The New Six Rules of Kanban For Software Development
The Toyota Production System’s 6 Rules of Kanban are very manufacturing focussed. What might they look like from a software development perspective?
What’s the Difference Between a Scrum Board and a Kanban Board?
During a recent kanban training course, this question came up and my simple answer seemed to be a surprise and an “aha” moment. I tweeted an abbreviated version of the question and answer, and got lots of interesting and valid responses. Few of the responses really addressed the essence of my point, so this post is a more in-depth answer …
Kanban Deployment with the X-Matrix
This is a continuation of my musings on Strategy Deployment, the X-Matrix and Kanban Thinking (including Strategy Deployment as Organisational Improv and How Do I Know If Agile Is Working). I’ve been thinking more about the overlap between Strategy Deployment and Kanban and come to the conclusion that the intersection of the two is what could be called “Kanban Deployment” [1]. Let …
Insights from a Kanban Board
I was working with a team this week, part of which involved reviewing their kanban board and discussing how it was evolving and what they were learning. There was one aspect in particular which generated a number of insights, and is a good example of how visualising work can help make discoveries that you might not otherwise unearth. The board had …
Draft Kanban Canvas User Guide
Overview This is an initial draft for brief guide to how I use the Kanban Canvas, building on the recently posted Prezi. It will eventually be added to the main Kanban Thinking site. Generally, I use the canvas as the core of a two day workshop, during which I use it to facilitate the collaborative co-creation of a kanban system. …
Kanban Thinking: The Canvas
Last week, at SparkConf, I announced a new website for Kanban Thinking, which is where I will add new material in a more structured way (I’ll continue to blog ideas here in an un-structured way!). The primary new piece is what I’m calling a Kanban Canvas – a sheet designed to be printed on A0 paper and used to collaboratively explore …
Announcing The Lego Flow Game
I have just published a page for the Lego Flow Game – a new game that I have co-created with Dr. Sallyann Freudenberg. Its based on an ‘experiment’ I originally ran in 2010 at the SPA conference. Then I used an exercise of matching, solving and checking equations to explore and experience workflow with different types of processes and policies. …
Visual Management – Creating A Kanban Multiverse
This is an article I originally wrote for the Management 3.0 site in 2010. As it is no longer available there, I am republishing it here in its original form other than a few minor edits. At the Lean and Kanban Exchange in London in 2009, I was chatting with David Anderson and David Laribee about the possibilities for Kanban …
Limiting WIP? Or Containing the Work?
I’ve thought for some time now that WIP limits are a special form of explicit policy – one that is called out specifically because it is a core concept behind kanban systems. That has made be uncomfortable with the third Kanban Thinking heuristic; “Limit (with Policies)”. Limits and policies are a means to an end. What is that end (other …
Kanban Values, Impacts and Heuristics
A recent thread discussing the values behind kanban on the kanbandev mailing list inspired a couple of great blog posts by Mike Burrows on “Introducing Kanban Through Its Values” and “Kanban: Values Understanding And Purpose“, which have in turn inspired me make some updates to the Kanban Thinking model. The key points for me in Mike’s second post are these. First, …