Karl Scotland – Using Agility Strategically
Karl Scotland – Using Agility Strategically
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Systems Thinking The original Agile methods were created by teams independently in response to the challenge of improving software development and their documentation as a named process was a subsequent codification in order to help spread the learning and improvement wider throughout the industry. Either consciously or intuitively, these processes were applications of Systems Thinking, taking a holistic approach to …
I’ve just had an article published on Agile Journal about Kanban System Design in which I look at Kanban from a Systems Thinking perspective, and how various aspects of Kanban can provide leverage points to improve our product development outcomes.
I was invited to the Scrum Gathering in Amsterdam this week to give a Deep Dive on Kanban. My Kanban Exploration slides can be downloaded from slideshare. Inspired by an email discussion with Jean Tabaka and Eric Willeke, to introduce the session, and to try and reinforce the concepts of Flow, Value and Capability, I tried a variation of the …
This post is a high level overview of the model I use when I think about Kanban Systems. As the saying goes, “all models are wrong, some are useful”. This is what I currently find useful based on working with teams and organisations in recent years. At the heart of the model is Systems Thinking. Without looking at what we …
I ran a workshop on “Exploring the Kanban Universe” at Agile2010 with Xavier Quesada Allue. The premise was to setup an example case study and lead participants through visualising different aspects of a project – the different multiverses – over a number of iterations. Below are pictures of the final boards from the different teams. We encouraged people to think …
At Agile2010, as at Agile2009, I went along to help the volunteer bag packing, and use it as an exercise in experimenting with Lean and Kanban ideas. Once again it was a huge success. We completed packing all the bags in (anecdotally) record time, and had great fun in the process. The video above was put together by Luiz Parzianello …
I’ve noticed a pattern that I’ve found myself using recently when I’ve worked with new teams that makes use of both Scrum and Kanban ideas. I’ve already said that I believe the two are complimentary, and this should help show how. I’ll often begin with a “Canonical Scrum” implementation. This gives a relatively simple introduction due to the ubiquitous language, …
I was recently involved in a brief twitter conversation which started when Mike Sutton tweeted: estimation is not about the number that pops out. It is about exploring effort and discovering that you don’t know stuff. Paul Dyson responded: spot on! This is fundamentally what I don’t like about the kanban “if people find estimation hard, don’t make them do …
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.
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 …