lse's kanban story
DESCRIPTION
Talk given at #jboye12 on Nov 7 2012 on higher education conference track: Abstract: Like many web teams, the Web Services team at LSE has to handle a large number of disparate requests from a wide variety of people. This makes it hard to keep track of what is going on, to prioritise work, to plan resourcing, and so on. To help address this problem, the team has been using a “kanban” system to make their work more visible and hence reduce bottlenecks and glitches in the flow. Kanban is derived from the visual control systems used by lean manufacturers, but we’ve adapted the system to suit the web context. In these slides used for the J. Boye Aarhus 12 conference, Catherine explains how it’s been working in practice over the last few months and what LSE has learned from its experience with kanban.TRANSCRIPT
- 1. LSEs kanban story Catherine BellamyManaging editor, corporate websiteNovember 2012
2. Before kanban Strategic work overwhelmed by reactivesupport Many streams, many lists Work started and postponed Operations vs projects ratio unclear Constant negotiating 3. Work moving across kanban board Dept name change Communications website 4. Name change: front of ticket 5. How it moved across kanban Methodology Institute to Dept ofMethodology Minor change for people; major forsystems and their data Estimated as medium; actually small/ 6. /name change Timing Backlog management: 21/06/2012 Analysis management: 10/09/2012 Doing production (skipped Ready) 12/09/2012 Doing management: 19/09/2012 Done 20/09/212 In production: N/A Usage reviewed: N/A Work mainly done by production team 7. back of ticket 8. New communications site 9. Each stage recorded Originally marked as medium but turnedinto large Timing Backlog editorial: 02/2011 Analysis editorial: 02/2011 Displaced editorial: 10/2011 Doing editorial: 29/10/2012 1 year later 10. keep record of whydisplaced 11. Effects so far Still unlimited demands but quantified Work still parked but not lost No iceberg of hidden work All have same information (team andsenior management) 12. /effects so far Time spent on products notnegotiations Operations vs projects ratio known Have record of achievement Optimism! 13. kanban cantSolve resourcing issues,but does highlight where they are 14. Still to do Cant maintain without a strategy School agreed goals, not just loudest voice Managing requests open and closethe list? Not yet achieved limit on doing work from before kanban Algorithm being tested to help prioritise 15. What kills kanban? No senior support No strategy: need shared goals Not being honest about time available Low team commitment: adapt it List not complete: one persons job Ineffective communication within andbeyond team publish and be damned 16. Demands Doing Done Parked