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WIP: A Couple Exercises and Some Simple Math
The document presents a session led by David Hanson focusing on the concept of limiting work in progress (WIP) to improve productivity by reducing multi-tasking. It highlights various exercises and math illustrations that demonstrate the efficiency gains achievable through minimizing WIP, potentially doubling process efficiency and halving lead times. The session concludes with a call for agile practices to mitigate the impacts of multi-tasking and enhance productivity.
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WIP: A Couple Exercises and Some Simple Math
- 1. WIP: A CoupleExercises and Some Simple Math David Hanson dphanson63@yahoo.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hanson/ https://www.slideshare.net/DavidHanson5 May 2022
- 2. 2 This session willbegin with a simple exercise, follow with some simple math, and end with another simple exercise. The intent of the exercises and the math is to illustrate the impacts of work in progress and multi-tasking. Limiting WIP is perhaps the single most impactful practice at our disposal to dramatically improve productivity. About the session… About me… Limiting work in progress is a basic Lean concept, which I have applied throughout my career, beginning with college. While my classmates lugged a backpack of books to the library, I carried my one book, studying in- depth one subject a night. During my early career, I counseled my team to have one primary task and one backup task. Everyone’s WIP limit was two. WIP https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hanson/ https://www.slideshare.net/DavidHanson5 David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 3. First, A Warm-upExercise: A Simple Dozen
- 4. A Simple Dozen: Letters,Months, Roman Numerals
- 5. 5 Capital Letter MonthRoman Numeral Rules of the Game: Getting Started Get a couple pieces of paper (or front and back) Draw two 3-column by 12-row grids with the headers: Capital Letter, Month, Roman Numeral Don’t fill in the grid yet A Simple Dozen David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 6. 6 Capital Letter MonthRoman Numeral A January I B February II C March III D April IV E May V F June VI G July VII H August VIII I September IX J October X K November XI L December XII Rules of the Game: Desired Outcome Do not start yet When done, results should look like this A Simple Dozen David Hanson | ANE
- 7. 7 Capital Letter MonthRoman Numeral A January I L December XII Rules of the Game First time: Down When I start the stopwatch, then begin Write down all the capital letters, then all the months, then all the Roman numerals, up to a simple dozen When finish, read time and enter time in chat Count mistakes, if any, and enter count in chat https://www.google.com/search?q=stopwatch A Simple Dozen: Down David Hanson | ANE
- 8. 8 Capital Letter MonthRoman Numeral A January I L December XII Rules of the Game Second time: Across When I start the stopwatch, then begin Write down the 1st row, capital letter, month, Roman numeral; continue with 2nd row to 12th row When finish, read time and enter time in chat Count mistakes, if any, and enter count in chat https://www.google.com/search?q=stopwatch A Simple Dozen: Across David Hanson | ANE
- 9. 9 Capital Letter MonthRoman Numeral A January I B February II C March III D April IV E May V F June VI G July VII H August VIII I September IX J October X K November XI L December XII Results of the Game First time: Down by Column Who was faster down by column? By 10% or 20%? By 50% or 100%? How many mistakes? Second time: Across by Row Who was faster across by row? By 10% or 20%? By 50% or 100%? How many mistakes? A Simple Dozen David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 10. Work In Progressand Multi-tasking
- 11. 11 Introduction Limiting work inprogress, thus reducing the need for multi-tasking, is the single most impactful tool at our disposal to dramatically improve productivity David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 12. 12 Maximizing Work InProgress Focus Effort Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Duration Project α 1 month In progress In progress In progress Done 4 months Project β 1 month In progress In progress In progress Done 4 months Project γ 1 month In progress In progress In progress Done 4 months Project δ 1 month In progress In progress In progress Done 4 months Assuming no impact from multi-tasking Average Activity Time (Effort): 1 month Average Cycle Time: 4 months Average Lead Time (Duration): 4 months Average Process Efficiency (Activity Time ÷ Lead Time): 25% David Hanson | ANE
- 13. 13 Maximizing Work InProgress Focus Effort Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Duration Project α 1 month In progress In progress In progress In progress Done 5 months Project β 1 month In progress In progress In progress In progress Done 5 months Project γ 1 month In progress In progress In progress In progress Done 5 months Project δ 1 month In progress In progress In progress In progress Done 5 months Assuming a very modest impact from multi-tasking: timelines extended by 25% or 1 month Average Activity Time (Effort): 1 month Average Cycle Time: 5 months Average Lead Time (Duration): 5 months Average Process Efficiency (Activity Time ÷ Lead Time): 20% David Hanson | ANE
- 14. 14 Minimizing Work InProgress Focus Effort Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Lead Time Project α 1 month Done 1 month Project β 1 month Wait Done 2 months Project γ 1 month Wait … Done 3 months Project δ 1 month Wait … … Done 4 months David Hanson | ANE Average Activity Time (Effort): 1 month Average Cycle Time: 1 month Average Lead Time (Duration): 2.5 months Average Process Efficiency (Activity Time ÷ Lead Time): 40%
- 15. 15 Minimizing WIP Impact AverageCycle Time decreases from 5 months to 1 month Average Lead Time decreases from 5 months to 2.5 months Process Efficiency increases from 20% to 40% Doubled the rate of productivity; same result in half the time David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 16. 16 Concurrent Projects Overhead* Multi- tasking** Total Available Weekly per Project 120% 0% 80% 32h 2 20% 20% 60% 12h 3 20% 40% 40% 5h 20m 4 20% 60% 20% 2h 5 20% 80% 0% 0h Multi-tasking major inefficiencies: context switching & meeting overhead Context switching: - Every interruption may cost 15 minutes to regain focus* - 5 teams of 5 might lead to 20 interruptions/day (impact 5 hours/day or 25 hours/week) Meeting overhead: - Scrum Guide recommends ~5 hours of events per week - 5 teams would be 25 hours/week *Popular UC Irvine study found impact was 23 minutes; https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/CHI2005.pdf Impact of Multi-tasking on Individual Productivity An arguably realistic outlook *Standard project management assumption is 30% overhead (15% for time off and 15% for distractions), so this is generous **Gerald Weinberg, Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking, stipulates 20% loss for each additional activity supported David Hanson | ANE
- 17. 17 Concurrent Projects Overhead* Multi- tasking** Total Available Weekly per Project 115% 0% 85% 34h 2 15% 15% 70% 14h 3 15% 30% 55% 7h 20m 4 15% 45% 40% 4h 5 15% 60% 25% 2h Impact of Multi-tasking on Individual Productivity A more optimistic outlook Even a more modest assumption, still has a significant impact. David Hanson | ANE
- 18. 18 Long hours Heroic effortswith high-stress focus Ignoring interruptions and requests for help Working solo with own Kanban queue Compensation Tactics Exceptions Super-taskers Popular university study found ~2.5% of people are super-taskers, able to task switch with minimal costs https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20702865/ https://appliedcognition.psych.utah.edu/publications/supertasker_ii.pdf https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170210-a-test-can-identify- supertaskers-but-only-a-few-pass-it Multi-tasking Mitigation Tactics How long can we sustain high-stress focus and long hours to compensate? How many of us are in that pool of 1-out-of-40 supertaskers? David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 19. 19 Takes 15 minutesto get into the Flow zone Takes 23 minutes after an interruption When in the zone, time disappears, productivity soars Modern work environments and smart phones impede our ability to get in the zone Techniques like Pomodoro can help with recurring periods of intense focus followed by brief breaks Anyone want to share an experience in the zone? Getting in the Zone: Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow Model http://tomkenny.design/articles/flow-the-art-of-getting-in-the-zone/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi David Hanson | ANE
- 20. 20 Kanban Scrum XP Asprint backlog based on yesterday’s weather with a single sprint goal Developing one story at a time all the way to done with pair programming Explicit practice to set WIP limits for each phase of development lifecycle How do popular Agile methodologies help reduce multi- tasking and limit WIP? David Hanson | ANE
- 21. 21 What are someAgile practices we can employ to reduce the impacts of context switching? Please share your suggestions… David Hanson | ANE
- 22. 22 Conclusion Minimizing work inprogress can easily double process efficiency; halving lead times and doubling rate of productivity When considering overhead impact of multi-tasking and high stress mitigation strategies, actual impact can be even greater David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 23. Last, A Take-awayExercise: The Name Game
- 24. The Name Game Myname is D A V I D https://www.crisp.se/gratis-material-och-guider/multitasking-name-game
- 25. 25 Need 1 Developer,1 Product Owner, 1 Scrum Master, and 3-5 Customers Role Volunteers Role Overview Developer will write names, so needs to type text with Zoom annotation Product Owner will coordinate with Customers and confirm acceptance Customers will think of two names (maybe your mother’s and father’s name; not too short, not too long) Scrum Master will collect metrics The Name Game David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 26. 26 SM records starttime Developer asks each Customer for 1st letter, then asks each Customer for 2nd letter, until names complete (do not start next letter until every customer served) Each Customer takes turn telling Developer one letter at a time from their name (no corrections) PO checks the names with the Customer when all names recorded PO informs Developer of any corrections SM records finish time when all names correct First Pass The Name Game Rule: We Never Keep the Customer Waiting First Pass: suggest using father’s name David Hanson | ANE P M S Marstha Sathish Pierre
- 27. 27 We Never Keepthe Customer Waiting David Hanson | ANE
- 28. 28 Second Pass SM recordsstart time PO sets the order for Customers Developer asks one Customer for one letter at a time, until have full name Customer provides one letter at a time, correcting any mistakes, as they arise, until done Then next Customer goes, until all Customers served PO confirms Customers’ names correct SM records finish time The Name Game Rule: Every Customer Deserves Our Full Attention Second Pass: suggest using mother’s name David Hanson | ANE M-a-r-t-h-a Martha Satish Pierre S-a-t …
- 29. 29 Every Customer DeservesOur Full Attention David Hanson | ANE
- 30. 30 How long didfirst pass take? How many mistakes were made? How long did second pass take? How many mistakes were made? Did one approach have clearly better results? If so, why? Capture Statistics Discuss Experiences How did it feel as a customer, comparing first and second passes? How did it feel being the last customer, during the second pass? How did it feel as a developer, comparing first and second passes? How did it feel as a product owner, comparing first and second passes? The Name Game David Hanson | ANE 2:22 AM
- 31. 31 Start Early, FinishEarly? Stop Starting, Start Finishing! David Hanson | ANE
- 32. What was mostuseful for you?
- 33.
Editor's Notes
- #2 2 min
- #3 2 min
- #4 1 min
- #10 Does this relate to our work? How so?
- #11 1 min
- #16 4 min section
- #18 4 min section
- #19 2 min
- #20 3-6 min
- #21 3-6 min
- #22 Stigmergy 6-12 min
- #24 1 min
- #25 https://www.crisp.se/gratis-material-och-guider/multitasking-name-game 20 min exercise
- #26 With more participants can have 2 or 3 teams, use the same name, and rotate the “developer” from team to team, for first and second pass.
- #27 Just first name
- #31 Start early, finish early or stop starting, start finishing.
- #33 4 min
- #36 Replace with visuals? If delta, alpha, gamma, beta, then cost of delay is $350K
- #37 3
- #38 Teams doesn’t have option to track entries to second, so this approach won’t work. Haven’t tried in Zoom.