Kanban: No Answers, Just Questions
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The document discusses the significance of questions in the context of Kanban systems and highlights key practices such as visualizing workflows, limiting work in progress, managing flow, making policies explicit, implementing feedback loops, and improving collaboratively. It emphasizes that there is no perfect Kanban system, only those striving for continuous improvement, with questions serving as a catalyst for learning and reflection. Ultimately, the document advocates for a collaborative approach to enhancing the effectiveness of Kanban practices.
Kanban: No Answers, Just Questions
- 1. @ralfhh Kanban: No Answers, just questions Ralf Kruse agile42 | The Agile Coaching Company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2013.
- 2. Agenda • The great thing about questions and what makes a question great? • Their is no perfect Kanban system, only systems striving for perfection • Practices: Their intention, my questions and hopefully yours agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 3. The great thing about questions ... and what makes a question great? • Questions help to make people think and reflect • the inquirer don’t need to understand the full context • ... and still can create fresh perspectives Is ... ? • What makes a question great? • It hasn’t one answer and is open ended • create greater possibility for expanded learning and fresh perspective • Good questions are likely to trigger discovery, clarification and action agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 4. agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software Tuesday, August 2, 2011 agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 5. Their is no perfect Kanban system, ... only systems striving for perfection Kanban ... more than a Board Ag ree to now evol purs u do uti hat yo on ue in th w wi ary cr s, s Start ch eme oce les pr tit an nt ge ntal, rre es & u ec ls liti ll leve t th nsibi ec po p at a p rshi Res s, res Leade s k loop role edbac t fe w ge flo Mana e is Visual iP Limit W Ma ies e e polic k Implem xplicit en tively, abora lly l ve col a Impro experiment evolve agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009. Tuesday, August 2, 2011 agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 6. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 7. Visualise • The workflow of knowledge work is inherently invisible. • Visualising the flow of work is core to understanding how work proceeds incl. bottlenecks & queues Questions • What where your problems, variances etc. in the last month? Do such things reflect in your board? • How much work are u doing next to your board? Is this critical to understand your flow? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009. Tuesday, August 2, 2011 agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 8. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 9. Limit Work in Progress (WiP) • Limits help to avoid taking more work than you can handle • Limits help to recognise problems earlier (stop-the-line) Questions • Do you have Limited your work in a way that you avoid queues and bottlenecks? • Does you reach your Limits from time to time, to give you signs of dysfunctions? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 10. Limit Work in Progress (WiP) • Limits help to avoid taking more work than you can handle • Limits help to recognise problems earlier (stop-the-line) Questions • Do you have Limited your work in a way that you avoid queues and bottlenecks? • Does you reach your Limits from time to time, to give you signs of dysfunctions? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 11. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 12. Manage flow • better flow = faster value delivery • you want to improve it, so you need to measure it • changes can be evaluated to have positive or negative effects on the system Questions • How do you know if your work flows better or worse through your Kanban system? • How do you use the measurements as an input/feedback for improving the flow? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 13. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 14. Make policies explicit • All involved people know on how to let the work flow • Until the mechanism of a process is made explicit it is often hard or impossible to hold a discussion about improving it. Questions • Are policies clearly understood and visualized close to the board? What means Done? Priority / Next to pull? WiP Limits? • Are you following the agreed changes? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 15. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 16. Implement feedback loops • to periodically take stock of where you were, where you are, and where you want to go next • create needs for improvement and triggers adaptations • a feedback loop tells us that change is taking us in the right direction Questions • How do you get overall feedback, that you are on the right track? • Do your Daily Stand-Ups help to get the complementory information to know the next best thing you can Do? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 17. Kanban practices • Visualise • Limit WIP • Manage flow • Make policies explicit • Implement feedback loops • Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 18. Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally • Most systems can’t be improved by one perspective, it’s often only possible to create sustainable improvements collaboratively • experiments help to discover improvements based on experience • scientific method can make discussions on improvements more objective Questions • Do you and your colleges have the same direction and are you working continuously on it? • How do you find new improvement opportunities? agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 19. Conclusion ... agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.
- 20. @ralfhh Kanban: No Answers, just questions Ralf Kruse agile42 | The Agile Coaching Company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2013.