KANBAN KICK--‐START (V2)

ByTomas Bjorkholm

Five Main Rules

Visualize your workflow Limit the things you work on Measure and manage flow and optimize

on cycle time Make process policies explicit Use models to recognize improvement

opportunities.

http://www.crisp.se/articles/kanban-kick-start-v2.pdf

Visualize your workflow

When you visualize, it’s easier to see your bottlenecks and what you see is what you can fix.

Limit the things you work on Make sure you focus on a few things at a

time. Focus on finishing things instead of

starting. Stop queues from forming within your

system.

Measure and manage flow and optimize on cycle time

that is the time it takes from when you start working on something until it’s done, released and you start earning money from it

Make process policies explicit Find out, write down and make sure

everyone follows good behavior that make your process flow with optimal speed.

Use models to recognize improvement opportunities

Use your knowledge from areas like Lean, queuing theory and “Theory of constraints” to improve your flow.

What is Lean for Software Development?

“Deliver continually increasing customer value - In the shortest possible timeframe

-Expending continually decreasing effort -

With the highest possible quality”

- By Mary Poppendieck

An approach to get started with Kanban

Step 1 – Get to know your system Step 2 – Identify your sources and

prioritize Step 3 – Find your process Step 4 – Design your workflow board Step 5 – Set the limits Step 6 – Decide the roles Step 7 – Decide your meetings Step 8 - Set up your principles and

policies

Step 1 – Get to know your system

System everything that happens from the point

where you get a request from a customer until you have fulfilled the request

Make sure your Kanban system fulfill it

Step 2 – Identify your sources and prioritize

Step 3 – Find your process

Before you design your workflow board you need to figure out your process.

Maybe you have separate flows for different kinds of tasks.

Step 4 – Design your workflow board

Visualize your process to include all the necessary steps

Find more examples here http://

blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/10-different-kanban-boards-and-their-context.pdf

Step 5 – Set the limits

No good rule of thumb to suggest here. A large part of Lean is the art of finding

balance

Step 6 – Decide the roles

Kanban does not prescribe any roles. It's up to every company and team to

decide. Adding a role could help minimize the

cycle time

Step 7 – Decide your meetings Kanban does not prescribe any meetings

But you can follow what Scrum suggests Plan – Do – Check – Act

Step 8 - Set up your principles and policies

Your principles should help you become more aligned with what your customers’ need

Some examples Find and fix failures early. Keep it small and simple

Cost grows exponentially over growth of complexity Everyone is responsible for the flow

Upstream: make sure you get what you need to do your work.

Downstream: make sure to help the next step to get a good start.