going beyond wip limits for ever-higher organizational performance

GOING BEYOND WIP LIMITSFOR EVER-HIGHER ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

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22 February 2017

GOING BEYOND WIP LIMITS FOR EVER-HIGHER ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Presented by Michael Hannan, PMP, TOC JonahFounder & Principal Consultant, Fortezza Consulting

4

MY PROMISE TO YOU FOR THIS SESSION:Inspire and excite you on the topic of organizational performance improvement.

MY WILD-EYED STRETCH GOAL FOR THIS SESSION:Help you maximize your impact as leaders, so that you might advance

humankind through the pursuit of dramatically higher levels of organizational performance.

Copyright © 2017 Fortezza Consulting, LLC

On September 11, 2001, the largest sealift rescue initiative in the history of humankind was carried out, rescuing over 35 times more people per hour than the next largest — the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk.

Youtube search “9-11 Boatlift”

Also check out a keynote presentation I gave on this—go to www.FortezzaConsulting.com/videos (It’s the “Accelerate Results” conference video.)

What do these four things have in common?

1.= 500

people

The 9-11 rescue

throughput

5Copyright © 2017 Fortezza Consulting, LLC

Dunkirk’s rescue

throughput

http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/videos

In the past 10 years, a major pharmaceutical company found a way to double the number of life-saving drugs it brought to market, with no increase in cost.



2.



In the span of just a few years, Amazon went from deploying new software < 10 times a day to deploying new software more than 7,000 times a day.

3.= 10 times a day

In its first 8 years, SpaceX made space launches 5x less costly, and in the next 8 years, expects to make them 100x less costly.



4.

Cost per lb to Low-earth Orbit


Poll: What do these four things have in common?

Step 1: Start with unbridled enthusiasm for unlimited upside

Step 2: Identify the most essential building block for dramatic performance improvement

Step 3: Craft a disciplined approach based on that building block

Step 4: Challenge conventional wisdom Step 5: Start asking “How might we…”

Logical progression of webinar


…and don’t ever stop

STEP 2:IDENTIFY THE MOST ESSENTIAL BUILDING BLOCK

FOR DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT


STEP 2: Task-switching game


Round #1 Round #2

data

poi

nts

First round results with task switching

Second round results with

focus

time to complete

Almost twice as fast!

2σ ~ 90% 2σ ~ 60%

STEP 2: Typical game results


2x 3x 4x 6x

8x 12x

STEP 2: If simple tasks see a 2x improvement…


Block off calendar time Turn off Outlook pop-

up notifications Put your phone on

silent Turn on a “heads

down” auto-reply email

Put a sign on your door

Work from home, and/or work non-standard hours

USB lights

STEP 2: A few simple ways to drive single-tasking


STEP 3:CRAFT A DISCIPLINED APPROACH BASED ON THAT BUILDING BLOCK


Lean/Kanban− Visualizing the actual flow of work is critical to

identify impediments and to experiment with improvements

− Enabling the system to “pull” work improves flow while empowering teams

− Minimizing batch sizes—ideally down to “single-piece flow” — can generate impressive flow improvements

− Keeping “work in progress” (WIP) within capacity is key to maximizing flow

STEP 3: Craft a disciplined approach


Theory of Constraints, Psychology– Single-tasking is a highly effective way to minimize

lead times for human tasks– Maximizing flow across a complex organization

(system) can only be done once the system constraint is identified



Agile/Scrum, Psychology− The team can find ways to improve flow more

effectively than any single member− The team is much more motivated when working

under a disciplined framework designed to foster team autonomy



Number of Task Owners

8

Ensure that this number…

6

…is never higher than this number

STEP 3: Is single-tasking actually happening?


Previous productivity level

Impediments; lapses

in single-tasking

Improved single-task discipline

Over 2X!

2 months

STEP 3: 700-person IT projects organization


task

s

summary cumulative flow diagram

STEP 4:CHALLENGE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM


Conventional wisdom: Impose single-tasking with WIP limits on individual users.

STEP 4: Challenge conventional wisdom


Better idea: Allow the team to experiment with different “Team WIP Targets.”



Individual/Team WIP Limits

• Limiting WIP is usually a great first step for improving flow

• “I’ve set a limit on each of you, and you all must comply!”

• Some workers feel incentivized to “game the system”

• Not as conducive to a “How might we…?” culture

Team WIP Targets Based on Single-Tasking

• Encourages a target based on single-task behavior

• Allows total flexibility for teaming up on tasks

• If you’re way over or under target, the team can see it and explore why

• Fosters experimentation• “We trust you, and want to

help you pursue ever-higher levels of team performance”

STEP 4: WIP limits vs WIP targets


Can speed up any project or operation and be used with any methodology

Can complement key characteristics of Agile:◦ Self-organized Scrum Teams, user stories, story points,

backlogs, burndown charts, retrospectives, customer transparency, scope buffering, and more

◦ Offers an option to replace time-boxed sprints with single-piece flow to improve velocity and predictability of execution

Speed improvements in real-world environments have ranged from 30% to 300%

The Focus-and-Flowtm Method


Can certainly take a “copy/paste” approach to propagate across teams, with leadership reinforcement of the “How might we…?” culture

For project-centric organizations, elevate the application of WIP Targets from the task level to the project level◦ For Agile portfolios already using scaled approaches like

SAFe, can simply enhance with “Project-level WIP Targets,” and experiment with what target yields the highest throughput of project completions

◦ For a more universally applicable approach designed for maximum throughput, I recommend Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), which calls for staggering projects according to the capacity of the most constrained resource type

How to scale this approach


Fortezza Consulting is offering new customers a “30/30” guarantee:◦ Guaranteed 30% speed improvement in 30 days or less, for

teams up to 30 people in size Happy to craft a larger-scale approach—with a similar

guarantee—for enterprises looking for organization-wide implementation

◦ Consulting and coaching paired with your 30-day free trial of LeanKit

◦ Check out details at http://www.FortezzaConsulting.com/30-30/

Simply schedule a 30-min call with me by going to http://www.FortezzaConsulting.com/appointments/

Getting started


http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/30-30/

http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/appointments/

Fortezza Consulting resources◦ Blog

www.FortezzaConsulting.com/blog◦ Email subscription

www.FortezzaConsulting.com/stay-connected◦ Book (Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover)

www.FortezzaConsulting.com/new-book

LeanKit resources◦ Blog (LeanKit.com/blog)◦ Learning Center (LeanKit.com/learn/kanban)

Where can I learn more


http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/blog)

http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/stay-connected)

http://www.fortezzaconsulting.com/new-book

http://www.leankit.com/blog

https://leankit.com/learn/Kanban

https://leankit.com/learn/Kanban

Q&A


For a team of 20 paired programmers, are you saying they should just pick a Team WIP Target of 10?

With so many teams each having so much team autonomy, how would you scale this across a large organization with any level of consistency?

Aside from telling my teams “Set your WIP so low it feels kind of painful,” how should I help them get started with limiting and targeting WIP?

How do I get my team’s buy-in? How do we limit/target WIP when we are working cross-functionally?

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