Getting to pull at enterprise scale

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True Business AgilityGetting to “pull” at enterprise scale

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Kanban is Ubiquitous!



Acceptance



China



Return on Investment



Don’t miss it!



No Harm!



But wait, it’s not Kanban!



Kanban at Microsoft 2005



Kanban at Hewlett-Packard 2006



Proto-Kanban represents minor league victory



Proto-Kanban



Team Kanban

Backlog

F

HE

C A

G

D

Next Done

3

In-progress

3∞ ∞

GY

PB

DE

IJ Avatar for each

team memberStill at a single team level but maturing

to focus on managing work and less on managing

workers



O

P

R

N

M

L

J

Per Person WIP Limit

Done

F

H E

C

A

I

Pending

G

DGY

PB DE

MN

AB

Dev/Build/Test/Deploy

DevReady

GY

GY

PB

PB

MN

MN

DE

DE

ABAB

K

Bench

Specify

B

∞∞ ∞

Unbounded

Queue

DelayedWIP

At this level, we are focused on managing work

and enabling people to self-organize around it but we aren’t limiting WIP in the system as a whole. Hence, service delivery will not be predictable

Moving beyond a single team to a service delivery workflow



Aggregated Team Kanban

Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3

Team 1 Kanban

∞ ∞

Team 2 Kanban




Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3∞ ∞

Also known

as “infinite

done queues”




Done

Poolof

Ideas

FH E

C A

I

NextDeploy-

mentReady

GD

GYPB

DEMN

5 ∞

P1

AB

Ongoing

Development Testing

Done Ongoing Done

3 3

Infinite limits on Done columns means that there really isn’t a kanban pull system present.

This style of proto-kanban controls multi-tasking but doesn’t limit workflow WIP

∞ ∞



Benefits of proto-Kanban implementations

Benefits

TransparencyRelief from overburdening

Reduced multitaskingImproved qualityPeople engaged

emotionallyMore collaborationGreater empathy



Benefits of proto-Kanban implementations

Benefits

10-50% greater productivity

Up to 50% reductionin lead times

Average 25% headcount saving

Return on investment300->400 : 1



Are we there yet?



Kanban Litmus Test



Have Managers Changed their Behavior?



Has the Customer Interface Changed?



Has the Customer Contract Changed?



Has the Service Delivery Business Model Changed?



Triage



Pull



H

FF OM

NK

J

I

Using movable tokens as kanban is more flexible

Ideas

D

E

A

I

DevReady

G

Development TestingTest

Ready

F B

C

UATReleaseReady

In-progressLegend

Done

Blocked - issue

Blocked - defect

Override on kanban limit introduces additional

“blocked – issue” kanban

People working on blocked item “A”

have been redirected to work

on item “I”



H

FF OM

NK

J

I

Using movable tokens as kanban is more flexible

Ideas

D

E

A

I

DevReady

G

Development TestingTest

Ready

F B

C

UATReleaseReady

In-progressLegend

Done

Blocked - issue

Blocked - defect

Using physical slots in the previous example has been shown to create

inertia to modification & improvement

Using movable tokens allows for WIP limits to be easily modified and provides a natural signal

token mechanism



Single Service, Multiple Classes of ServiceAllocate capacity with kanban limit per color

5 4 4 5 2 = 20 total

Allocation

10 = 50%

...

+1 = +5%

4 = 20%

6 = 30%

InputBuffer In Prog DoneDoneIn Prog

DevelopmentAnalysis BuildReady Test

ReleaseReady



3 Services Aggregated Together

5 4 4 5 2 = 20 total

Change Req12

Maintenance2

Production Defect6

AllocationTotal = 20

InputBuffer In Prog Done

BuildReady Test

ReleaseReadyDoneIn Prog

DevelopmentAnalysisReleased



ChangeRequest

s3

1

Prod.Defects

Maintenance

UsabilityImproveme

nt

2

1

Improving Liquidity through Labor Pool Flexibility

Teams

F

HE

C A

Engin-eeringReady

G

D

GY

PBDE

MN

2

P1

AB

Ongoing

Analysis Testing

Done VerificationAcceptance3 3Ongoing

DevelopmentDone3

Joe

Peter

Steven

Joann

David

Rhonda

Brian

Ashok

TeamLead

Junior who will be rotated through all 4 teams

Generalist or T-shaped people who can move flexibly across rows on the board to keep work

flowing

It’s typical to see splits of fixed team workers versus flexible system

workers of between 40-60%

Roughly half the labor pool are flexible workers

Promotions from junior team member to flexible

worker with an avatar clearly visualize why a

pay rise is justified. Flexible workers help manage liquidity risk

better!



Irrefutable Demand



Don’t miss it!



Pressure for “push” is partially internal



What causes irrefutable demand?



Getting to “pull”



Is all irrefutable demand as irrefutable as it seems?



You have more management options than you think!



Strategies for irrefutable demand



Shaping Demand : Triage



Demand Shaping ThresholdDimension 1

Dimension 2

Dimension 3

Dimension 5

Dimension 4

DefinitelyDo

This

Demand shapingthreshold

Talk aboutthis one

DefinitelyDon’tThis

Each risk dimension represents a taxonomy of categories describing

a known risk.

Policy describes the category in each dimension at or

above which we wish to accept demand



Demand Shaping ThresholdDimension 1

Dimension 2

Dimension 3

Dimension 5

Dimension 4

Don’tDo

This

ExclusionZone

Talk aboutthis one

DefinitelyDo

This

Thresholds can be used to as upper or lower

boundsExclusion zone can be to the outside or inside of the graph



Get a Demo of Swift ESP!



SwiftKanban ESP implements Risk Profiling & Demand Shaping to Manage Large “Backlogs”



Don’t miss it!



Organizational Maturity





Personal Kanban

Aggregated Personal Kanban

Team Kanban

Emergent/Undefined Workflow

Per Person WIP LimitCONWIP

Physical spacekanban

Physical token kanban

Virtual KanbanClasses of service

Capacity allocationLiquidity optimization

Aggregated teams

Patterns of Kanban Board Designs



Relief fr

om

Overb

urdening

Predictability

Fast, Smooth Flow

Risk Hedging

Risk Management

Benefits of improving maturity



What’s Preventing Getting to “pull”?



6 Forces Preventing Getting to “Pull”



1. Not Starting with a Customer Facing Service



Affecting a Paradigm Shift to “pull”



2. We are Just Order Takers



3. Lack of Understanding of Business Risks



Blizzard Sport & Why Risk Assessment Matters

Blizzard Factory



Blizzard Sport - Reducing Risk Actual Situation

Production Volume

100%

Make-to-forecastWorld

Sales Volume Reporting to HQ

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI0%

Risk

LaunchVolume

100% of total –> 90% risk = 90% risk

Cycle Time



Blizzard Sport – Kanban etc speeds up production

Production Volume

100%

Make-to-forecastWorld

Sales Volume Reporting to HQ


Risk

Adapt production to make-to-order


LaunchVolume



Blizzard Sport – Risk assessment & sequencing produce a larger payoff in risk reduction

Production Volume

100%

Make-to-forecastUSA / CAN / JP

Make-to-orderWorld

Sales Volume


Risk




4. A Lack of Mathematical Literacy



5. Lack of Skill in Negotiation



6. Lack of Confidence Planning & Scheduling



Reminder - Don’t miss it!



Kanban is Ubiquitous!



Declare Victory & Fight On!



Thank you!



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 the 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.”



Screenshots of SwiftKanban ESP risk assessment framework courtesy of Digite

Blizzard Sport inventory at risk assessment slides courtesy of Erix-Jan Kaak and Tecnica Group

Acknowledgements



Appendices



Kein Merkeln im Büro !!!




Getting to pull at enterprise scale

Leadership & Management