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The Board Whisperer

garyfleming
October 04, 2018

The Board Whisperer

At this point in Agile's lifecycle, many teams have switched to using a Kanban Board. Some are simple, three-column trackers; others are considerably more involved. Yet, many teams don't know how to stop for a moment and listen to their board. It's gently trying to nudge them about the changes that it needs to make them a better team. Come along and learn how we can go from simple to just complicated enough, smoothly.

In a new team, we started with a three-column standard to something that fits us perfectly. Our board won't work for you, but by learning how, when, and why we made our changes, you can make a board that works perfectly for your team too. See the patterns and anti-patterns; listen to the change that your board is crying out for; and enjoy the results.

garyfleming

October 04, 2018
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  1. View Slide

  2. “Nothing is less real than realism.
    Details are confusing. It is only by
    selection, by elimination, by emphasis,
    that we get at the real meaning of
    things.”

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  3. The Board Whisperer
    @garyfleming
    http://bit.ly/the-board-whisperer

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  4. The Board Whisperer
    (Roll credits)
    @garyfleming
    http://bit.ly/the-board-whisperer

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  5. The Stand-Up Dysfunction
    @garyfleming

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  6. The Death Spiral of
    Justification
    @garyfleming

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  7. Boards Offer Insight
    @garyfleming

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  8. R U XPRNC'D?

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  9. @garyfleming

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  10. Flow boards
    @garyfleming

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  11. Flow Forwards
    @garyfleming

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  12. "We Had A Conversation"
    @garyfleming

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  13. Meetings Are Not
    Conversations
    @garyfleming

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  14. Based on a True Story
    @garyfleming

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  15. @garyfleming

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  16. @garyfleming

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  17. Three-Column Kanban
    @garyfleming

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  18. Delivering Value
    @garyfleming

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  19. Whole Team Responsibility
    @garyfleming

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  20. Work-in-Progress (WiP) Limits
    @garyfleming

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  21. Work-in-Progress (WiP) Limits
    @garyfleming

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  22. Signals
    @garyfleming

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  23. Signals
    @garyfleming

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  24. Signals
    4 Not positive or negative
    @garyfleming

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  25. Signals
    4 Not positive or negative
    4 Not necessarily loud
    @garyfleming

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  26. Signals
    4 Not positive or negative
    4 Not necessarily loud
    4 Attending to one may help you see way more
    @garyfleming

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  27. Signals
    4 Not positive or negative
    4 Not necessarily loud
    4 Attending to one may help you see way more
    4 Conversations are a MUST!
    @garyfleming

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  28. Physical Boards Are
    Signalling
    @garyfleming

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  29. Digital Boards are
    Analytical
    @garyfleming

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  30. Signal: What's the actual process?
    @garyfleming

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  31. Solution: Conversations and Columns
    @garyfleming

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  32. Signal: TODO
    @garyfleming

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  33. Signal: WiP Breaches
    @garyfleming

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  34. Solution: Active columns
    @garyfleming

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  35. @garyfleming

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  36. Signal: Done, But No Value Yet
    @garyfleming

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  37. Answer: Ready to Celebrate
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    @garyfleming

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  38. Answer: Ready to Celebrate
    @garyfleming

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  39. Signal: Too Much Rework.
    @garyfleming

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  40. Signal: Too Much
    Rework.
    "THAT WASN'T IN THE
    REQUIREMENTS."
    @garyfleming

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  41. Answer: Three Amigos
    @garyfleming

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  42. Answer: Three Amigos
    Ensure the work is wanted, Do the
    work, check the work, ensure the work
    is wanted (again)
    @garyfleming

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  43. Three Amigos: Example
    Mapping
    examplemapping.com
    @garyfleming

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  44. Useful signal: Three Amigos Bottleneck
    @garyfleming

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  45. Useful signal: Three Amigos Bottleneck
    @garyfleming

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  46. Signal: "Unfinished" work moving
    @garyfleming

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  47. Answer: Push Criteria
    4 "All tests must pass"
    4 "Code review must be complete, unless pairing"
    4 "Passing build pipeline to Test environment"
    @garyfleming

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  48. Answer: Pull Criteria
    4 "Ready for Test -> Test: I've had a chat with the
    developer to learn about any issues"
    4 "It's the highest value item in the column"
    @garyfleming

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  49. Shared Ownership through
    Conversations
    @garyfleming

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  50. ... Exit Criteria On the Board
    @garyfleming

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  51. View Slide

  52. Signal Experiment: Log Jam In
    Review
    @garyfleming

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  53. What if... WiP Limits Had
    Been Increased?
    @garyfleming

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  54. "What should the WiP
    limits be for column X?"
    1?
    @garyfleming

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  55. "What should the WiP limits be for
    column X?"
    Affected by:
    4 Slicing of task,
    4 Complexity of task,
    4 The stage of work (Dev vs test etc)
    4 The people doing the work.
    etc.
    @garyfleming

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  56. People != Resources
    @garyfleming

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  57. Well-Oiled Machine
    @garyfleming

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  58. Well-Oiled Machine
    Prelude to a Disaster
    @garyfleming

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  59. Signal: Disaster in Discovery
    @garyfleming

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  60. Solution: Three-Column Kanban
    @garyfleming

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  61. Starting a new Journey
    @garyfleming

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  62. Signal: Done in Discovery?
    @garyfleming

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  63. Solution: Playback
    @garyfleming

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  64. Back to Big
    @garyfleming

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  65. The Stand-Up Dysfunction
    Revisited
    @garyfleming

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  66. The Stand-Up Dysfunction Revisited
    @garyfleming

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  67. The Stand-Up Dysfunction Revisited
    4 A human process.
    @garyfleming

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  68. The Stand-Up Dysfunction Revisited
    4 A human process.
    4 Conversations (right to left).
    @garyfleming

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  69. The Stand-Up Dysfunction Revisited
    4 A human process.
    4 Conversations (right to left).
    4 An accurate enough board.
    @garyfleming

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  70. Just enough. Not perfect.
    @garyfleming

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  71. No Recipes for Evolving But...
    4 Items not flowing,
    4 Columns blocking,
    4 Gaps in the flow,
    4 Odd movement (skipping),
    4 Starvation or abundance,
    4 Clustering,
    And many more...

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  72. Evolve Your Board, Evolve
    Your Team.
    @garyfleming

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  73. The real work is...
    @garyfleming

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  74. The real work is...
    4 Individuals & Interactions
    @garyfleming

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  75. The real work is...
    4 Individuals & Interactions
    4 Collaboration
    @garyfleming

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  76. The real work is...
    4 Individuals & Interactions
    4 Collaboration
    4 Responding to change
    @garyfleming

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  77. The real work is...
    4 Individuals & Interactions
    4 Collaboration
    4 Responding to change
    4 Producing working software
    @garyfleming

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  78. The board helps by
    4 Removing confusing details.
    4 By Selecting.
    4 By Elimination.
    4 By Emphasising.
    4 By getting at the real meaning of things.
    @garyfleming

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  79. @garyfleming

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  80. “Nothing is less real than realism.
    Details are confusing. It is only by
    selection, by elimination, by emphasis,
    that we get at the real meaning of
    things.”
    @garyfleming

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  81. Thank You
    @garyfleming
    http://bit.ly/the-board-whisperer
    @garyfleming

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  82. Thank You
    @garyfleming
    http://bit.ly/the-board-
    whisperer
    @garyfleming

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  83. Common Question
    What do we do when we're remote/
    distributed?
    @garyfleming

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