In a world where the there is no perfect visualisation, WiP limit, policy or measures? A good choice depends on the context. There aren't only one answer, but in my experience good questions could help to guide to your answer.

1. @ralfhh
Kanban: No Answers, just questions
Ralf Kruse
agile42 | The Agile Coaching Company
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2013.

2. Agenda
• The great thing about
questions and what
makes a question great?
• Their is no perfect
Kanban system, only
systems striving for
perfection
• Practices: Their intention,
my questions and
hopefully yours
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

3. The great thing about questions
... and what makes a question great?
• Questions help to make people think and reflect
• the inquirer don’t need to understand the full context
• ... and still can create fresh perspectives
Is ... ?
• What makes a question great?
• It hasn’t one answer and is open ended
• create greater possibility for expanded learning and fresh perspective
• Good questions are likely to trigger discovery, clarification and action
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

4. agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

5. Their is no perfect Kanban system,
... only systems striving for perfection
Kanban ... more than a Board
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Visual
iP
Limit W
Ma
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k
Implem
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en
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abora lly
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Impro experiment
evolve
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

6. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

7. Visualise
• The workflow of knowledge work is
inherently invisible.
• Visualising the flow of work is core
to understanding how work
proceeds
incl. bottlenecks & queues
Questions
• What where your problems, variances etc. in
the last month? Do such things reflect in your
board?
• How much work are u doing next to your
board? Is this critical to understand your flow?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

8. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

9. Limit Work in
Progress (WiP)
• Limits help to avoid taking more
work than you can handle
• Limits help to recognise
problems earlier (stop-the-line)
Questions
• Do you have Limited your work in a way
that you avoid queues and bottlenecks?
• Does you reach your Limits from time to
time, to give you signs of dysfunctions?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

10. Limit Work in
Progress (WiP)
• Limits help to avoid taking more
work than you can handle
• Limits help to recognise
problems earlier (stop-the-line)
Questions
• Do you have Limited your work in a way
that you avoid queues and bottlenecks?
• Does you reach your Limits from time to
time, to give you signs of dysfunctions?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

11. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

12. Manage flow
• better flow = faster value delivery
• you want to improve it, so you need
to measure it
• changes can be evaluated to have
positive or negative effects on the
system
Questions
• How do you know if your work flows better
or worse through your Kanban system?
• How do you use the measurements as an
input/feedback for improving the flow?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

13. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

14. Make policies explicit
• All involved people know on how to
let the work flow
• Until the mechanism of a process
is made explicit it is often hard or
impossible to hold a discussion
about improving it.
Questions
• Are policies clearly understood and
visualized close to the board?
What means Done?
Priority / Next to pull?
WiP Limits?
• Are you following the agreed
changes?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

15. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

16. Implement feedback
loops
• to periodically take stock of where
you were, where you are, and where
you want to go next
• create needs for improvement
and triggers adaptations
• a feedback loop tells us that change
is taking us in the right direction
Questions
• How do you get overall feedback, that you
are on the right track?
• Do your Daily Stand-Ups help to get the
complementory information to know the
next best thing you can Do?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

17. Kanban practices
• Visualise
• Limit WIP
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Implement feedback loops
• Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

18. Improve collaboratively,
evolve experimentally
• Most systems can’t be improved by
one perspective, it’s often only possible
to create sustainable improvements
collaboratively
• experiments help to discover
improvements based on experience
• scientific method can make discussions
on improvements more objective
Questions
• Do you and your colleges have the same
direction and are you working continuously
on it?
• How do you find new improvement
opportunities?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

19. Conclusion ...
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

20. @ralfhh
Kanban: No Answers, just questions
Ralf Kruse
agile42 | The Agile Coaching Company
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2013.