ANN: Agile contracts - a client's view
Lunch seminar 3 september
Highlights from USI 2010 and Lean SSC London
June and July have been busy months. I'd like to share a few highlights from other speakers in USI 2010 in Paris and the Lean Software and Systems gathering in London on which I had the honor of presenting.
Long term sustainable releases with 99% backward compatibility [USI 2010]
In "The challenges of long-term software quality in open source" Jürgen Höller described how they worked in the Spring team to achieve 99% backward compatibility by avoiding revolution and using evolution, even when radical new features are fit in. During the last seven years the Spring team have absorbed 4 major JDK's and 4 generations of J2EE. I was sure this was possible and Jürgens team shows it is. A challenge to all of us the next time we want to restart from scratch :)
Learning to Learn - becoming a Lean startup [Lean SSC]
In this presentation Damon Morgan shows how they as a company now have reached a level where they continuously do set based engineering of business ideas. He showed using their Quote web page how experimenting with not so obvious changes lead to a jump in business leads. I noted another experience which I have seen - when you get flow going, estimation is redundant.
Using Kanban to get knowledge and continuously improve [Lean SSC]
Benjamin Mitchell blew me away with his presentation. I had some seriously great laughs :) But there are some serious learnings as well. Benjamin has done some great efforts in experimenting with statistical process control in software. For example, he could demonstrate that a bulk part of the product portfolio wasn't generating value to cover the complexity it brought by. But what does help if there isn't a thinking process in the organization capable of absorbing these learnings? I will highlights his takeaways, which we all can improve on:
Long term sustainable releases with 99% backward compatibility [USI 2010]
In "The challenges of long-term software quality in open source" Jürgen Höller described how they worked in the Spring team to achieve 99% backward compatibility by avoiding revolution and using evolution, even when radical new features are fit in. During the last seven years the Spring team have absorbed 4 major JDK's and 4 generations of J2EE. I was sure this was possible and Jürgens team shows it is. A challenge to all of us the next time we want to restart from scratch :)
Learning to Learn - becoming a Lean startup [Lean SSC]
In this presentation Damon Morgan shows how they as a company now have reached a level where they continuously do set based engineering of business ideas. He showed using their Quote web page how experimenting with not so obvious changes lead to a jump in business leads. I noted another experience which I have seen - when you get flow going, estimation is redundant.
Using Kanban to get knowledge and continuously improve [Lean SSC]
Benjamin Mitchell blew me away with his presentation. I had some seriously great laughs :) But there are some serious learnings as well. Benjamin has done some great efforts in experimenting with statistical process control in software. For example, he could demonstrate that a bulk part of the product portfolio wasn't generating value to cover the complexity it brought by. But what does help if there isn't a thinking process in the organization capable of absorbing these learnings? I will highlights his takeaways, which we all can improve on:
- THINK for yourself in your context
- Get KNOWLEDGE by studying your process as a system, end to end from the customer's point of view
- RUN EXPERIMENTS to learn while you work
Experimenting with Kanban Principles at NDC 2010
My slides
At the NDC 2010 conference I ran a workshop demonstrating the principles behind Kanban (showing there is more too it than a visual workspace..) . My approach was to do it using a set of games.Anyway, here are the slides
Ps: A great conference for an old MSoft geek :)
Limited WIP Stockholm #3 - Kanban from the trenches
The next Limited WIP Society meeting (Stockholm, Sweden) will be focused on experiences from the trenches. Six speakers testing Kanban will do 10min lightning talks, sharing their top 3 experiences.
When: Monday May 31:st 18.00 - 20.00
Where: Avega's office, Stockholm
How do I join? mattias.skarin( at )crisp.se
When: Monday May 31:st 18.00 - 20.00
Where: Avega's office, Stockholm
How do I join? mattias.skarin( at )crisp.se
Slides from my keynote at Agile Estonia
Mind over matter
It was a blast meeting the Agile community in Estonia. What a vibe!
More to come on that subject .)
Anyway, here are my slides: "Mind over matter"
Cheers
More to come on that subject .)
Anyway, here are my slides: "Mind over matter"
Cheers
System thinking and Kanban
This other day, I stumbled upon an article by John Seddon - "Rethinking Lean Service" which had been laying around in my disk space for a while.
It struck me how these principles can be deployed using a Kanban system:
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"Training workers against demand and ensuring they are responsible for what they do is preventative (the better alternative to inspection). All arbitrary measures (standard times, cost, targets and standards) are removed from the system and instead real measures are used to help managers and workers alike understand and improve the work. It is better, for example, to know the actual time it takes to complete transactions as ‘one-stop’; this improves resource planning. Similarly it is better to know the true experience of the customer for any work that goes through a flow (endto-end time or on-time-as-required) in order to improve the flow and, consequently, reduce costs. There are many examples of these principles in use, published examples include Pyke (2008), McQuade (2008), ODPM (2005), and Jackson, Johnstone and Seddon (2007), Seddon and Brand (2008).
At its heart, the systems archetype is concerned with designing against customer demand, managing value rather than cost. And this is the heart of the paradox: when managers manage costs, costs go up; when they learn to manage value, costs fall. It is a counter-intuitive truth." |
It struck me how these principles can be deployed using a Kanban system:
- design against customer demand : create the kanban board starting with the demand
- focus on value creation over cost elimination: set highest priority in completing work before accepting new. Use WIP limits to ensure that is happening.
- know the actual time it takes to complete the transaction as "one stop" : learn the cycle time of flow and use this to plan resources rather than spent time
Kanban and Scrum book - now in french!
Me and Henrik's book have now been translated to french.
Through the admirable effort of Claude Aubry, Frédéric Faure, Antoine Vernois and Fabrice Aimetti, you can read it here:
http://henrik-kniberg.developpez.com/mattias-skarin/livre/scrum-kanban/
Through the admirable effort of Claude Aubry, Frédéric Faure, Antoine Vernois and Fabrice Aimetti, you can read it here:
http://henrik-kniberg.developpez.com/mattias-skarin/livre/scrum-kanban/
Converting a Scrum team to Kanban
A case study
How do you go about converting a development team from Scrum to Kanban? Can we benefit from incremental improvements in projects under high pressure?
Here is a case study of a team who transformed from Scrum to Kanban and managed to save a derailing project. I hope it can inspire others to experiment and improve.
Some of the things I learned:
Anyway, here's the link:
Converting a Scrum team to Kanban
Here is a case study of a team who transformed from Scrum to Kanban and managed to save a derailing project. I hope it can inspire others to experiment and improve.
Some of the things I learned:
- Incremental improvement works, even under high pressure
- Key problems are typically cross functional. The better you are in building a cross functional momentum - the faster you'll overcome them
- Kanban works as a tool for incremental improvement
- Quality over speed - always more important than the tool
Anyway, here's the link:
Converting a Scrum team to Kanban
Upcoming Crisp events
Things that might be of interest
May 31-June 1: Kanban Training with David Anderson
David Anderson was the original pioneer of Kanban in software development. Learn how to use introduce Kanban, design a working Kanban system and improve flow. This is probably be the last chance this year to get this 2 day intro course right from the source. Future events with David will probably have a different focus.
May 12: Deep Lean - a leadership perspective with Mary Poppendieck and Jeff Sutherland We know that leaders are busy people. We also know that the leadership role is critical when implementing Lean software development. We have therefore invited world-renowned experts on the topic and created this one-day workshop.
May 27: Scrum of Scrums - in practice
A breakfast seminar on Scrum of Scrums applied in practice. Jani Vesterinen (PAF) will join and discuss how they use SoS as a tool to tie together 10 teams over 4 locations.
Upcoming conferences I'll be at
Either speaking, chatting or experimenting
Here are a couple of events where you can chat, listen or just have a laugh with me :)
I will also do Kanban Applied course in Århus, Denmark May19 in cooperation with Trifork
- "Converting a Scrum team to Kanban" - Lean SSC, Atlanta, April 21-23
- "Mind over matter" - Agile Estonia, May 15
- "Experimenting with Kanban principles" - NDC, Oslo, June 16-18
- "Kanban in Operations" - USI 2010, Paris, July 1-2
I will also do Kanban Applied course in Århus, Denmark May19 in cooperation with Trifork
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A professional mindset
Is this years final series in the Swedish hockey league, there is one team that standing out from the crowd. They are more stable, persistent and thorough in every part of their game than the other teams.
Today I stumbled over this comment from one of the players. It highlights a mindset I have seen in both software and sports team that basically felt unstoppable.
"If I am going to think about this victory on the way home? No. I am only going to think about the details that is going to make us better in the next game"
- Jimmie Ölvestad
Today I stumbled over this comment from one of the players. It highlights a mindset I have seen in both software and sports team that basically felt unstoppable.
"If I am going to think about this victory on the way home? No. I am only going to think about the details that is going to make us better in the next game"
- Jimmie Ölvestad
The invasion of Lego robots
Kanban vs Lego 0 - 1
As a part of this weeks Kanban Applied course, the teams had to solve problems using Lego robots.
It was good fun. So fun teams almost forgot about Kanban :)
Programming the bot:
It was good fun. So fun teams almost forgot about Kanban :)
Programming the bot:
Video from Introducing Kanban in operations
Devopsdays'09
Pair program your roadmap
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Doing a road map can be a tricky thing. There are plenty of constraints and dependencies to consider:
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I find that pair programming is by far the fastest way of traversing the decision tree. Basically, if you are a Product Owner, construct the road map together with another person. Lay out the plan that best meets the constraints and business goals and let the other question the options. (Of course, don't forget to switch).
Altogether, it helps you check the different options and prepare arguments. You will be better prepared when meeting the stakeholders. For when you do, there is always something uncertain waiting for you.
The book is out!
Kanban and Scrum - making the most of both
| My and Henrik's book on is out. Get a downloadable version, or buy the full copy at InfoQ. The book includes:
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For further reading about the case study, see my presentation at Devopsday's 2009.
Manage the normal - treat exception as exceptional
Current favourite quote
Ever had this thrown at you?
"This production bug is unacceptable, it must never happen again!"
And that event, outside your systems control, formed a policy that affected all your every day life. Failure to distinguish between uncertainty under our control and uncertainty imposed by outside events is a bad management habit.
Instead;
"Manage the normal - treat exception as exceptional"
And have a happier life :)
"This production bug is unacceptable, it must never happen again!"
And that event, outside your systems control, formed a policy that affected all your every day life. Failure to distinguish between uncertainty under our control and uncertainty imposed by outside events is a bad management habit.
Instead;
"Manage the normal - treat exception as exceptional"
And have a happier life :)
Personal Kanban
A helpful way of getting things done
Feeling busy? Not ready when the deadline approaches? Many things in action?
Maybe you should consider a personal kanban. Now, I will admit the first to admit I heard about the concept I thought "but isn't slight over administration? What about just saying no?" But not all events are under our own control and as this story will tell; I'm now convinced it actually works.
The personal kanban can help address three problems:
Maybe you should consider a personal kanban. Now, I will admit the first to admit I heard about the concept I thought "but isn't slight over administration? What about just saying no?" But not all events are under our own control and as this story will tell; I'm now convinced it actually works.
The personal kanban can help address three problems:
- "Constant reprioritization"
- "I need to be able to focus"
- "I want to feel the reward of completing work"
West vs. Japan
How we think about improvements
Why do we level out? In many agile teams I have met the introduction of Agile methods have made the teams to take a big leap. But then, after a while, they level out. Why so?
Speaker at Lean Conference, Atlanta 2010
It will be about Kanban :)
I will present at the Lean Software & Systems Conference, April 21-13 in Atlanta. Looks like a promising event, with speakers like Don Reinertsen and David Anderson.
Ps: There are some new exciting events in Stockholm this spring coming up with David Anderson, stay tuned.