Agile Kanban: Fly Different v1.3
by Joseph Hurtado
joseph@agilelion.com
Twitter: @josephhurtado | Web:AgileLion.com
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What will I learn?
Why we need Agile Kanban?
What is Kanban anyway?
How can I use it for Software Development?
How can I “Fly Kanban” using Agile Zen?
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Credits - People and Photos
Kanban boards and inspiring content from David
Anderson's Kanban Book.
Henrik Kniberg slides, and solid content on his blog.
Photos: Blue Angels, and Thunderbirds - US Navy and Air
Force Teams. The last photo is from Italy's Aerobatic Team:
Frecce Tricolori.
Several Photos and Illustrations via Flickr and Google, that
deal with flight, crews and Apollo 13.
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I.“Houston we have a
Problem”
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SW Planning Problems
Changing Requirements
Wrong Assumptions: Waterfall
Estimation Challenges
Black box Development
External Change Agents
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Early Solutions
Iterative Development
Waterfall planning but divided in phases
Heavy use of Engineering Concepts and tools
Locked Deadlines
The de-facto standard today
Houston, We still have a problem! :-)
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II. There must be a
Better Way!
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Agile Manifesto - Feb 2001
17 developers introduced the world into the "Agile Way":
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
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Key Agile Methodologies
XP - Extreme Programming (Kent Beck)
Pair Programming, thorough testing, emphasis on little
or no documentation, very “fanatical approach”
Scrum (Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland)
Daily Stand-ups, Scrums, Reflections, Integrated QA/
User/Teams, Velocity, Poker Estimation, etc.
Very detailed "Agile recipe" --> All or nothing
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Agile or Fragile?
Going too Agile:
Zero documentation
Blindly following the recipe
Wild Expectations
Too much too soon
Kanban addresses those areas through two principles:
Kaizen (Continuos Improvement, in gradual steps)
Simplicity (simple principles that easily scale)
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III. Fly Different: Kanban
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What is Kanban?
Kanban in Japanese means “Visual Board.”
It relates to a system, where one Kanban sign signals
another member of the team that we can “Pull” work
from one phase to another.
Early Kanban was adopted in Japan by Toyota for
Lean Manufacturing (TPS - late 1940s to 1970s)
Agile Kanban for Software Development however is
quite recent: from 2004 to 2010.
Agile Kanban was born in the software industry at
Microsoft and Corbis. The first systems were related to
QA and Development inside Waterfall Organizations!
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Kanban is very Light
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Kanban’s 3 Principles
1. Visualize the Workflow
By using Kanban Boards
2. Limit Work in Progress - LWIP
By imposing limits on the size of some stages you force the teams and
individuals to focus.
Also when WIP is less, work travels faster. (batch size)
3. Keep Improving Flow or Kaizen
By thinking and discovering ways to improve on what we do
By using any tool or technique that helps you do it.
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Kanban’s Minimal Flow
1. Ready or Queue Entry
Think of it as the relevant backlog
2. Working
Tasks or stories you are working on now
3. Done
Completed stories or tasks
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Kanban’s Flow Expanded
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Kanban’s Sticky Boards
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Kanban’s Sticky Boards
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Optional Slide: A Pull System
Imperial Palace in Tokyo is actually a real
life Kanban Pull System.
Each visitor receives a “token” the visitor
has to keep the token until he leaves, then
he returns the token into the pool: A
simple Kanban System!
Token = Story. The system has LWIP for
number of tokens, and three phases:
Queue into the palace, LWIP inside the
Palace, and Exit of the Palace (where
tokens are returned and LWIP is
replenished, to “pull” visitors!)
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IV. "We don't need roads
any more"
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No More Boards!
Agile Zen is a web 2.0 board that replaces and enhances anything a Sticky
Board can do. Advantages over other solutions:
Right balance of features
Desktop app. experience on a browser
Elegant UI
Requirements:
Firefox 3.x or later (avoid Chrome or Safari for now)
Internet Connection
Mac or PC
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Learning Session Lab
Minimal Kanban Process: Ready - Working - Done
How Process Flow Works
Story Creation
Story Movement and common Situations
Story Features
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The End! Now Fly Solo.
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