Kanban. (Re)start with what you do now

Jasper Sonnevelt Agile Consultant | Change agent mail@jaspersonnevelt.nl jsonnevelt@xebia.com @jaspersonnevelt.nl

“Who uses some form of agile (method)?”

Basic Kanban principles Start with what you do now Agree to persue evolutionary change Initially respect current roles, responsibilities and job titles Encourage acts of leadship at all levels

“How did you chose your method?”

We use Kanban because… “We want to improve Scrum because we have a lot of ad-hoc work” “To see how we are spending our time ” “Kanban helps us to reduce multitasking”

So heres is what we know Different reasons for picking a (change) method End goals are context specific

“The golden circle” Why How What All successful leaders, teams, organizations Why How Act, think and communicate in the exact same way What Simon Sinek – Start with why

“The golden circle” Why How What Product / solution Simon Sinek – Start with why

“The golden circle” Why How Process / USP What Product / solution Simon Sinek – Start with why

“The golden circle” Why How Motivation/purpose Process / USP What Product / solution Simon Sinek – Start with why

There are many ways that lead to success

You have options! WHAT HOW WHY

Lets imagine a (software) development team…

So what do would you like to accomplish? …in walks facilitator So what do would you like to accomplish?

“The golden circle” Why How Motivation/purpose Process / USP Method / Principles Why How What Policies Product / solution Simon Sinek – Start with why

Why How Motivation “We want to: – Reduce stress – Have a happy customer – Be transparent” Why How What Simon Sinek – Start with why

Why How “We think we can do this by: – Getting a grip on ad-hoc work – Involving our customer – Making small changes in our process – (implement Kanban)” Process Why How What Simon Sinek – Start with why

Why How “To do so we will: Policies – Put up a board –Stand-ups and retrospectives – Work at our clients office frequently – Limit our WiP” Policies Why How What Simon Sinek – Start with why

One of the reasons why copying a workprocess doesn’t work!

Implications for design decisions Visualize a status to make sure customer is involved and work is acually ready to start Next Intake Dev Test Done This leads to specific design desicions Implications for design decisions

Implications for design decisions Next Intake Dev Test Done Add extra swimlanes to manage risk This leads to specific design desicions Implications for design decisions

Implications for much more… Location Process Policies Metrics This leads to specific design desicions Implications for much more…

“So did you go inside out? Or outside in?” Motivation -> Process -> Policies Process -> Motivation -> Policies Policies -> Process -> Motivation

Fast forward half a year….

Basic Kanban principles Start with what you do now Agree to persue evolutionary change Initially respect current roles, responsibilities and job titles Encourage acts of leadship at all levels

Basic Kanban principles Lets never get back to how it was when we started Agree to persue evolutionary change Initially respect current roles, responsibilities and job titles Encourage acts of leadship at all levels

…we have “stuff” in the system that makes NO sense… It feels like… …we have “stuff” in the system that makes NO sense…

The more complex the communication in the organization, the bigger the chance that the why is “lost”

“Don’t worry about it… We’re still doing fine!”

“Why are you using Kanban?” – “We want to keep a grip on ad-hoc work – Involve our customer – Make small changes in our process – (implement Kanban)”

“Why are you using Kanban?” But Why? – “We want to keep a grip on ad-hoc work – Involve our customer – Make small changes in our process – (implement Kanban)”

You now have LESS options! WHAT HOW WHY

Moving forward Project A Project B The rest

Moving forward

Moving forward Risk categories

From this one Project A Project B To this one The rest

Every day improvement… Improvements Problem …………. Problem

Every day improvement… Improvements Problem …………. Problem

Visualize the Why “We want to….”

Visualize the Why Create a big sign “We want to….” Create a big sign Put it somewhere people will notice it

Time limit policies No longer than (x) weeks Review progress Our Policies No longer than (x) weeks Review progress

Policy Retrospective Keep Change Stop Why did we have this in the first place? Stand-up meeting at 9 am

Policy Retrospective Keep Change Stop Why did we have this in the first place? Stand-up meeting at 9 am Standard work items go on pink stickies

Policy Retrospective Keep Change Stop Why did we have this in the first place? 3 Questions in stand-up Stand-up meeting at 9 am Standard work items go on pink stickies

Policy Retrospective Keep Change Stop Why did we have this in the first place? 3 Questions in stand-up Stand-up meeting at 9 am Standard work items go on pink stickies Only two people at a Time alloc for bugs

Get somebody from the outside What is this for? Coaches People from other teams

Tips from the audience Have a retrospective where all policies are rated (get rid of / keep / add) Add stickies with “how is this useful for you” Thanks to: Karol Traczykowski

To sum up It’s all contextual A lot of the stuff you do now won’t work for you in the same way in six months. Be aware of this and use feedback loops to learn… QUESTION EVERYTHING!!!!

Thank you mail@jaspersonnevelt.nl jsonnevelt@xebia.com