The document discusses the concept of time theft in the workplace, identifying five main 'thieves' that hinder productivity: too much work in progress (WIP), unknown dependencies, unplanned work, conflicting priorities, and neglected work. Each thief is elaborated upon, explaining how they operate and their impact on team effectiveness. The document emphasizes the importance of exposing and managing these issues to enhance workflow and reduce inefficiencies.

1. @dominicad
Time Theft – How Hidden & Unplanned Work
Commit the Perfect Crime
November
2016
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
MORE ON TIME THEFT & UNCERTAINTY

34. @dominicad
TO RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING:
Ø A copy of this presentation
Ø A copy of the Kanban for ITOps white paper
Ø A discount code for DevOpsDays Seattle 2017
Ø A copy of the Lean Kit Lean Business report
Just pick up your phone and send an email to:
dominica@leankit.com
Subject: Flow