I won’t be at #LKSE12, and…

I posted last week about the fact that I’ll be at the Lean Software & Systems Conference (LSSC12) in Boston soon. Well, there’s another smaller but similar conference coming up, which unfortunately I can’t be at. Why only blog about conferences I’m going to? This is one I would be at if I could, so here are the details. Lean …

I’ll be at the Boston Lean Party #LSSC12

I’ve just been putting together my personal program for LSSC12. This is the main US Conference put together by the Lean Software and Systems Consortium, which will be in Boston from May 13-18. Its definitely my favourite conference of the year and always gives me new insights and new ideas by bringing together a really diverse set of people from …

Linking Flow, Value and Capability

I wrote recently that I have come to think about Flow, Value and Capability as the primary impacts I hope a Kanban System will have. Flow, Value and Capability are not independent entities, however, with Capability being the link between Flow and Value. We can think of Flow as “doing the thing right”, where good flow is the result of …

What is Capability?

I recently gave talk at the London Scrum User Group (LSUG) describing Kanban Thinking and had a very interesting conversation about what I mean by the impact on capability. I realised I needed to think it through in a bit more detail, and this is an attempt to articulate it better. Defining Capability In his book Rethink: A Business Manifesto …

Impact, Outcome and Output

As I alluded to in the previous post, one of the changes in thinking, and in particular language, for me recently is the idea of impact. Specifically that impact is different from outcome which is itself different from output. I’ve differentiated outcome from output for some time, as have others, but I believe impact is a further step in understanding …

Three Cynefin Ahas

Over the last year I’ve been increasingly influenced by ideas from Cynefin, created by Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge. If you want a good introduction, Liz Keogh recently blogged a good explanation. I’ve realised that there are 3 key changes in my thinking, some completely new, and some reinforced by a better understanding of cognitive complexity. None of these are …

Kanban Thinking on SPaMCAST

I recently gave an interview with Tom Cagley who puts together the Software Process and Measurement Cast, and talked about what I am calling Kanban Thinking. The result has just been published – have a listen and let me know what you think. SPaMCAST 174 – Karl Scotland, Kanban Thinking

The Science of Kanban – Conclusions

This is the final part of a write-up of a talk I gave at a number of conferences last year. The previous post was about the science of economics Scientific Management Revisited Is scientific management still relevant for product development then? As I have already said, I believe it is, with the following clarifications. I am making a distinction between …

The Science of Kanban – Economics

This is the fourth part of a write-up of a talk I gave at a number of conferences last year. The previous post was about the science of process Having a good understanding of how creative people can have an efficient process still isn’t enough however. As Russell Ackoff is often quoted as saying, “It’s better to do the right …

The Science of Kanban – Process

This is the third part of a write-up of a talk I gave at a number of conferences last year. The previous post was about the science of people. Even though a kanban system describes knowledge work, we can still apply formal sciences such as mathematics. Rather than applying them at a detailed, micro level, we can take a system …