Cheat SheetKanban

Work-item - An item of value moving through the stream, such as a character, feature or level.

Work state - A state, or phase, of the flow where specific work is done (e.g. model, rig, animate, etc).

Kanban board - A board, similar to a Scrum task board, which has a card for each work-item and a columns for each work state.

WiP - Work-in-Progress, partially finished features waiting for completion and eventual release.

Variation - The difference in the effort required to complete items in a work state (i.e. no level is the same).

Value stream map - a lean technique used to analyze the flow of work and information currently required to bring a feature or asset to a player.

Pull vs push - "Push" means working to schedule in which the production is not based on actual demand. "Pull" means working to order in which the production is based on actual demand. A kanban is a pull system.

Overflow/underflow - The states in which work exceeds a WiP limit (overflow) or empties from a work stage (underflow). Both states will stall a pull system.

Swim-lane - A horizontal row on the task board that represents a special class of work, such as an urgent fix.

Definitions

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Kanban is a framework for managing and improving the flow of work. The word is roughly translated from Japanese to mean “signal card”. Kanban applications often use cards to visualize the flow of work on a “kanban board” to respond quickly to issues which impact work flow. Typically, a kanban is used where a flow of work “pulled” down the line is defined, whereas Scrum is used for complex work where such handoffs are less defined.

Overview

With kanban, the goal of reducing the cost and time to introduce new features and content to a game.Steps to implement a kanban:1. Visualize flow - capture the existing flow of work on a kanban board.2. Limit Work-in-Progress (WiP) to highlight constraints. For example,

limit the number of features in testing. This might highlight a limit in testers or the need to have more test automation or test-in-development work being done.

3. Identify wastes and constraints. The kanban board and daily stand-ups will quickly indicate overflow and underflow conditions that can immediately be addressed.

4. A regular cadence of retrospectives should produce improved practices of leveling production and reducing wastes as well. Apply lean tools (backside).

5. Return to step two. Always explore ways to reduce WiP.

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Implementing Kanban

Partially Done Work/Overproduction/Rework - Large amounts of WiP slows throughput, which reduces responsiveness.Examples• 20 modeled characters in production that haven’t been rigged

yet.• A large number of levels built before the engine budget is

known.• Rebuilding levels, which were created before the graphics

engine polygon budgets were determined (and were significantly less than what was forecast).

Changing Goals - Usually resulting from long lead times, when market or player demands change before a feature is complete.Example: feature and content pipelines that take 3-6 months to deploy a new feature to the app store. In the meantime, a competitor has taken your players.

Handoffs - Documentation and other “low bandwidth” communications result in the wrong thing being made and a loss of accountability for the entire feature development cycle.Example: Concept art delivering storyboards before gameplay is known, designers creating GDDs before the technology limits are established. Engineers creating TDDs based on speculative mechanics.

Feature Switching - Multi-tasking, beyond the minimum amount, results in a loss of focus and delays delivery.Example: Designers working on tuning three or more levels simultaneously rather than finishing each one sooner.

Delays - The cost of work not being quickly addressed. This results in debt, rework and WiP.Example: Not polishing or optimizing assets until the end of development.

Defects - The cost of fixing defects that grows with time (debt). The longer the delay, the more rework and wasted effort.Example: stuffing all known bugs into a bug database for later fixes.

WastesMeasure throughput or cycle time - Measure the amount of time a work-item takes to go through the entire value stream and monitor the impact of improvements.

WiP Limits - Limiting the number of work-items that can exist in one state of development. WiP limits are at the core of lean success. Without WiP limits, improvements are hidden by throughput delay.

Buffer for Variation - Holding buffers between states of work that account for variation time to complete before or after the buffer.

Level Production - Exploit constraints or production limits by reducing the time in the limiting work state. For example, if concept art is taking too long, add some artists, reduce the amount of art delivered or find some other improvements.

Emergency Lanes - Add a swim-lane to the board that embeds a policy of interrupting work for emergencies.

Work Stage Timeboxing - Applying a maximum amount of time for a specific state of work (column on the task board). This can help guide asset cost/quality trade-offs or how granular feature work is divided.

Lean Tools

Example Board