John Coleman is a top agile leader who coaches various agile frameworks including Kanban, Scrum, and LeSS. He created Kanplexity and Xagility to help teams and organizations deal with complexity. Kanplexity advocates defining workflows, focusing on flow metrics, having a guide to facilitate discovery and decision making using the Cynefin framework, and establishing a direction of travel rather than fixed goals. It promotes flexibility, rhythm, expanding optimization upstream and downstream, and minding the flow of value.

2. #2 Agile Thinkers360
Leadershum Top 50 Agile Leaders 2022
agility chef, executive agility guide, product manager
Flight Levels Coach
ProKanban Professional Kanban Trainer
Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer including Nexus
LeSS Friendly Scrum Trainer
Creator of Kanplexity™ & Xagility™
Co-author of Kanban Guide
Host of Xagility™ & Agility Island podcasts
t: @johncolemanirl
about me

4. a minimal reference to start your kanban journey and align the organization on what kanban is
Kanban Guide
https://kanbanguides.org
born 2020

5. Kanban
as per Kanban Guide
striking A BALANCE BETween effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability
Definition of workflow, Three practices, four metrics
no events/cadences, roles, values, principles, direction, timeboxes
signaling catalyzes frequency of feedback loops

6. A definition of the individual units of value that are moving through the workflow. These units
of value are referred to as work items (or items).
A definition for when work items are started and finished within the workflow. Your workflow
may have more than one started or finished points depending on the work item.
One or more defined states that the work items flow through from started to finished. Any work
items between a started point and a finished point are considered work in progress (WIP).
A definition of how WIP will be controlled from started to finished.
Explicit policies about how work items can flow through each state from started to finished.
A service level expectation (SLE), which is a forecast of how long it should take a work item to
flow from started to finished.
at a minimum, members must create their DoW using all of the following elements:
Definition of
Worklow

7. Work in Progress (WIP): The number of work items started but not finished.
Cycle Time: The amount of elapsed time between when a work item starts and when a work item
finishes.
Work Item Age: The amount of time between when a work item started and the current time. This
applies only to items that are still in progress.
Throughput: The number of work items finished per unit of time.
The four basic metrics of flow that kanban system members using Kanban need to track are as
follows:
flow metrics

8. initially based on a guess, later based on data
Service Level
Expectation

9. The first practice is defining and visualizing the workflow.
The visualization of that one or more workflows is essentially the Kanban board.
Kanban helps us optimize signaling to see what we need to do to help our work flow.
1st practice
Service Level Expectation: 6 days or less 85% of the time

10. What active work we should focus on or bring in today
How much work we’re comfortable doing at the same time
Our aspiration for more predictability
Visualizing:
relatively aged work
blocked work
dependencies, including those neither aligned nor acknowledged
Focusing on the following allows us to navigate complexity more easily:
1st practice

11. The 2nd practice of actively managing items in a workflow is about kanban system members
addressing items to focus on, unblock, finish and feed.
By reviewing what the members need to work on together today, they continually refresh their
thinking to address the complexity they’re facing.
2nd practice
Team 1 Team 2

12. controlling work in progress (WIP) tightens the kanban system members' focus.
This allows for slack time for thinking and unplanned eventualities.
When the kanban system members release sooner, feedback loops also get tighter.
2nd practice
Service Level Expectation: 6 days or less 85% of the time

13. The 3rd practice is improving the workflow(s).
Kanban system members can change the definition of workflow(s) at any time, including which
columns on the Kanban board to add or remove.
However, the members might need to strike a balance between allowing the system to settle to
observe trend changes following a policy change and adapting to the current reality by making
multiple changes in the definition of workflow.
3rd practice
Service Level Expectation: 6 days or less 85% of the time

14. if 60 to 90% of items should not be built, why fill the funnel with stuff?
discovery, delivery

15. humility served on a plate
Lean UX Canvas
credit to Jeff Gothelf, Joshua Seiden

16. if 60 to 90% of items should not be built, why fill the funnel with stuff?
discovery, delivery

17. Kanban
with Lean UX
striking A BALANCE BETween effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability
Definition of workflow, Three practices, four metrics
no events/cadences, roles, values, principles, direction, timeboxes
signaling catalyzes frequency of feedback loops
multiple time horizons - discovery, delivery, value validation
discover to (not) deliver

18. Execution
doing
red Vs blue work
credit David Marquet episode on InfoQ podcast
https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/david-marquet/
stepping back, reflection, thinking
are we going in the right direction?
re-Alignment around purpose; communicating the “why”
overcome "execution bias" via data-informed decision making
oscillating between blue-work (review, retrospective) and red-work (doing the work)

19. Not pick what you want from scrum, pick what you want from kanban
Kanban Guide for
Scrum Teams

20. authentic scrum with authentic Kanban
Definition of workflow, four practices, four metrics
flow-based scrum events with real teams
product goal gives a direction of travel
scrum is uncompromised, kanban is uncompromised
Scrum with Kanban
https://www.scrum.org/scrum-kanban
born 2018
Scrum events increase frequency of feedback loops

21. authentic scrum with authentic Kanban
Definition of workflow, four practices, four metrics
flow-based scrum events with real teams
product goal gives a direction of travel, timeboxes for rhythm
scrum is uncompromised, kanban is uncompromised
Scrum with Kanban
with Lean UX
increase frequency of feedback loops
multiple time horizons - discovery, delivery, value validation
discover to (not) deliver

22. but how many people use proper scrum, not to mention kanban on top?
Scrum, Kanban & UX
- rocket fuel and course correction

23. Kanplexity
born 2019
refreshed 2022
You can use any Kanban or flow approach and still benefit from Kanplexity as long as it abides by the key tenets of the Kanban Guide.

24. Team – A team does the work. A team in the face of complexity is small, diverse, self-
managing, and cross-skilled, where members care about each others’ work and learn how to
do their work.
Team members give, reward, and earn trust.
Crew – A crew does the work. A crew in the face of complexity is diverse and cross-skilled.
Trust is a byproduct of intensively trained individuals, each of whom has a specific well-
honed skillset.
They have trained how to team up quickly, e.g., airline pilots quickly team up with other
flight crew they have never worked with before.
Executives need to cultivate an environment where the team or crew is ready, willing, and
able for work in the problem space, discovery, delivery, and value validation.
Team, Crew

25. Is careful to avoid too much focus on the process at the expense of value
Promotes value validation over output
Stewards teams, crews, and the organization for continual improvement
Resolves issues that teams and crews cannot solve
In Kanplexity, a person acting as a guide monitors the Cynefin “compass” for the team or
crew and facilitates the discovery of “the next right thing.” Leadership is not necessarily
defined as a position.
The guide is a steward or backstage leader. The guide is a steward, backstage leader, or agile
leader.
Providing they behave as per the tenets of Kanplexity, examples of guides might include
change agents, coaches, mentors, teachers, facilitators, service leaders, product leaders,
service managers, product managers, managers, leaders, executives, team members, or crew
members.
The guide:
Guide

26. Is clear to people on teams or crews and customers.
Focuses on the short- to medium-term possibilities.
Is revisited during reviews.
A direction of travel is a loose purpose that can flex depending on what we learn. The
direction of travel evolves, pivots, or stops.
While goals are helpful for complicated work, it’s crucial to inform decision-making with
evidence for and against the goal’s validity.
In the complex domain, the direction of travel:
The Cynefin Framework is like a compass for discovering and doing “the next right thing.”
We should behave in a way that’s appropriate for the Cynefin domains. Often different
aspects of a problem are in all domains, so be careful about oversimplifying.
Direction of Travel

27. Too much rhythm can be a problem.
Too little rhythm can be a problem. We need to step back and reflect periodically to
avoid execution bias
execution bias is more likely to occur without rhythm. We want to avoid working on the
wrong thing, and rhythm helps to rein us in.
It’s possible to deal with complexity without a rhythm, but it takes discipline.
Having a routine and rhythm helps us deal with complexity, particularly if customer data,
validated learning and flow data inform decision-making.
However, the old adage of “everything in moderation” applies:
Kanplexity strives to find the right rhythm and balance, and it steps away from a one-size-
fits-all approach.
Rhythm

31. in replenishment, teams/crews can use throughput or probabilistic forecasting to guide selecting
the number of items they can reasonably get Done in a time period, e.g., a cycle.
Flow-based
Replenishment

32. In the standup, a review of blockers and relative work item aging can help manage items in progress
in the direction of travel
Flow-based
Standup
Team 1 Team 2

33. review - probabilistic forecasting can help manage expectations with its caveat that we’ll have a
more accurate forecast next week/cycle/month
Flow-based
Review

34. retrospective encourages the Team or crew to assess where work is getting stuck, the definition of
workflow, and monitor their aspiration for the service level expectations (SLE) against real-world
data
Flow-based
Retrospective

35. pruning, refining, full-kitting, or rightsizing the work, as needed, for all domains
replenishment, as needed, for all domains
standup for complicated, complex, and liminal complicated-complex
review for complex, liminals, and positive chaos
retrospective for liminals, complicated and complex
The direction of travel – creation, re-alignment, evolution, communication
Reviews of the definition(s) of workflow
Facilitation and preparation for:
Review of policies, team alliances, and working agreements
Explicit Policies
The team or crew should be clear about who owns each of the following:

36. cycles & interactions catalyze more frequent feedback loops
guide cultivates an environment where agility can grow
cynefin® is the compass for decision making
iteratively revisit the problem space
discover to deliver better ideas
striking A BALANCE BETween effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability
Definition of workflow, Three practices, four metrics
no values or principles
Kanplexity
flexibility over straight-jacketing; a toolbox for dealing with deep complexity

37. We're missing a trick if we restrict kanplexity to the team/crew
Upstream and
Downtream expansion

38. Upstream and
Downtream expansion

39. definitions
organizational agility
multi-team or multi-team patterns
about projects with complex work
Context is king. Kanplexity is deliberately flexible but not so flexible that it enables
simple “rebranding” of non-agile work.
We hope Kanplexity helps people who are authentic about agility, whether in product
management, project management, Lean, Agile, Theory of Constraints, DevOps, the Vanguard
Method, or otherwise.
Kanplexity recommendations are based on the results of many experiments, and benefits
diminish the more of them we ignore. Being open to the recommendations helps us avoid the
road to negative chaos.
appendices:
Endnote

40. The now famous HBR paper on Cynefin (Snowden and Boone, 2022) refers to several years of
work prior to 2007.
Profound gratitude to Dave Snowden, Mary E. Boone, their colleagues, and all those
practitioners who have contributed to Cynefin (Cynefin.io, 2022, 1).
The EU Field Guide for managing complexity (and chaos) in times of crisis (Centre, 2022) was a
significant inspiration for Kanplexity; thanks to Alessandro Rancati and Dave Snowden.
Intent-Based Leadership® (Intent-Based Leadership® International with L David Marquet,
2022) and David Marquet’s focus on execution bias, the red work, and the blue work (InfoQ,
2022, 2) had a key influence on Kanplexity; deep gratitude to David Marquet.
Gratitude to

41. Teams, crews, and guides who used Kanplexity, and those who continue to do so
Andy Carmichael, Daniel Vacanti, Jim Benson, Nader Talai, Nigel Thurlow, Steve Tendon, and
Troy Magennis for their inspiration on the topic of Kanban
Nader Talai and Nigel Thurlow for their inspiration on the topic of Cynefin
Ellen Gottesdiener for her inspiration on the topic of “discover to deliver”
John Seddon for his inspiration on the topic of the Vanguard Method
Bjarte Bogsnes for his inspiration on the topic of Beyond Budgeting
Steve Tendon for his inspiration on the topics of Theory of Constraints and TameFlow
Bas Vodde, Ben Maynard, and Craig Larman for their inspiration on the topic of LeSS
Cliff Hazell, Jose Casal, Jean-Paul Bayley, Klaus Leopold, Nagesh Sharma, and Siegfried
Kaltenecker for their inspiration on the topic of Flight Levels
Bruce McCarthy, Jared Spool, John Carter, Marty Cagan, and Matt Young for their
inspiration on the topics of product management and product leadership
Joshua Seiden and Jeff Gothelf for their inspiration on the topic of Lean UX
Indi Young for her inspiration on the topics of the problem space and deep listening
Jim Benson, Mike Burrows, Pia-Maria Thorén, Robert Annis, and Robert Kinnerfelt for
their inspiration on the topic of organizational agility
Steve Porter for his inspiration on the topics of Scrum and community building
Heidi Helfand for her inspiration on the topic of Dynamic Reteaming
Daniel Carrilho, Christian Neverdal, Nigel Thurlow, Pedro Fortuna Araújo, Scott
Seivwright, and Tiziana Bonanomi for reviewing
Deborah Zanke for editing
A heartfelt thank you also goes to the following people:
Gratitude to

42. #2 Agile Thinkers360
Leadershum Top 50 Agile Leaders 2022
agility chef, executive agility guide, product manager
Flight Levels Coach
ProKanban Professional Kanban Trainer
Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer including Nexus
LeSS Friendly Scrum Trainer
Creator of Kanplexity™ & Xagility™
Co-author of Kanban Guide
Host of Xagility™ & Agility Island podcasts
t: @johncolemanirl
Q&A

43. Optimize the flow of value, not the flow of activities
Prioritize within throughput, adjust for noise
Better to have slack than overwhelm
As needed, split items into smaller but valuable items
Show empathy within, upstream, and downstream
Unblock, focus, finish, & feed, Do ensemble work as needed
Look after work item aging
Lower relative item aging => Lower cycle times => after a time lag.. More stable
throughput, then higher throughput
Get stronger flow… without adding more people
Expand optimization of flow upstream and downstream, and at higher levels
Mind the flow

44. #2 Agile Thinkers360
Leadershum Top 50 Agile Leaders 2022
agility chef, executive agility guide, product manager
Flight Levels Coach
ProKanban Professional Kanban Trainer
Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer including Nexus
LeSS Friendly Scrum Trainer
Creator of Kanplexity™ & Xagility™
Co-author of Kanban Guide
Host of Xagility™ & Agility Island podcasts
t: @johncolemanirl
thank you