Kanban is a 2nd generation approach to Agile which enables practitioners to evolve their own unique processes. This was my key note address to the Scrum Gathering China, Hangzhou 2016
1. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Kanban
follow your own path to agility
Evolve your own
unique process!
What is Kanban?
How do you implement it?
What are the benefits?
Scrum Gathering China
Hangzhou, October 2016
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Bruce Lee rejected traditional teaching and
styles of Chinese martial arts
There are some parallels in
the story of Bruce Lee and the
emergence of his approach to
Kung Fu
Lee rejected the idea of
following a particular style of
Chinese Martial Arts
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“Dry land swimming” provides a false sense of
capability
The only way to learn is to train with a live opponent
Lee rejected the many styles of martial arts for various reasons,
mainly that they gave the practitioners a false sense of
capability, putting them at risk in real combat situations
He was against Kata (learning patterns without an opponent)
and described them in derogatory terms such as "dry land
swimming.“
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Lee wanted to start from first principles and
core concepts
Four ranges of combat
• Kicking
• Punching
• Trapping
• Grappling
*Apparently still called the Five Ways, there are actually now six **with the later inclusion of SAA
**The fact that The Five Ways has six elements is evidence of evolution in action
***Incorporated core ideas such as "center line" and single fluid motion from Wing Chun and parrying from Epee Fencing****
****Not a Chinese Martial Art and hence evidence of "no limitation as limitation"
Five* Ways of Attack***
• Single Direct Attack (SDA)
• Attack By Combination (ABC)
• Progressive Indirect Attack
(PIA)
• (Hand) Immobilization Attack
(HIA)
• Attack by Drawing (ABD)
• Single Angle Attack (SAA)
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Lee’s approach still needed a name
He named his approach
Jeet Kune Do - the way of the
intercepting fist - after one of
the practices taught in his
method
He was quick to point out that it
was just a name, a way of
communicating a set of ideas.
He was passionate that
practitioners shouldn't get hung
up on the name or the inclusion
of any one move or action.
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Kanban is just a name!
The Kanban Method is named
for use of kanban systems
- a single practice within a wider
philosophy
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Jeet Kune Do encourages development of a
uniquely personal style
a framework from
which to pick &
develop a personal
style
an evolutionary
approach where
adoption of
maneuvers is learned
& reinforced by
training with an
opponent
Nothing was sacred
"absorb that which is
useful“
discard the remainder
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Training with an opponent provides the core
feedback loop to drive adaptation
Lee pursued ever
more elaborate
approaches to
protected real
combat training to
enable the closed
loop learning that
was core to the
evolutionary
nature of JKD
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Kata are not adaptive
In comparison with JKD, patterned styles of martial arts
taught with "kata" were open loop and not adaptive.
There is no adaptation of style from practicing kata.
Instead you must follow the style precisely.
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Kanban – follow your own path to agility!
Kanban is the Agile method
with a “methodology”!
There is no defined Kanban
Process!
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Kanban has two meanings
Kanban has two meanings in Japanese. Both meanings
are incorporated into the Kanban Method
Kanban written in Kanji (Chinese characters) 看板 means
“visual (or sign) board”
Kanban written in Japanese alphabet, hiragana (at
Toyota), かんばん means signal card(s)
In Chinese, only the 看板 version exists. It is usually
interpreted as a verb “looking at the board”
Visualization of invisible work is useful but it is the Toyota
signal card system that is most interesting and most
influential in changing how we work!
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Kanban Method
“a 2nd Generation Agile Method”
A “meta” approach intended to drive improved
agility without replacing your existing way of working
Not a Defined Process (or SDLC)
1st Generation Agile Methods are designed to replace
existing ways of working with a new way
Kanban is designed to enhance your existing way of
working, even when that existing way is Scrum (or
another 1st Generation Agile method)
21. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
The Kanban Method
Simple Underlying Principles
1. Intangible Goods (professional services)
businesses can be managed like physical, tangible
goods businesses
2. Represent intangible goods with tangible artifacts
3. Make invisible work & workflows visible
4. Control & limit inventory of intangible goods
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The Kanban Method
Service Delivery Principles
1. Understand and focus on your customers’ needs and
expectations
2. Manage the work, let people self-organize around it
3. Evolve your management policies to improve
customer & business outcomes
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Seeing Services
Learn to view what you do now as a set of services.
Don’t reorg, just see things differently!
Examples:
HR provides services throughout the organization, but they
also need services from IT
Marketing provides services to product development but they
need services from Sales and from IT
IT provides services to Customer Support. There is an
interdependency between Customer Support, QA, and IT
Engineering.
Different feature teams or product teams may have
dependencies on each other
Many groups are dependent upon specialist individuals
24. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
F
F
O
M
N
K
J
I
Pull
For each service implement a Kanban “pull” system
Ideas
D
Dev
Ready
G
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 3
Test
Ready
5
F
B
CPull
Pull
*
There is capacity here
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
Pulling work from development will
create capacity here too –
the pull signals move upstream!
Now we have capacity
to replenish our ready
buffer
Kanban has been called
“Iterationless” Agile. Batches of
work are replaced with
continuous flow of work
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Commitment is deferred
E
D
Commitment point
F
F
FF
F
F F
G
Pull
Wish to avoid aborting after commitment
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 3
Test
Ready
5
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
We are committing to getting
started. We are certain we want
to take delivery.
Ideas remain optional and
(ideally) unprioritized
Kanban implements the Lean
principle of “just in time”
through the practice of deferred
commitment
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Test
Ready
F
F
FF
F
F F
Decoupled Cadence Improved Optionality
EG
D
Replenishment
Discarded
I
Pull
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
The frequency of system replenishment
should reflect arrival rate of new
information and the transaction &
coordination costs of holding a meeting
Lead time
The frequency of delivery should
reflect the transaction & coordination
costs of deployment plus costs &
tolerance of customer to take delivery
Delivery
For software development skill in
configuration management is an
enabling capability for Kanban
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Agility = Capability x Optionality
Skills
Experience
Capacity
# Options x Frequency of decision making
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Test
Ready
Flow Efficiency
F
E
I
G
D
GY
PB
DE MN
P1
AB
Customer Lead Time
Waiting Waiting WaitingWorking
* Zsolt Fabok, Lean Agile Scotland, Sep 2012, Lean Kanban France, Oct 2012
** Hakan Forss, Lean Kanban France, Oct 2013
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
Flow efficiency measures
the percentage of total lead
time is spent actually
adding value (or
knowledge) versus waiting
Flow efficiency % = Work Time x 100%
Lead Time
Flow efficiencies of 1-5% are
commonly reported. *, **
> 40% is good!
Working WaitingWorking
Multitasking means time spent in
working columns is often waiting
time
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Waiting Waiting WaitingWorking Working WaitingWorking
Test
Ready
Implications of low Flow Efficiency
F
E
I
G
D
GY
PB
DE MN
P1
AB
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
Low flow efficiency means that most of lead
time is influenced by environmental factors
that are unlikely to change soon
Customer Lead Time
In a low flow
efficiency
environment, Class of
service is much more
likely to influence lead
time than any other
factor
As a result, lead time is
not very sensitive to the
size or complexity of a
single work item, or to
the specific people
involved or their
individual capabilities
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Fragile lead time distribution
Weibull, k=0.8
Mode < 1
Median = 6
Mean = 9
Tail = 55
3 outliers > 55
High value = 77
High value = 100 x Mode
Typical of IT operations work or
very low organizational
maturity and capability
software development
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More Robust Lead Time
Mode = 10
Median = 11
Mean = 12
Tail = 60
2 outliers > 60
High value = 105
High value = 10 x Mode
Typical of higher organizational maturity & capability software
development with Kanban.
Scrum teams often produce kappa ~= 1.2
Increased “focus” from WIP limits with Kanban improves shape,
shifting it right (up)
This is more desirable – shorter tail = more predictable
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Delivery Capability has 3 Dimensions
Service Delivery
Agility
Commitment
frequency
Lead Time
Delivery
Frequency
LeadTime
Short
Long
Delivery
Service Delivery Agility
Commitment
Frequent
Seldom
Frequent
Seldom
More
Agile
Less
Agile
Kanban system dynamics
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Avg. Lead Time
Avg. Delivery RateWIP
Pool
of
Ideas
Ready
To
Deliver
Little’s Law
Delivery Rate
(from the kanban system)
System Lead Time
WIP
=Delivery rate (or “velocity”) is
another measure of capability
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When should we commit?
impact
When we
need it
Zone of
possible
delay cost
If we
start
here
Commitment point
timeJan
10
Nov
11
To consider the best time to
start something we can
examine the probable
opportunity lost by
multiplying the lead time
probability distribution
function against the Delivery
Delay Cost function.
By sliding the lead time
distribution across the
Delivery Delay Cost we can
compare the Probable Delay
Costs for a delay in starting
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The Optimal Time to Start
impact
When we
need it
85th
percentile
Ideal Start
Here
Commitment point
If we start too early, we
forgo the option and
opportunity to do
something else that may
provide value.
If we start too late we risk
incurring the cost of delay
With a 6 in 7 chance of
on-time delivery, we can
always expedite to insure
on-time delivery
36. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Discovery Kanban Prepares Options
Ready
for
Engin-
eering
F
I
Comm-
itted
D
4 Ongoing
Development
Done
3
J
K
12
Testing
Verification
3
L
Commitment point
4 -
Requi-
rements
Analysis
2412 -
Risk
Analysis
4824 -
Pool
of
Ideas
∞
Min & Max limits
ensure sufficient
options are always
available
Committed WorkOptions
Discarded
O
Reject
P Q
$$$ spent acquiring options
$$$ spent converting options
Embedded Options
Done
Delivery KanbanDiscovery Kanban
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Roles
Ready
for
Engin-
eering
F
I
Comm-
itted
D
4 Ongoing
Development
Done
3
J
K
12
Testing
Verification
3
L
Commitment point
4 -
Requi-
rements
Analysis
2412 -
Risk
Analysis
4824 -
Pool
of
Ideas
∞
Service Delivery ManagerService Request Manager
Discarded
O
Reject
P Q
Marshals Options Manages Flow
Done
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The Kanban Method
Change Management Principles
1. Start with what you do now
Understanding current processes, as actually practiced
Respecting existing roles, responsibilities & job titles
2. Gain agreement to pursue improvement through
evolutionary change
3. Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
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The Kanban Method
General Practices
1. Visualize (with a kanban board 看板)
2. Limit work-in-progress (with kanban かんばん)
3. Manage flow
4. Make policies explicit
5. Implement feedback loops
6. Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
(using models & the scientific method)
40. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
The Kanban Method
Change Management Principles
1. Start with what you do now
Understanding current processes, as actually practiced
Respecting existing roles, responsibilities & job titles
2. Gain agreement to pursue improvement through
evolutionary change
3. Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
41. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Strategy
Review
Risk
Review
Monthly
Service
Delivery
Review
Bi-WeeklyQuarterly
Kanban
Meeting
Daily
Operations
Review
Monthly
Replenishment/
Commitment
Meeting
Weekly
Delivery
Planning
Meeting
Per delivery cadence
change change
change
change
change
change
change change
change
info
info
info
info
info
info
info
info
info
change info
Kanban Cadences
Focus on Service DeliveryService Delivery Set
Improvement/Evolutionary Set
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Capability
OptionalityAdaptability
Delivered as
management training
& coaching
Focus on managers at
all levels
Business unit scale
Horizontal
Applicable to all
professional services
(not just IT)
47. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Capability
OptionalityAdaptability
Typical Agile
Method
Delivered as
methodologies,
process improvement
& coaching
Focus on individuals
and teams
Vertical
Tends to be IT, or
software engineering
specific
48. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Conclusions
Kanban can improve the agility of any existing
process
Kanban installs a continuous improvement capability
across the organization
Kanban can be used to enhance Scrum
Kanban can help challenged or failed Scrum
implementations
Kanban works in circumstances where time-boxed
methods are inappropriate or problematic
49. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Conclusions
1st Generation Agile methods such as Scrum help you
adapt to changing requirements by improving
optionality
Kanban also helps you adapt to changing economic,
political and business conditions by installing a
capability for continuous improvement and process
change management in your organization
50. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
The future of creative work should be inspired by
the philosophy of Bruce Lee
Our opponents are uncertainty & risk.
Engage directly
Visualize & make them explicit with a
Kanban board
Start with what you do now, make
small changes, evolve your capability
Evolutionary methods are required to
help us respond to complex changing
external circumstances
Your own unique path to agility will
serve you better than a defined
process
Your capability to evolve will make you
robust to uncertain circumstances
52. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
About
David Anderson is an innovator in
management of 21st Century
businesses that employ creative
people who “think for a living” . He
leads a training, consulting,
publishing and event planning
business dedicated to developing,
promoting and implementing new
management thinking & methods…
He has 30+ years experience in the high technology industry
starting with computer games in the early 1980’s. He has
led software organizations delivering superior productivity
and quality using innovative methods at large companies such
as Sprint and Motorola.
David defined Enterprise Services Planning and originated
Kanban Method an adaptive approach to improved service
delivery. His latest book, published in June 2012, is, Lessons
in Agile Management – On the Road to Kanban.
David is Chairman of Lean Kanban Inc., a business operating
globally, dedicated to providing quality training & events to
bring Kanban and Enterprise Services Planning to businesses
who employ those who must “think for a living.”
53. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
Fragile Lead time distribution data courtesy Andreas Bartel, Hamburg,
Germany
Robust Lead time distribution data courtesy of an anonymous client in China
Acknowledgements
57. dja@leankanban.com @lki_dja Copyright Lean Kanban Inc.
2012 Lessons in Agile Management
The heavily under-rated book
that underpins the Kanban
Coaching Masterclass and most
of the theory behind the
Kanban Method
There are some parallels in the story of Bruce Lee and the emergence of his approach to Kung Fu.
Lee rejected the idea of following a particular style of Chinese Martial Arts.
Lee rejected these for various reasons, mainly that they gave the practitioners a false sense of ability and put them at risk in real combat situations. He was against Kata (learning patterns without an opponent) and described them in derogatory terms such as "dry land swimming."
Instead he sought to break the art down into a set of basic principles:
The four ranges of combat
Kicking
Punching
Trapping
grappling
and the Five* Ways of Attack***
Single Direct Attack (SDA)
Attack By Combination (ABC)
Progressive Indirect Attack (PIA)
(Hand) Immobilization Attack (HIA)
Attack by Drawing (ABD)
Single Angle Attack (SAA)
*Apparently still called the Five Ways, there are actually now six **with the later inclusion of SAA
**The fact that The Five Ways has six elements is evidence of evolution in action
***Incorporated core ideas such as "center line" and single fluid motion from Wing Chun and parrying from Epee Fencing****
****Not a Chinese Martial Art and hence evidence of "no limitation as limitation"
He named his approach Jeet Kune Do - the way of the intercepting fist - after one of the principles taught in his method. He was quick to point out that it was just a name, a way of communicating a set of ideas. He was passionate that practitioners shouldn't get hung up on the name or the inclusion of any one move or action.
The Jeet Kune Do emblem incorporates the words...
"having no way as way." There would be no specific style or school to his approach. It is not fixed or patterned but guided by a set of principles. An individual would adapt their own style that worked best for them by learning the principles and practicing different types of kicking, punching, trapping and grappling.
"having no limitation as limitation." In other words, Lee would be prepared to pull ideas from any source if it made the (martial) art better and made the individual a better practitioner. His concern was the logical improvement of the method rather than loyalty to any one tradition or tribe. He was happy to borrow ideas from Western traditions as much as Eastern.
While Jeet Kune Do is often described as a framework from which an individual can pick and choose to develop their own style, it is also an evolutionary approach. Lee referred to "absorb what is useful" and discard the remainder. And this was at the personal level for an individual developing their own style. If they chose to discard "intercepting fist" this would be acceptable. They were following the philosophy faithfully and the inclusion of any one maneuver or set of maneuvers was not critical.
In Jeet Kune Do training is always with an opponent. This provides the core feedback loop and learning opportunity that allows a practitioner to select that which "is useful" and discard that which is not.
Lee pursued ever more elaborate approaches to protected real combat training to enable the closed loop learning that was core to the evolutionary nature of JKD. In comparison patterned styles of martial arts taught with "kata" were open loop and not adaptive.
Briefly explain the 3 service delivery principles. Reflect on the values embedded in these statements: customer focus; respect; understanding.
The Kanban Method has 2 sets of principles: the service delivery principles; and the change management principles.
Briefly explain the 3 service delivery principles. Reflect on the values embedded in these statements: customer focus; respect; understanding.
The Kanban Method has 2 sets of principles: the service delivery principles; and the change management principles.
Think in terms of services rather than departments or functional groups: look at the way you work, who your customers are, the activities involved, and how the work flows.
As soon as work is completed at one step, it can be immediately pulled to the next step. This creates capacity to take on new work.
The first commitment point is when we pull a work item.
Flow efficiency tells us how much of the time the work is moving (flowing) rather than waiting in some sort of delay.
When there is low flow efficiency, class of service can help improve lead time.
You can see an illustration on the cumulative flow diagram of the relationship between WIP, delivery rate, and average lead time.
Discovery Kanban is also known as upstream kanban.
The discovery and delivery kanban boards are visualized together on a single board for simplicity of teaching. It is more typical for these to be separate boards often in separate offices.
Some organizations are developing specific roles and titles related to discovery and delivery activities.
There are 3 Change Management Principles designed to frame an evolutionary approach to improvement. Be aware that the Kanban Method is applied to the way you work now, and it will help you evolve the way you work gradually over time.
[Briefly walk through each of the principles. See David’s blog at http://www.djaa.com/principles-general-practices-kanban-method if you want help with how to explain each.]
There are 6 General Practices in the Kanban Method. [Walk briefly through each of the 6 Practices. See David Anderson’s blog at http://www.djaa.com/principles-general-practices-kanban-method if you want help with how to explain]
There are 3 Change Management Principles designed to frame an evolutionary approach to improvement. Be aware that the Kanban Method is applied to the way you work now, and it will help you evolve the way you work gradually over time.
[Briefly walk through each of the principles. See David’s blog at http://www.djaa.com/principles-general-practices-kanban-method if you want help with how to explain each.]
The KMP II class is built around the 7 cadences of the Kanban Method. The focus is on institutionalizing the feedback loops and developing templates for each meeting or review including a list of who will attend and what information they must bring to the meetings. The objective is to drive improvement and evolutionary change through management feedback loops implemented as a series of rituals happening on cadences tailored to the specific needs of the business.
Kanban creates an environment in which individuals can have a collaborative conversation and do something about problems with their work. [Use the cartoon as a buffer prior to the morning break. Ask the class how many acts of leadership they see in the picture. Ask what “Let’s Do Something about it” – what do you think the “It” is? There are probably 2 “it’s shown in the picture: 1) Development may be a bottleneck because Test is starving whilst work accumulates in Analysis; 2) Many items in Analysis may be blocked and our analysts are starting new work rather than making an attempt to close out existing work.)
Lean Kanban Inc offers management training, consulting, community events, publications and software tools to help businesses with strong technical capabilities and commanding market positions, to improve their adaptability and optionality to insure agility and survivability. Lean Kanban delivers the management capability to manage for uncertainty, change, and attack from disruptive innovation.
Lean Kanban Inc offers management training, consulting, community events, publications and software tools to help businesses with strong technical capabilities and commanding market positions, to improve their adaptability and optionality to insure agility and survivability. Lean Kanban delivers the management capability to manage for uncertainty, change, and attack from disruptive innovation.
Our opponents are uncertainty & risk. Engage directly. Validate speculation quickly
Teach beginners to set up safe-to-fail, learning environments at the individual, team and project level
Evolutionary methods are required to help us manage in complex environments
Fitness-for-purpose & sustainability come from developing strong adaptive capability