Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Agile project management using kanban & to c
1. “The only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.”
Mark Twain
Charan “CA” Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
November - 2011
2. Evolutionary adoption of agile principles
in traditional organizations
◦ First introduce Kanban and get better at
focusing
Increase velocity of project delivery
◦ Then adopt Critical Chain for project and
scale it to program and portfolio
management
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
6. WC1 WC2 WC3 WC4
Identify the system constraint
Exploit the constraint
Subordinate everything else to the constraint
Focus improvement efforts on the constraint
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada WC = Work Center
2011
7. Neither good nor bad - it
just is
Manage them or they will
control your process
Bottlenecks travel
◦ No synchronous pull
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
9. Longest chain of dependent
steps, longest in time; slack = 0
Is the project constraint ; dictates
project throughput
Project is late if tasks on the
critical path are late
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
14. Aggressive, but possible time
Minimum time
Most likely time
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
Credit: Critical Chain by Eli Goldratt
2011
15. Aggressive, but possible time
Estimate
provided
Median
50%
40%
Safety
Minimum time
Most likely time
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
Credit: Critical Chain by Eli Goldratt
2011
16. Aggressive, but possible time
Estimate
provided
Median
50% Safety added
to every task
40%
Safety
Minimum time
Most likely time
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
Credit: Critical Chain by Eli Goldratt
2011
17. If every task has a 90% likelihood of
finishing on time, will the project finish
on time?
Work expands to fill (and often exceed)
allocated time – Parkinson’s Law
Negotiate aggressively for more time.
Use up safety buffers upfront – scramble
as deadline looms – Student Syndrome
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
19. Measurement Issues
Progress – Lagging indicators
◦ Earned value (compare plan to actual)
◦ Velocity (e.g. Burn down charts)
Does not differentiate between work done on
a critical path and work on other paths
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
20. “ART OF SCREWING EVERYTHING UP AT ONCE”
10 days 10 days 10 days
20 days
20 days
20 days
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
21. Estimates are a range
Safety is added to each task
Waste of safety time
◦ Parkinson’s law
◦ Student syndrome
◦ Multitasking
Task delays propagate throughout the project
Early task finish does not benefit the project
Measurement systems are lagging indicators
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
22. Strip safety estimates from each task
50% confidence level on estimates is good
enough
◦ Remaining 50% is added to project or feeding buffer
Add the following buffers:
◦ Project buffer
◦ Feeding path buffer
◦ Resource buffer
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
28. Leading indicator on project status
Protect project completion date
Reduce scramble towards the end
Increase the probability of completing the
project on time
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
30. Software development is a creative process
◦ Task variability
◦ Solutions are derived dynamically
Scheduling
◦ Large number of interactions
◦ Availability of subject matter experts when needed
◦ Capacity constrained resources
◦ Do not have complete information
◦ Constantly shifting priorities
Trailing indicators around execution
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
31. “Tyranny” of time-boxed iterations
◦ Development items small enough for iterations AND
deliver business value – leading change challenge
◦ Churn within iterations, for example
◦ Cannot co-locate the entire team
◦ Quality suffers as team rushes to meet iteration
deadlines
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
32. Japanese term - means “visual
cards”
Synchronized pull
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
33. Goal is to match throughput to demand
Work “pulled” based on system status
◦ Start new task after completing current task
◦ Team pulling from backlog does not make it a pull
system
Flow/Throughput driven
Encourages single tasking
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
34. Limit work-in-progress
◦ Create Synchronized PULL
◦ Focus on flow
◦ Focus on quality – embed it in
Visualize work
◦ Highlight bottlenecks as they appear
◦ Empower the team
◦ Optimize the whole
Balance throughput to demand
Ensure right work is done at the right time
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
36. Visualize actual work flow
Highlights value times and wait times
Answers to questions:
◦ Does this step add value?
◦ What determines how long this step takes?
◦ Can we do this work faster?
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
39. Enables laser like focus
Helps address bottlenecks to the flow as they
appear
Enables swarming behavior
Have low WIP
limits
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
40. More Rules
Less Rules
Least Flexible
Most Flexible
RUP XP Scrum Kanban
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada Used with Henrik Kniberg's permission
2011
59. Case Study: Kanban at BBC Worldwide
http://leanandkanban.files.wordpress.com/2
010/02/lean-software-management-bbc-
worldwide-case-study.pdf
University of Helsinki, Finland
On the impact of Kanban on Software Project
Work: An Empirical Case Study Investigation
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
61. Critical Chain encourages
protecting project end dates
only (global optimization)
Kanban ensures tasks get
done as fast as possible –
addresses multitasking
Create high performance
teams using the two
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
62. Evolutionary adoption of agile principles
in traditional organizations
◦ First introduce Kanban and get better at
focusing
Increase velocity of project delivery
◦ Then adopt Critical Chain for project and
scale it to program and portfolio
management
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
63. “In times of change, learners inherit the earth,
while the learned are beautifully equipped to
deal with a world that no longer exists!”
Roland Barth
Are you willing to take on
evolutionary change?
Thank You!
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011
http://www.kanbanway.com
64. Dreamer – Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Motto – Deliver faster, deliver often,
deliver quality
Theory of Constraints aficionado
◦ Electronic Engineer, MBA, PMP, Six Sigma
Green Belt
http://www.linkedin.com/in/catreya @kanbanPM
http://www.kanbanway.com
Charan Atreya
ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada
2011