1. Disruptive
Current focus
3. Efficiency
innovation
2. Technologyinnovation
innovation
Future focus
- the cycle of innovation -

17. Managing how
uncertainty is managed
Can we build it?Should we build it?
Can we build it efficiently?
4. Sustaining
innovation
1. Disruptive
3. Efficiency
innovation
2. Technologyinnovation
innovation
Table stakes
Enablers
Delighters
Differentiators

18. Continuous change
Exploiting
existing
value streams
Exploring
new
value streams
for uncertain
demand
for established
demand

19. Exploitation
The Kanban Method
Ideas
Change
Delivery
Measure
Learn
Data
improving the
fitness for
purpose of an
established
product or
service delivery
Exploration
Lean start-up
Ideas
Build
Product
Measure
Learn
Data
create a new
product or
service under
conditions of
extreme
uncertainty

20. Continuous change
build-measure-learn
(exploration)
change-measure-learn
Discovery
Validation
(exploitation)
Delivery
Integration of exploration and exploitation in the end-to-end value
stream
Flow

21. Kanban
Delivery Kanban
Discovery Kanban
Visualize work
Limit work in progress
Manage flow of work
Internal feedback loop
Evolve experimentally
Start with what you do now
Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change
Visualize decisions and options
Limit unvalidated assumptions
Manage flow of decisions and options
Customer feedback loop
Mixed change

22. Program management kanban
Visualize decisions
Visualize
“decisions to
be made”
Visualize
“actions”
OODA lane:
Observe-Orient-
Decide-Act
PDCA lane: Plan-
Do-Check-Adjust

23. More than work alone
Action
Countermeasure
Initiative
Probe
Issue
Risk
Opportunity
Option
Action (decisions that have been made)
Observation
(decisions to be made)

24. Product management kanban
>4
Visualize options
5
4
>4
Visualize
“options”
5
4
Visualize
“features”

25. Differentiator
Enabler
Table stake
Delighter
Table stakes
Not all value is alike
Require (external)
validation
(with actual users)
Require (internal)
verification
(with proxy users)
Delighters
Differen-
Enablerstiators

26. Program management kanban
Limit decisions in progress
Limit
“decisions”
in
progress
Limit
“work”
in
progress
www.discovery-­‐kanban.com
4
5
4
5
4
3
5
4
3

27. Product management kanban
Limit unvalidated assumptions
>4
5
4
>4
5
4
Limit
unvalidated
assumptions
Limit
“work”

28. Program management kanban
External feedback loop
4
5
4
External
feedback loop
Internal feedback
loop
5
4
3
5
4
3

29. Product management kanban
>4
Customer feedback loop
5
4
>4
5
4
Customer
feedback loop

30. Not all Kanban is alike
Delivery Kanban
Discovery Kanban
Visualize work
Limit work in progress
Manage flow of work
Internal feedback loop
Evolve experimentally
Visualize decisions and options
Limit unvalidated assumptions
Manage flow of decisions and options
Customer feedback loop
Mixed change

31. Not all Kanban is alike
Delivery kanban
Discovery kanban
Improving fitness for
purpose of service delivery
Improving the fitness for
purpose of organizations in
a continuously changing
landscape
Demand is established and there is
more demand than capability
Not just delivery against established
demand but also dealing with
uncertain demand

32. Thank you
@PatrickSteyaert
patrick.steyaert@okaloa.com