cross-department kanban systems - 3 dimensions of scaling #llkd15
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Cross-Department Kanban SystemsTheory and Practice
The Clearvision Journey through3 Dimensions of Scaling Kanban
Andy Carmichael (@andycarmich)and Simon Wood (@clearlySWood)
Clearvision-CM.comSpectrumALM.com
Cross-Department Kanban SystemsThe Three Dimensions of Scaling
Abstract
The starting point for most kanban systems and their development is a focus on improving the flow of work. Bottlenecks, excessive work in progress, work which does not add value and a lack of clarity concerning the quality criteria at different stages are all problems that can be identified early on in the adoption of Kanban, and a continuous focus on improvement means there is no single optimum in view - we can always improve. Sooner or later, though, teams realise that flow does not just depend on their work, but also the work of other teams and departments. Managing the dependencies between groups can, in some organisations, become a bureaucratic nightmare involving multiple “scrums of scrums” or “dependency matrix reviews”, and in some case this can threaten the gains made through other process improvements.
This presentation provides experience reports from two departments in Clearvision - a product development team and a marketing team - adopting Kanban and discusses specific experiences of cross-team dependencies in this simple system. It looks at typical blockers that appear between the two kanban boards, and how managing these is key to avoiding a lack of alignment between the teams. The presentation also examines the theory behind the three key mechanisms of scaling Kanban: by extending scope; by the self-similarity of kanban systems at different scales; and by “not scaling”, i.e. by connecting multiple kanban systems in a service-oriented structure. From this we look towards the more general case of multiple interacting kanban systems, drawing lessons from our simple system to suggest strategies for analysing and optimising their performance.
Monday 20th April, 2015; 2:00pm to 2:45pm
Clearvision’s Journey Into KanbanWhat is Kanban?
3 Dimensions of Scaling
Andy CarmichaelAgile Management Specialist
The Clearvision Journey
The Dev team’s first retrospective• Too much WIP!
– Wasteful switching and interruptions
– Poor lead time and poor throughput
– Unbalanced demand/capacity
1 2How can we use Kanban to improve (and scale)?
A visual sign or signal
Used in kanban systems to limit work in progress (WIP)
Prevents over- or under-production
Aligns with the Kanban Method’s core practice: “Visualise”
What is a kanban?
The System
What is a kanban system?
Capacity
Demand
A flow system for work items using (physical or virtual) “kanbans” - visual signals to balance production
1. Capacity balanced with demand
2. Flow efficiency balanced with resource efficiency
3. Stations/services/teams balanced with each other
A framework for process improvement
1. See work as FLOW (Kanban Lens)
2. Start from here(roles, responsibilities, process)
3. Make work and policies visible(e.g. board, WIP limits)
Make validated changes(e.g. change WIP limits or DoD)
What is the Kanban Method?
...and applicable to all types knowledge-work
Viewpoint
Principles
Practices
, like Marketing
3 Dimensions of Scaling Kanban
Width: expand the scope (before / after)
Portfolio
Product
Service
Personal
WEEKS/DAYS
DAYS/HOURS
MONTHS/WEEKS
YEARS/QUARTERS
Height: related work items with different sizes,timescales and levels of decision-making (scale-free Kanban)
Depth: management of interdependent servicesat the same level
Products - GoalsStrategic Direction
Features - ValueProduct Management
Stories - DeliveryDay to day Leadership
Tasks - FocusIndividual Professionalism
About Me
• Background in FMCG*• Director Level Management • Business Growth specialist• Sales & Marketing expertise
• No background in Software Development
* FMCG = Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Marketing Challenges?
• Time management. • Priority management.• Unclear ownership.• Reactive, not proactive.• Difficult to complete complex projects.• Project waterfalling (water-failing).
Kaban, Who the heck is Kanban?
• This is something I need to learn!– Attended the conferences– Memorised the acronyms– Watched the videos– Researched Online– Read the books
• I started thinking and applying...
Kanban for Marketing
• Simple at first • Daily Stand-up• Benefits:
– Visability– Task ownership– Things were getting completed!
But...
Our Work Flow is More Complicated!
• The workflow is defined• Tasks get blocked, reviewed, TESTED• Filter options added• The kanban system evolves...
Our kanban system for Marketing Positives
• Tasks Completed Faster
• Ownership of jobs
• Reduced task-hopping
• More transparent workloads
• Visibility of reviews and
“tests”
• Easier to work between
departments
• Visibility of business
imperatives
• Confusion over priorities
• Overloaded backlog
• Lack of large project vision
• “Easy” tasks being selected
• Project stagnation
• Vague completion times
Negatives
What’s the next step?
• Starting from Scrum-like (To Do, Doing, Done)
• Making work (and policies) visible
• Extending to the left:
–How are requirements selected and prepared?
•Extending to the right:
–How do we accept finished work and deliver it?
•What other services are needed? (Support, Operations, Marketing)
Visible work and policies - improve!
Expanding width-wise
• Where/who does the demand come from?• What happens before To Do/Ready?
• Where/who does finished work go to?• What happens after Done?
• Does this involve another department/service?– e.g. Product Management / Business Analysis /Requirements– e.g. Ops (moving towards DevOps), Hosting– e.g. Marketing, Customer Feedback
Doing
wmww
wmww
wmww
Done
wmww
wmww
To Do
wmww
Ready
wmww
Preparing
wmww
wmww
wmww
Selected
wmww
wmww
Pool of idea
wmww
wmww
wmww
UAT
wmww
Released
wmww
wmww
wmww
Deployed
wmww
Customer
wmww
wmww
Epics, “Squads” and Stories• Epics = Feature / MMF• FDD-like (Owners, Squads)• Decision-making
– Steering Group: selecting for prep; selecting for dev; release now/later
• Guilds - supporting specialisation• Stories - allowing forecasting
based on flow metrics (around 40 per month)
• Epics - (around 2 per month 2014; 4/mo target 2015)
• Automation of the CD pipeline to release Epic by Epic
Photo: Jamie Arnold, https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2012/10/26/what-weve-learnt-about-scaling-agile/
Expanding height-wise*
Portfolio Strategic decision-making to
balance investment across
products/goals
Quarters /
Years
Direction
Product Product management decisions
prioritising features (Epics)
Weeks /
Months
Management
Service Day-to-day planning and
implementation of stories
Days /
Weeks
Leadership
Personal Individual professional discipline
in managing own/squad tasks
Hours /
Days
Professionalism
* Exploiting the scale-free nature of Kanban
Good kanban systems
support good decision-
making
deciding where
the value is
decidingon timely
delivery of value
deciding on focus
/ professionalism
deciding what will
fulfill strategy
Expanding across Clearvision
Maturing in its ability to apply Kanban as the company grows
Spectrum
Product DevMarketing
ACP
Programme
Operations /
Hosting
Professional
Services Projects
Expanding depth-wise
• Yes, going “deeper” understanding / maturity… and:
• “Scaling by not scaling” - service orientation• Connecting the services (concurrent working)• Balancing the services
(Operations Review, Bucket Brigade) Source: Positive Incline,
Mike Burrows
changeinfo
Stand-up
Delivery
Planning
Risk
Review
Replenish-
ment
Strategy
Review
Operations
Review
Service
Delivery
Review
change
info change infochange
info
changeinfo
change
info
changeinfo
info change
Kanban ESP Cadences and Feedback
Operations
Review
Quarterly
Directors/Management
Daily per
Service/Dept
Monthly Spectrum
Review
Monthly Spectrum
Review
Monthly Product
Steering Group
Monthly Management
Meeting
Monthly Management
Meeting
Source: Kanban ESP,
David J Anderson @djaa_dja
Marketing’s Kanban EvolutionHeight in Operation
1. large but with a clearly defined end (or review) point
2. collaborative approach best (Skills to Tasks)
3. Size and Scope Vary. But owned by one person
4. Aims, SMART objectives, targets and time-frames.
Marketing’s Kanban EvolutionHeight in Operation
Problem Was Business Priority. So, what did we add? Project (Epic) level Kanban.
Aim- To coordinate the delivery of value, to ensure the most important business priorities are chosen and to avoid task procrastination
Marketing’s Kanban (Who has the time?)Fitting it together
1. Overhead Activities
2. Core Responsibilities (KPI’s)
3. Blueprint Blueprint/Personal Time
4. Default Tasks.
5. Other Tasks , or Cross Departmental Tasks
Marketing’s Kanban EvolutionCross Departmental ‘Width’ in Operation
Work Passed
Between
Departmental
Kanban Boards
Conclusion
Width He
igh
t
• Genuine multi-level, cross departmental end-to-end Kanban(s) offering value at the point of delivery.
• Time and cost saving delivered at every level of Clearvision.
• Still a long way to go to refine the process.• Work flow evolves in line with quarterly
reviews, management meetings, departmental reviews and daily stand-ups.
• With continuous improvement you never reach perfection.
Width He
igh
t
Any Questions?• Non-software departments applying
Kanban?• Cross service/department Kanban to
support better decision-making?• Scaling?
– Width-wise: consider work item lifecycle before and after
– Height-wise: size, timescale, decisions … at the right level
– Depth-wise: balancing resources between services to optimise the whole
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