Karl Scotland – Using Agile to Deliver Value
Archive for June, 2010
Aspects of Kanban in Methods and Tools
Jun 20th
I wrote an article on “Aspects of Kanban” which has just been published in the Summer 2010 issue of Methods and Tools magazine. Download it, have read, and let me know what you think!
Alternatively, there is now an html version available.
Kanban and Scrum – Intention and Implementation
Jun 17th
In my last post I introduced the idea of a PVC System – one which exemplifies Pull, Value and Capability – and closed by posing the question as to whether Scrum could be considered to be a PVC System. In answering that question myself, I realised that there is another distinction which I will describe in this post. In doing so, I am also re-entering the great Kanban and Scrum debate, with the goal of learning rather than fighting!
The XP Community popularised the concept of programming by intent; writing code which describes what it is doing rather than how it is doing it (programming by implementation). I believe the same distinction can be used to describe methods, and can help differentiate Kanban and Scrum. Kanban is an intention-revealing method. The intention is to reveal the workflow, visualise the work, limit work in progress, establish a cadence and continuously improve. How to do that is up to the team. They can use any workflow, visualisation, WIP limits, cadence or improvement mechanisms. Scrum on the other hand is an implementation-revealing method. The implementation is described in terms of the Sprint and the associated roles, meetings and artefacts. Even if the implementation is described in abstract terms, as Tobias Mayer does, (and Tobias’s interpretation of Scrum is one I respect greatly) I still consider it to be focussed on implementation.
This is not to say one is better than the other. An implementation is ultimately required, and Scrum has proven to be a very good one with which I have had considerable success. But is Scrum a PVC System? I think it can be, if implemented with an intention-revealing mindset. If the Sprint, roles, meetings and artefacts are implemented in way which reveals the workflow, visualises the work, limits work in progress, establishes a cadence and continuously improves, then it will be implemented with the right intent. I expect that most cases of “Good Scrum” will fall into this category. On the other hand, if the Scrum Sprint, roles, meetings and artefacts are implemented in a mechanical way, then I suspect that the workflow will remain hidden, the work will not be visualised, work in process will not be limited, a cadence will not be established, and continuous improvement will not happen. This is when we get cases of “Bad Scrum”. Thus ScrumBut is not when the Scrum practices aren’t followed per-se, but when they are followed with the wrong (or no) intent.
So Kanban and Scrum are like apples and oranges (to jump to an different analogy). Both are good for you, and both can go together – with other fruit – to create a tasty fruit salad. But they are different. Kanban is intention-based and Scrum is implementation-based.
From KFC Development to PVC Systems
Jun 14th
I’ve been revisiting my earlier KFC Development work in light of my more recent focus on five primary practices. This is an brief overview of what’s changed, and what my mental model looks like now.
Firstly, I’ve stopped referring to the practices as such, in favour of calling them aspects. Practices always felt slightly wrong, but at the time I couldn’t think of a better way of describing what I wanted to be practical, rather than theoretical points. I think aspects still allows that practical focus, without giving the impression of being a prescriptive process. So the aspects are:
- workflow
- visualisation
- work in process
- cadence
- continuous improvement
How does the KFC triad fit into that then. Here’s my thought process, which focusses more on conceptual ideas.
- Kanban. In this context, Kanban is the tool. As I have become more interested in Systems Thinking, I have become less focussed on the tool. What is more important is the concept behind the tool. Kanban is a great way to create a pull system, but there are others; drum-buffer-rope and CONWIP are a couple. Kanban seems to be the one that’s easiest to explain, and the one that caught people’s imagination, but really its about Pull.
- Flow. Given the first concept is Pull, and we should flow where we can and pull where we must, then I think Flow comes under the concept of Pull. What I tended to find myself talking about with Flow, however, was what should flow. There’s not point having a pull system where work flows smoothly if the work is useless, so the second concept is really about Value.
- Cadence. Having identified Cadence as a Aspect, it can’t really be a concept as well. I talk about Cadence as a means of achieving predictability and reliability and of demonstrating capability. Cadence is just one way of doing this however, so the third concept is really about Capability.
So instead of KFC Development, I have moved to thinking of a Kanban System as a PVC System – one which exemplifies Pull, Value and Capability, and that can be described in terms of workflow, visualisation, work in process, cadence and continuous improvement. I quite like the ‘plasticity’ metaphor that springs to mind with this new triad; “the capability of being moulded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form”. Its probably not very environmentally friendly though!
For me this also leads to the question of whether a process (such as, for example, Scrum) is a PVC System. That’s the subject of another blog post though!
CfP: LESS2010 – International Conference on Lean Enterprise Software and Systems
Jun 14th
This is a belated announcement about LESS2010, whose Call for Papers for LESS2010 closes tomorrow – June 15th.
LESS2010 is the International Conference on Lean Enterprise Software and Systems, in collaboration with the Lean Software and Systems Consortium (LeanSSC), to be held October 17-20, Helsinki, Finland. CfP details can be found at http://less2010.leanssc.org/call_for_papers/ with submission details at http://less2010.leanssc.org/submit/.
Note that we have clarified the submission requirements. The instructions should be used as a guide. However, content is more important than style initially, so submit whatever is best to give us a good idea of your proposal. Any accepted submissions will need to eventually be expanded and conform to Springer’s LNBIP format for publication.
