Karl Scotland – Using Agile to Deliver Value
Archive for June, 2011
The LeanSSC European Conference Series 2011
Jun 20th
This year the LeanSSC are running a series of conferences which have been created to give local audiences more convenient access to similar and related content without the need to travel extensively. While each event will have its own unique flavour and presenters, the similarity in timing allows for some overlap, and we are encouraging people to choose the event most convenient for them. The LeanSSC is not differentiating between the events in priority or preference and does not view one as superior to another.
Here are the details of the conferences. If you are in Europe, or fancy a trip, please consider submitting or registering. I hope to see you there.
Lean & Kanban 2011 Benelux
- October 03 – October 04, Antwerp, Belgium
- http://lkbe11.leanssc.org
Call for Papers
- Closed
Speakers
- Including Don Reinersten, David Anderson, Alan Shalloway, John Seddon, Dave Snowden, Michael Kennedy
Registration
Prices exclusive of VAT
- 2 Day Conference Pass: 700 Eur until Aug 15 (then 800 Eur)
- 2 Day Conference Pass + Dinner: 750 Eur until Aug 15 (then 850 Eur)
- 2 Day Conference Pass + Dinner + Hotel (3 nights): 1150 Eur (then 1250 Eur)
Lean & Kanban 2011 Central Europe
- October 17 – October 18, Munich, Germany
- http://lkce11.leanssc.org
Call for Papers
- Currently open. Closes June 28th.
Speakers
- Including David Anderson, Kent Beck, Jim Benson, David Joyce and John Seddon
Registration
Prices exclusive of VAT
Individuals:
- One day, Regular 520 EUR until Aug 17 (then 580 EUR)
- Both days, Regular 985 EUR until Aug 17 (then 1095 EUR)
Two or more colleagues from the same company:
- One day, Regular 465 EUR until Aug 17 (then 520 EUR)
- Both days, Regular 885 EUR until Aug 17 (then 985 EUR)
LESS2011
- October 30 – November 02, Stockholm, Sweden
- http://less2011.leanssc.org/
Call for Papers
- Currently open. Closes July 18th.
Tracks
- Lean & Agile Product Development, Complexity & Systems Thinking, Beyond Budgeting, Transforming Organisations
Keynotes
- Peter Middleton, Jim Sutton, Steve Denning, Bjarte Bogsnes
Tutorials
- Alan Shalloway, Jean Tabaka, Benjamin Mitchell
Registration
Prices exclusive of VAT
- Early registration EUR 595 until July 31
- Regular registration EUR 695 until October 29
- On-site registration EUR 795
Kanban and Tragedy of the Commons
Jun 11th
After Limits to Success and Shifting the Burden, we now come to Tragedy of the Commons.
I live in the seaside town of Brighton in the UK. On the rare weekends when we have hot weather it is popular to go down to the beach. Everyone gets in their cars and drives into Brighton expecting a quiet, relaxing day on the coast. What they actually get is a noisy, crowded area full of lots of other people who have had the same idea. This is an example of the “Tragedy of the Commons” archetype. The beach (and the roads to it), are the commons – a shared resource. Individually, each person expects to gain some pleasure from the beach. However, when too many people visit, nobody gets any pleasure from the beach, because it has limited capacity and quickly becomes over-crowded.
Individually, A and B’s activity give themselves separate net gains so that they each benefit through a reinforcing loop. However, their activities combine to create a total activity which, after some delay, eventually consumes a common resource beyond its limit. At that point, A and B’s activity begins to reduce those separate net gains through a balancing loop.
The “Tragedy of the Commons” archetype often manifests itself through “Shared Services”, when a small number of people with specific skills, work across different teams. Each team in isolation gets benefit from the Shared Service, but when demand for the service exceeds its capacity, then nobody benefits. At a smaller scale, a team with a low “bus factor”, or a hero, can also suffer from a tragedy of the commons, when too much work is dependent on a single person.
Often, a Tragedy of the Commons occurs as a result of Shifting the Burden to the commons. By setting up the system to deal with the Shifting of the Burden, the likelihood of the Tragedy of the Commons can be reduced.
Similarly, the commons becoming overloaded is a specific case of Limits to Success, and setting explicit limits for the commons will avoid this. Further, creating a buffer before the commons will ensure that there is always work when the capacity is available. In Theory of Constraints terms, this is exploiting the constraint.
A kanban system also helps with a Tragedy of the Commons by helping visualize the total activity, so that everyone is aware of the demand on the limited resource. Further, each party can limit their own activity to avoid the total activity becoming too great. Swim-lanes are one approach to visualising this.
Finally, Classes of Service can then ensure that the limited resource is being used effectively for the most appropriate work. Swim-lanes, or colour-coding, can create clarity of which work is more important, based on its Cost of Delay. This clarity can also help keep an appropriate balance of different types of work in order to manage the risk of the commons unnecessarily delaying urgent work.
What other examples of Tragedy of the Commons have you experienced, and what other techniques have you used to visualise them?
Kanban and Shifting the Burden
Jun 8th
Following on from a look at the Limits to Success system archetype, lets now look at the Shifting the Burden archetype.
I like my coffee in the morning. In fact I usually need a good cup of coffee before I start to feel human. Some days I like a coffee to start the afternoon as well, and occasionally I’ll have a few more in-between to keep me going. This is an example of ‘Shifting the Burden’ archetype. I feel low, so drink coffee to pick me up. However this is just a short term fix and I eventually need more caffeine to maintain my energy. The real problem is why I have low energy; late nights, a poor diet and little exercise. Rather than getting more sleep, eating a healthier diet, and exercising, I am shifting the burden to the caffeine. If I were to shift the burden to a stronger (and less legal) drug, then it is likely that my need for the drug itself would become the problem, rather than my lack of energy. At this point, the archetype has moved from Shifting the Burden to Addiction.
Shifting The Burden begins with a Problem Symptom. The quick or easy answer to this problem is the Symptomatic Solution which creates a balancing loop. However, there is also another answer – the Fundamental Solution – which can create an alternative balancing loop. The Symptomatic Solution only eases the symptom though, and doesn’t resolve the underlying problem, so the symptom consistently returns. The Fundamental Solution does address the root cause, but has a delay though, which means that it is more of a long term answer than a quick fix. The more the Symptomatic Solution is applied, the more a Side Effect takes place, which over time with delays reinforces the need for the Fundamental Solution, while at the same time making it less feasible. When the Side Effect becomes more of a problem than the initial Problem Symptom, is when the Shifting the Burden archetype becomes one of Addiction.
![clip_image002[4]](http://availagility.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clip_image0024.jpg "clip_image002[4]")
Recognizing the archetype leads us to examine our solutions to problems and to question whether they are Symptomatic or Fundamental. When problems re-occur over time, then using Root Cause Analysis techniques may lead to finding alternative Fundamental Solutions. Continually depending on technical specialists or coaches may be a Symptomatic Solution, whereas investing in training on knowledge sharing may be a better Fundamental Solution. As the well-known Chines proverb says, “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”
A Kanban System can help cope with Shifting the Burden, once a problem symptom has been identified, in the following ways:
- Signalling occurrences of the identified problem symptoms so that they are transparent and appropriate focus can be made on the fundamental rather than symptomatic solution. A brightly coloured tag or shape can achieve this.
- Visualizing what problems symptoms are being addressed by various symptomatic or fundamental solutions. The Concern, Containment, Countermeasure pattern can be useful here where problem symptom is defined and stated as a Concern. The Containment action is the symptomatic solution taken to resolve the problem quickly. Then, after root cause analysis, the Countermeasure action is the fundamental solution to prevent repeated recurrence. (Thanks to Jason Yip for pointing me to this pattern)
- Allocating capacity and limiting work in process for work related to fundamental solutions using a dedicated swim-lane and WIP limits. This treats the improvement efforts as first class work types, with equal visibility to the rest of the work.
What other examples of Shifting the Burden have you experienced, and what other techniques have you used to visualise them?
