spilling the beans on the importance of flow

Spilling the beans on the importance of flow

Tyson Nutt Element Digital

@tysonnutt

Imagine…

Click icon to add picture

Feeling the flow..

Visualise Flow

Measure Flow

Improve Flow

Flow in Nature

Flow in traffic

Ticket machines at train station

Queues of people

Ordering a coffee

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Restaurant Kitchen

Flow of work through software teams

“”

When we start to look for it, flow is everywhere

My morning coffee

#caffeine

It works a ‘similar’ way in our teams

I think we need to build a

widget that does <this>

Sure. Lets capture that in a couple of user stories, and get them ready for the take into our next planning session

Lets build them and make sure they work.

Wow. That’s awesome. I bet our customers are gonna love it..

Dose beans, tamp, extract

50s

Fill jug, steam milkpour milk

serve60s

idle40s

Waiting to order2mins 40

Lid waiting for barista 90s

The Value Stream

Order20s

Dose beans, tamp, extract

50s

Fill jug, steam milkpour milk

serve60s

idle40s

Waiting to order2mins 40

Lid waiting for barista 90s

7mins

Cycle Time

Lead Time

2mins 30

Lead time and Cycle time

Order20s

Cycle Time

Lead Time

Impact of pressure

Spill!

No

Beans!Oh Fred! You don’t do it that way

Impact of impediments

Cycle Time

Lead Time

The flow of work in our teams

I think we need to build

a widget that does <this>

Sure. Lets capture that in a couple of user stories, and get them ready for the take into our next planning session

Lets build them and make sure they work.

Wow. That’s awesome. I bet our customers are gonna love it..

Cycle Time

Lead Time

BlipTrack enables more efficient operations by providing both real-time and historical detailed information on passenger travel times, wait times and flow.

http://www.blipsystems.com/airport-queue-measurement-module/

Cumulative Flow Diagrams Cumulative Flow Diagrams show

the progress of work towards a goal (eg release)

By understanding the flow of work, they give us insights into what’s happening within a team.

Release

How does it work?A snapshot of

a normal team board

Backlog49pts

Defined

13pts

In Prog26pts

In testing0pts

DONE20pts B

acklo

g4

9p

tsD

efin

ed

13

pts

In P

rog

26

pts

DO

NE

20

pts

CFD: Daily snapshots of the board over time

What insights can it tell us?

Rem

ain

ing

work

Backlog changes

Lead time

Pro

gre

ss t

rends

Visibility of backlog issues and changes

Amount of work still to be done

Lead time (the time from requesting a piece of work to getting it DONE)

Are we gonna make it? Team progress towards a goal

What insights can it tell us?

WIP

Amount of work in progress

Cycle Time(the time from starting a piece of work to getting it DONE)

Blockers & bottlenecks

Cycle time

Blockers

Visualise the impact of changes within a team

A CFD can teach us a lot about what’s going on in a team

WIP

Cycle time

Rem

ain

ing

work

Backlog changes

Lead time

Pro

gre

ss t

rends

Blockers

- Work moving to DONE early, and consistently.- No major flat spots / blockages- Limiting WIP (coloured bars are close together)- Backlog is reasonably stable throughout the release

Healthy Flow(reasonably)

- Work not moved to DONE until very late- Flat spots showing that work isn’t moving- Variable / unrealistic backlogs - Large amounts of WIP – coloured bars widening

Unhealthy Flow

Bottlenecks and constraints within flowhttps://hohmannchris.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/bottleneck-explained-with-water-pipes/

Feeling the flow..

Visualise Flow

Measure Flow

Improve Flow

Feeling the flow..

Visualise the Flow• How many steps in your

value stream?

• How much is adding value?

• Do you have queues and delays? For how long?

• Does work flow smoothly?

• Where is our work stacking up?

Measure the Flow• Do you know your lead

time and cycle time?

• What slows us down?

• What impact is it having?

• What can we do about it?

• What help do we need

• What happens when we’re under pressure?

Improve the Flow• Shorten feedback loops

• Discuss flow with your team

• Identify waste and actively look for opportunities to remove/reduce it.

• Look for opportunities for cross skilling

• Have the right conversations

• Within the team

• As a way of communicating out

Our job is to get more DONE, not get more into DOING

Optimising flow is all about doing more with less:

“”

Spilling the Beans on the importance of Flow

Questions, comments, opinions?

Tyson Nutt Element Digital@tysonnutt

Visualise Flow

Measure Flow

Improve Flow