Presented at Flow Conf 2021. Lists are a snapshot of the output of some more robust criteria. They represent a 1-dimensional view of multiple dimensional problems. This makes them fragile. The good news is, Kanban helps you manage it all in a more robust way.

1. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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PRIORITY
LISTS
DON’T WORK
SquirrelNorth
MARTIN AZIZ
martin@squirrelnorth.com

2. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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THE FIRST
PRIORITY
LIST
*Possibly

3. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Born:
September 15, 1984
PRINCE
HARRY

4. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Prince Harry
British Line of
Succession on
15 September 1984
(the priority list)
Prince Andrew
Prince William
Prince Charles
Prince Edward
1
2
4
5
3

5. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Prince Harry
2013
(bye-bye Prince Edward)
Prince Andrew
Prince William
Prince Charles
1
2
3
5
4
Prince George

6. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Prince Harry
2015
(the priority list says bye-bye Prince
Andrew)
Princess Charlotte
Prince William
Prince Charles
1
2
3
4
5
Prince George

7. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
2018-2021
(lets make this top 6 now!)
Princess Charlotte
Prince William
Prince Charles
1
2
3
4
6
Prince George
5 Prince Louis

8. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
Princess Charlotte
Prince William
Prince Charles
1
2
3
4
6
Prince George
5 Prince Louis
top 2
More Stable Spots. Is there value past 3?

9. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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LISTS
1984 2013 2015 2018
The line of Succession List
Changed every 2 to 29 years
Prince Harry
1
2
4
5
3
Prince Harry
1
2
3
5
4
Prince Harry
1
2
3
4
5
Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
1
2
3
4
6 5

10. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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LISTS
1984 2013 2015 2018
1701
Act of
Settlement
Bill of
Rights
1689
Criteria for British Succession
Unchanged 300+ Years
The line of Succession List
Changed every 2 to 29 years
CRITERIA
Prince Harry
1
2
4
5
3
Prince Harry
1
2
3
5
4
Prince Harry
1
2
3
4
5
Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
1
2
3
4
6 5

11. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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LISTS
1984 2013 2015 2018
1701
Act of
Settlement
Bill of
Rights
1689
Criteria for British Succession
Unchanged 300+ Years
The line of Succession List
Changed every 2 to 29 years
CRITERIA
ARE ROBUST
Prince Harry
1
2
4
5
3
Prince Harry
1
2
3
5
4
Prince Harry
1
2
3
4
5
Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
1
2
3
4
6 5

12. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
SquirrelNorth
s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
SquirrelNorth
LISTS
ARE FRAGILE
1984 2013 2015 2018
1701
Act of
Settlement
Bill of
Rights
1689
Criteria for British Succession
Unchanged 300+ Years
The line of Succession List
Changed every 2 to 29 years
CRITERIA
ARE ROBUST
Prince Harry
1
2
4
5
3
Prince Harry
1
2
3
5
4
Prince Harry
1
2
3
4
5
Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle)
1
2
3
4
6 5

13. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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PRIORITY LISTS
ARE FRAGILE
PRIORITY LIST
Lists are a
snapshot of the
output of some
more robust
criteria.
Priority lists are a 1-
dimensional solution to
a multi-dimensional
problem.
It’s like a soup. We
need to look at the
ingredients list.

14. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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4 REASONs
PRIORITY LISTS ARE FRAGILE
PRIORITY LIST
#1 Optionality

15. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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“Have you ever created a list of
priorities of approved items to be
worked on, only to later discover
that many of the items lower on
the list never seem to get
started?”
1
Never gets done.
Likely to get done.
Likely to get done.
Optionality

16. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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OPTIONALITY
If this was a
hospital
emergency
department.
Someone with a high fever is
a good option to treat, as
well as someone who has a
headache.
Someone with a toothache is
a poor option and is best
advised to seek a dentist
instead.

17. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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OPTIONALITY
ALL APPROVED
Poor option.
Great option.
Good option.
Everything on the priority
list is assumed to be
approved.
Even things we will likely
never do. They are unlikely
to make it to the top of the
list.
Can we make them
optional?
S
E
E
NA
SAL
I
S
T
S
E
E
NA
SAO
P
T
I
O
N
S

18. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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OPTIONALITY
In Kanban we replace
the priority list with a
funneling system
designed to develop
and martial options.
We sometimes call this
system “Upstream
Kanban,” some also
referred to as
“Discovery Kanban”
DOWNSTREAM
DELIVERY BOTTLENECK
SELECTION
CRITERIA
COMMITMENT
POINT

19. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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OPTIONALITY
The best options
make it the
furthest to the
right.
SELECTION
CRITERIA
COMMITMENT
POINT
Finding the best
options is about
assessing to risk
categories:
1. Market Risks
2. Technical
(implementation)
Risks

20. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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OPTIONALITY
We can
visualize our
upstream
process on a
Kanban
Board.

21. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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4 REASONS
PRIORITY LISTS ARE FRAGILE
PRIORITY LIST
#2 COMMITMENT
TO START

22. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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“You’ve identified a few good options.
But we have more good options than
resources to allocate to all the options.”
This means we will need to look at our
options and figure out which to start
working on now, and which can wait.
2 C
A
P
A
C
I
T
Y
T
O
D
O
G
o
o
d
o
p
t
i
o
n
.
G
o
o
d
o
p
t
i
o
n
.
G
o
o
d
o
p
t
i
o
n
.
G
o
o
d
o
p
t
i
o
n
.
G
o
o
d
o
p
t
i
o
n
.
CAPACITY
TO DO
ALL GOOD
OPTIONS
COMMITMENT TO
START

23. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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COMMITMENT TO START
Back at the hospital, this may
mean we need to make
some patients wait.
We commit to start working
on the fever patient before
the headache patient.
Waiting on the fever patient
holds more delay risk.
NOW LATER

24. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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We need a system to
distinguish between
good options and
commitments to start.
We need to develop
criteria to select
options to commit to.
The criteria needs to
manage delay risk.
DOWNSTREAM
DELIVERY BOTTLENECK
SELECTION
CRITERIA
COMMITMENT
POINT
COMMITMENT TO START
COMMITMENT
POINT

25. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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We can visualize our
commitment point on
a Kanban Board.
We can develop
Explicit Policies that
fulfill our selection
criteria.
We can determine the
cadence at which we
commit. We call this
Replenishment.
COMMITMENT TO START

26. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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4 REASONS
PRIORITY LISTS ARE FRAGILE
PRIORITY LIST
#3 CLASS OF
SERVICE

27. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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“Once we start working on
something, does all work get
the same access to
resources?”
CLASS OF
SERVICE
OPTIONS
DOING
All same
priority?
3

28. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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CLASS OF SERVICE
At the hospital, while our fever
patient has begun treatment,
someone suffering from a
stroke has arrived by
ambulance.
The fever patient, now that
they are stable, will have to
wait for further treatment as
the hospital’s focus shifts to
the heart attack patient.
PAUSE FOCUS
Both patients are admitted, but they
have different delay risk.

29. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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CLASS OF SERVICE
PAUSE
FOCUS
We pause or slow down
work that can handle
delays.
We give the type of work that
can not handle delay extra
attention and more resources

30. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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CLASS OF SERVICE
DOWNSTREAM
DELIVERY BOTTLENECK
SELECTION
CRITERIA
COMMITMENT
POINT
We need to identify
options in our backlog
that can not wait. We
need to know when we
need to expedite
commitment.
We need to understand
existing delivery
commitments and
whether they require
expedited delivery.

31. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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With Kanban we can
formalize different
classes of service that are
available and visualize
them on our boards.
In this example colour is
used to denote that a
special class of service is
being applied to these
tickets.
CLASS OF SERVICE
EXPEDITE
COMMITMENT
EXPEDITE
DELIVERY

32. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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4 REASONS
PRIORITY LISTS ARE FRAGILE
PRIORITY LIST
#4 Capacity
Allocation

33. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Not all items on a priority list impact the
organization in the same way.
For example we consider developing new
functions to be more important vs
improving existing functions.
Do we ever make time to do the 2nd
category of work?
Capacity
Allocation
4
Improvement
never gets done.
New function
usually gets done.

34. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Capacity Allocation
At the hospital, we know that
treating a critical patient is
more urgent in comparison to
keeping the floors clean.
However, both are important
in order for the hospital to
operate. The hospital has
carved out separate capacity
allocations to meet both of
those needs.

35. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Capacity Allocation
STILL
NEEDED
CRITICAL
It may mean that there is a certain
percentage of staff that are devoted to
cleaning rather than treating patients.

36. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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Your organization has a
variety of needs. All
required, but not equally
important.
They all need attention,
but not at the same level.
Capacity Allocation
IMPORTANCE
CLASIFICATION

37. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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In Kanban we
leverage Work in
Process Limits, to
operate and
visualize our
capacity
allocation
strategy.
Capacity Allocation

38. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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4 REASONS
PRIORITY LISTS ARE FRAGILE

39. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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PRIORITY LISTS
ARE FRAGILE
Priority lists are a 1-dimensional solution to a multi-dimensional
problem. Kanban helps you manage it all.

40. s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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s q u i r r e l n o r t h . c o m
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PRIORITY
LISTS
DON’T WORK
SquirrelNorth
THANK YOU!
…AND REMEMBER PRINCE HARRY.
MARTIN AZIZ
martin@squirrelnorth.com