Here were the points I took from David’s lightening talk on Kanban:
- Start with your current process
- Incrementally introduce improvements (evolutionary change) – unless you’re in the US where they like revolutionary change
- Initially respect current roles, processes etc. (this keeps people feeling safe)
Seed Properties (observations David’s taken from successful projects)
- Visualise workflow (the board)
- Limit work in progress (this is the most important thing!)
- Manage flow (how they’re moving)
- Make process policies explicit
- Improve collaboratively
Process Policies:
- write down the process as a policy
- not just roles
- who has authority to change it
- explicitly state what “done” means at each stage.
- explicit policies can’t be discussed.
Improve Collaboratively:
- using models and scientific method – make predictions based on a model
- people in our industry have a scientific background – they can relate to this
- understanding bottlenecks etc
- geeks love being onjective
In order for all this to happen, you need leadership. It is the magic ingredient. This doesn’t have to be a manager. Leadership is about someone taking responsibility and doing something about it. Leadership creates an environment where there is no fear.
Need a Work In Progress Limit to provoke conversation; idleness and finding bottlenecks.
really useful post, thanks for sharing.