It’s Not Scrum Vs. Kanban! It’s Scrum And Kanban.

LeanKanban India 2016

Agenda

¨  What is Kanban? What Kanban is not? ¨  Why might you consider Kanban? (Or, Some of the challenges

of Scrum)

¨  Applying Kanban to Scrum

¨  The value of “Upstream Kanban”

¨  What’s in a name? ¨  Resources

¨  Q&A

Digite, Inc.

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Digite, Inc.

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“Scrum vs. Kanban”

Is it an emotional thing?

The Kanban Method

Change Management Principles 1.  Start with what you do now

q  Understanding current processes, as actually practiced

q  Respecting existing roles, responsibilities & job titles

2.  Gain agreement to pursue improvement through evolutionary change

3.  Encourage acts of leadership at all levels

Digite, Inc.

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Kanban Method uses…

… uses kanban boards to visualize invisible work, workflow & business risks together with kanban systems which limit work-in-progress

Kanban Method delivers…

… faster, more predictable service delivery and an adaptive capability that enables you to respond effectively to changes customer demand or your business environment

Digite, Inc.

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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)

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The Kanban Method is not…

A project management method

nor

A software development lifecycle process

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In the absence of an existing methodology/ process, the Kanban Method cannot be applied/ used!

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So, how well is Scrum working for you?

¨  It is working just fine for me! ¨  I think it is working fine – but I’d like to

know how we can get better.. ¨  I need serious and immediate help to

improve!!

Digite, Inc.

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Some Challenges in Scrum

¨  Estimation Challenges ¨  Missed Scope/ Deadlines; Stories leak out

¨  Software is not necessarily working or tested

¨  Overwhelming focus on “rituals” ¤  how to calculate the right velocity, ¤  what % of time to allocate to surprises,

¤  estimation inaccuracies and other such problems. 

¨  The Challenge of Batch Sizes

¨  Disruptive Role-changes and Org Changes

Digite, Inc.

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Flow vs. Batching of Work

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Overburdening is a common Problem

¨  Multi-tasking is a commonly expected performance measure in most team. We are expected to be able to handle multiple things at the same time.

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Multitasking is Bad! Kanban helps you Reduce it

“It’s unequivocally the case that workers who are doing multiple things at one time are doing them poorly,” said Clifford Nass, director of the Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab at Stanford University. “The human brain just really isn’t built to switch rapidly from one task to another. Workers who constantly multitask are hurting their ability to get work done, even when they are not multitasking. People become much more distracted, can’t manage their memory very well.” Companies that demand multitasking may be damaging productivity. “It would be a total tragedy if when we have so much potential to make the work force more intelligent, we are actually making the work force dumber,” Nass said. “Companies that are demanding that workers multitask might not only be hurting their productivity, but may be making the workforce worse thinkers.”

*Ruth Mantell, Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 12, 2011, “Multitasking: More work, less productivity”

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Multi-tasking is one reason we have too much WIP

1 - 10 I – X (Roman) A - J

Start timer for 1 minute Fill in each row left to right Stop when timer goes off or you reach the limit shown at the top of each column

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Multi-tasking is one reason we have too much WIP

1 - 10 I – X (Roman) A - J

Start timer for 1 minute Fill in each column top to bottom starting at the left column Stop when timer goes off

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Stop Multitasking

Stop STARTING! Start FINISHING!

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Applying Kanban to your Scrum Processes

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Should you be Applying Kanban to Scrum?

¨  If everything is going well – and you are delivering software to your customer as per their expectations – perhaps there is no need to!

¨  If you know – or have niggling doubts – that you could be doing better, then by all means, look at Kanban!

¨  Even if you don’t and you’d like to explore Kanban, that’s a great reason as well.

Digite, Inc.

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Implementing Kanban in a Scrum environment

¨  Short Term: Start with what you have ¤  Start with all the Standard Practices ¤  Implement WIP Limits and Manage Flow

¨  Medium Term: Evaluate Improvement Opportunities ¤  Evaluate/ Implement 2-Phase Commitment ¤  Tweak WIP Limits and Process Steps

¨  Long Term: ¤ Consider moving to faster/ on-demand replenishment ¤ Use models such as Risk Assessment and Monte Carlo

Simulation for better Demand Management and Delivery Forecasting

Digite, Inc.

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Start with What you do Now

¨  Start with What you do Now ¤ Continue with your current Scrum processes and rituals, roles

and titles ¤ Continue to do Sprints and Releases, and use Scrum metrics

and measures

¨  Agree to Improve Incrementally

¨  Allow acts of leadership at all levels

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The Essence of Kanban in Action

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Improve the Process Visualization (From here….)

Backlog Next Done In-progress

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Improve the Process Visualization (….to here!)

Done Next

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

Deploy

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•  Team should be able to observe Flow •  Handoffs should become defined •  All Process Steps should be visible

Implement WIP Limits

Done Next

5 ∞ Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3 ∞ ∞

Deploy

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•  Defining constraints helps Flow •  Communicates available capacity to the team and stakeholders

WIP Limits benefits

¨  Controls Multi-tasking ¨  Signal that capacity is available; ¨  Can be by person, by workflow, by work item type, or

by total number of items in progress; ¨  Promote finishing & quality; ¨  Provoke important discussions;

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Implement Flow (Flow is the movement of the work)

Flow – from Engineering Ready to Release Ready

FLOW

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Optimizing Capacity, Maximizing Flow

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Make Policies Explicit

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What goes on the board?

What is written on a ticket?

How does the board work?

Cadence

Who can modify?

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Implement/ Continue with Feedback Loops

¨  Daily Standup Meetings/ Retrospectives ¨  Kanban Metrics

¤ Cumulative Flow ¤  Lead Time

¨  Kanban Board ¤ WIP Limit violations ¤  Blockers ¤  Review Stages

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Focus on Delivery to Customer As Soon As Possible

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Kanban Board – Information Radiator

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Improve Collaboratively, Evolve Experimentally (Using models and the Scientific Method)

¨  Look for opportunities for improvement ¤ Bottlenecks ¤ Sources of rework/ defects

¨  Manage variability in incoming Demand with “Classes of Service”

¨  Implement 2-Phase Commit

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Evaluate Bottlenecks

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Risk Dimensions (also called Class of Service)

•  “What will happen if you don’t finish the work item on time” (Cost of Delay)

•  A set of policies that apply to a type of work.

•  Can be indicated with colors, shapes, stickers, etc.

•  Can affect prioritization

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Risk Dimensions

Backlog Next Done

3

In-progress 3

Expedite

Fixed Date

Standard

Intangible

∞ ∞

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Think Outside the (Dev) Box

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Common Challenges in Software Development

¨  Upfront Planning and Prioritization ¨  Conflict of priorities between various stakeholders

¨  Shifting Business Priorities

¨  Internal and External Sources of Demand

¨  Different type of work and different classes of service

¨  High levels of Discard Rates

Upstream Kanban and 2 Phase Commit will help Streamline the Inflow of Work to the Dev Team

Digite, Inc.

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Consider an “Upstream Kanban” board

Done Next Ongoing Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done Deploy

Spec Ongoing

Prioritization Done

Pool of Ideas Ready

Ongoing Done

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H

F F

O M

N K

J

I

Pull

Kanban systems are pull systems

Ideas

D

E

A

I

Dev Ready

G

5 Ongoing

Development Testing

Done 3 3

Test Ready

5

F

B

C Pull

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 Digite, Inc.

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In Flow Systems, Commitment is deferred

H

E

C A

I

D

Commitment point

F F

F F

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

Digite, Inc.

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Software Teams often see High Discard rates

H

E

C A

I

D F

F F F

G H

I

Reject

Ideas Dev

Ready 5

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done 3 3

Test Ready

5

UAT Release Ready

∞ ∞

Discarded

The discard rate seen at a Microsoft team in 2004 was 48%. ~50% is

commonly observed

Options have value because the future is uncertain

0% discard rate implies there is no

uncertainty about the future

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Test Ready

F F

F F

F F F

More Frequent Replenishment

H

E

C A

I

G

D

Replenishment

Discarded

I

Pull

Ideas Dev

Ready 5

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done 3 3 5

UAT Release Ready

∞ ∞

The frequency of system replenishment should reflect arrival

rate of new information and the transaction & coordination costs of

holding a meeting

Frequent replenishment is more agile.

On-demand replenishment is

most agile!

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Test Ready

F F

F F

F F F

Delivery Frequency

H

E

C A

I

G

D

Delivery

Discarded

I

Pull

The frequency of delivery should reflect the transaction & coordination

costs of deployment plus costs & tolerance of customer to take delivery

Ideas Dev

Ready 5

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done 3 3 5

UAT Release Ready

∞ ∞

UAT and Release buffer sizes can reduce as frequency of delivery

increases

Frequent delivery is more agile.

On-demand delivery is most agile!

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Test Ready

F N

K

M

L J

F

Specific delivery commitment may be deferred even later

H E

C

A

I

G

D

2nd Commitment

point*

Discarded

I

Ideas Dev

Ready 5

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done 3 3 5

UAT Release Ready

∞ ∞

We are now committing to a specific release date

*This may happen earlier if circumstances demand it

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Long Term…

¨  Move towards Iteration-less delivery?

¨  Use models such as Monte Carlo simulation to forecast capability and set customer expectations

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What’s in a Name?

Scrum + Kanban = Scrum or Scrumban or

Kanban – YOUR Choice!

The Kanban Method provides a number of tools

and techniques to boost the performance of Scrum teams!

Digite, Inc.

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Scrum and (not vs.) Kanban Kanban does not compete with Scrum. Kanban complements and supplements Scrum!

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Resources

¨  http://yuvalyeret.com/so-what-is-scrumban/ ¨  http://blog.venturepact.com/19-proven-benefits-of-scrumban/

¨  http://www.deloittedigital.com/us/blog/scrumban-a-different-way-to-be-agile

¨  https://www.agilealliance.org/what-is-scrumban/

¨  Scrumban – and other Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development; by Corey Ladas

¨  Kanban and Scrum – making the most of both; by Henrik Kniberg & Mattias Skarin

Digite, Inc.

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Thank you!

¨  Mahesh Singh ¤  Co-founder, SVP – Product/Marketing, Digité, Inc.

¨  Kanban Coaching Professional

¨  @maheshsingh/ mahesh@digite.com/ +1 (408) 761-2238

¨  www.swiftkanban.com/ www.digite.com

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