Just-in-time development with kanban - JAX London 2011

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JIT Development with kanban

John StevensonLean Agile Machine

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/


Who is John Stevenson

@JR0cket



Goals

Basics of kanban

Visualise your challenges



Additional goal



What is the problem...

Never enought time

Always more to do

Something urgent comes up

Missed opportunities

Work to do, bills to pay, kids to feed...

Window of opportunity for getting stuff done is limited



How many hours do you work a

week ?



How many hours are you productive

per week ?



What is Kanban ?

● A way to manage dependant events● Make your work visible● Limit your work in progress

Avoiding multi-tasking – its inefficient

● Pull system only work on a task once previous task is complete

● Help work to flow continuously and predictably deliver value





Software projects design



Kanban board - Wall of Facts



Value stream mapping

The (often wide) path to getting things done

Activities that get things done effectively



Let the board show issues...

V1.0.1, V1.0.2, V1.0.3, V1.0.4,

Build 1209Build 1221Build 1301



How did I build my Kanban

● Started simple with: Plan – Do – Done Used scrap of paper for initial design Built a simple board and started using it

● Evolved into Plan – Do – Check – Act Evaluated deficits in board and enhanced

● Used online Kanban So I dont need to cary a large whiteboard around Useful for distributed teams







Software development



Software development



Is something ready to work on?

● Identify completed work between seperate board lanes

● Spilt the study board lane into two First new lane is doing state Second lane is done / ready



Ready queue



Quick decisions

Having a ready lane show you what you could work on next

Prompts discussion as when something is ready to move from one stage / role to another

Start to see if there is a bottleneck if cards queue up in the ready column



Let the board run





So What is missing ?

● I have a Kanban board● I am breaking my tasks down into relatively

small chunks

● But I still have far too much to do...



Lets apply the WIP !!!

● To sudy effectively I need to focus● To focus I need to work on 1 thing

at once● To work on 1 thing at once I need:

Work In Progress Limits



How to decide what is right

Experiment !!

Map to resources



With one tester resource



1 tester, 6 devs pairing



Fast feedback across the board



Fast feedback

● Ltd WIP on Columns Board Goals

● Ltd WIP in column gives fast feeback between team roles

They know when there is a hold up Can discuss what the problem is Can try out things to see if it alivates the problem



Predictability

● Ltd WIP● Smaller batch sizes● Consistently sized tasks

Breaking down features, epics, stories

● Smallest responsible change



Let kanban help you be effective

● Work on only on one thing at once● Everyone responsible for priority changes

Even your manager

● If forced to switch, record and reset task to begining

Review ”task switching” overload



Pull system



What else can we do ?



Drop the Backlog

omnipresent sign of overload Useful for pushing back to the

management Bad for team moral

Tasks flow when team is in tune with value, opportunities are not drowned out



Defining the task card

● Set goal of task● Identify measure to check if goal reached

Code should pass all tests

● Identify resources needed to compete● Identify scope of work

refactor task into multiple cards if too big



Use both sided of the card



Classes of service



Experditing

● Visualisation for a high priority task Big red sticker Experditing lane Record other tasks being blocked

● Review why you get high priority task Consider it a constraint / bottleneck



Experditing lane



DevOps Goal keeper

Goalkeeper fields all issues

Rest of team allowed to

focus on a (bigger) tasks

Use visual indicator to show

who is the Goalie

Swap goalie regularly



Enhancing the board information



Blockers



Avatars / Calls for help



Pairing



Pairing does not have to be two

Different roles help share understanding of getting work done



Review your effectiveness



Effective daily standups

Avoiding status meetings● Details already there on the wall● Talk about something more useful● Opportunity to improve

What have I learnt yesterday ?

What do I hope to learn today ?



Kanban board - Wall of Facts



Understanding of Value



Understanding your company

Table stakes / foundations

Spoilers Differentiators

Accelerators



Benefits



Summary of Kanban

● Visualse work● Manage WIP● Engage with business

Shared ownership

● Encourage realistic priorities

● Helps you stay sane

● Show you are productive

● Deal with micro-management



Be as creative as needed



The first rule of kanban...



Thank you



Feedback & Refs

@JR0cket

[email protected]

Please note: Very few bulletpoints were hurt during the making of this presentation


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Just-in-time development with kanban - JAX London 2011