Showing 11 Result(s)

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 …

Three Kanban Reminders

I seem to have had a number of conversations recently which have all had some common themes. The general pattern has been that someone wants to talk about Kanban and let me know how its not working for them in some way. When I enquire further, and dig into the background some more, I’ve found that there are generally 3 things missing …

From Capability to Potential

At Lean Agile Scotland last weekend I was chatting with Gojko Adzic over dinner, and one of the many topics we covered was whether capability was the right word for one of the three impacts I describe as desirable with Kanban Thinking. Earlier this year I described what I meant by capability, but more recently I’ve realised capability is more …

Portfolio Kanban

I recently wrote an article for GOTO Magazine which has just been published its latest issue. Open publication – Free publishing – More .net Given that it is embedded within the magazine, I thought I’d reproduce it here. Steering the Agile Enterprise with Kanban Thinking Introduction Large scale, enterprise organisations consist of many initiatives, programs, projects and development teams. While …

The Value Impact

The impact of value is difficult to quantify, and putting a currency number is not as simple as it is with cost. The challenge is even greater for organisations which are not selling products, such as governments or charities. However, there are a number of approaches which can be used to help understand the value that is being delivered such …

The Kanban Thinking Picture

I’ve recently settled on a visual representation of Kanban Thinking which has been working well. The structure took shape when I realised that Flow, Value and Capability were system impacts. Those are the arrows coming out of the right hand side of the central System. The arrows going into the left hand side are the levers we have to influence …

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 …

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

Thoughts on Kanban Thinking

Some thoughts on what I have been referring to as Kanban Thinking Why create an other brand? I’m in the camp that believes we need to create more brands, rather than reduce everything down to “common sense” or “good practice”. To paraphrase Alistair Cockburn, every successful team should create its own branded processes to describe the context and the solution. …