Agile Kanban - Fly Different v1.3

A quick introduction about Agile Kanban, with a flying metaphor to make it fun.

Kanban is the simplest, and paradoxically the most ambitious Agile / Lean methodology to manage projects, build software and organize your life.

Transcript

1. Agile Kanban: Fly Different v1.3 by Joseph Hurtado joseph@agilelion.com Twitter: @josephhurtado | Web: AgileLion.com 1
2. What will I learn? Why we need Agile Kanban? What is Kanban anyway? How can I use it for Software Development? How can I “Fly Kanban” using Agile Zen? 2
3. Credits - People and Photos Kanban boards and inspiring content from David Anderson's Kanban Book. Henrik Kniberg slides, and solid content on his blog. Photos: Blue Angels, and Thunderbirds - US Navy and Air Force Teams. The last photo is from Italy's Aerobatic Team: Frecce Tricolori. Several Photos and Illustrations via Flickr and Google, that deal with flight, crews and Apollo 13. 3
4. I.“Houston we have a Problem” 4
5. SW Planning Problems Changing Requirements Wrong Assumptions: Waterfall Estimation Challenges Black box Development External Change Agents 5
6. Early Solutions Iterative Development Waterfall planning but divided in phases Heavy use of Engineering Concepts and tools Locked Deadlines The de-facto standard today Houston, We still have a problem! :-) 6
7. II. There must be a Better Way! 7
8. Agile Manifesto - Feb 2001 17 developers introduced the world into the "Agile Way": Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan 8
9. Key Agile Methodologies XP - Extreme Programming (Kent Beck) Pair Programming, thorough testing, emphasis on little or no documentation, very “fanatical approach” Scrum (Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland) Daily Stand-ups, Scrums, Reflections, Integrated QA/ User/Teams, Velocity, Poker Estimation, etc. Very detailed "Agile recipe" --> All or nothing 9
10. Agile or Fragile? Going too Agile: Zero documentation Blindly following the recipe Wild Expectations Too much too soon Kanban addresses those areas through two principles: Kaizen (Continuos Improvement, in gradual steps) Simplicity (simple principles that easily scale) 10
11. III. Fly Different: Kanban 11
12. What is Kanban? Kanban in Japanese means “Visual Board.” It relates to a system, where one Kanban sign signals another member of the team that we can “Pull” work from one phase to another. Early Kanban was adopted in Japan by Toyota for Lean Manufacturing (TPS - late 1940s to 1970s) Agile Kanban for Software Development however is quite recent: from 2004 to 2010. Agile Kanban was born in the software industry at Microsoft and Corbis. The first systems were related to QA and Development inside Waterfall Organizations! 12
13. Kanban is very Light 13
14. Kanban’s 3 Principles 1. Visualize the Workflow By using Kanban Boards 2. Limit Work in Progress - LWIP By imposing limits on the size of some stages you force the teams and individuals to focus. Also when WIP is less, work travels faster. (batch size) 3. Keep Improving Flow or Kaizen By thinking and discovering ways to improve on what we do By using any tool or technique that helps you do it. 14
15. Kanban’s Minimal Flow 1. Ready or Queue Entry Think of it as the relevant backlog 2. Working Tasks or stories you are working on now 3. Done Completed stories or tasks 15
16. Kanban’s Flow Expanded 16
17. Kanban’s Sticky Boards 17
18. Kanban’s Sticky Boards 18
19. Optional Slide: A Pull System Imperial Palace in Tokyo is actually a real life Kanban Pull System. Each visitor receives a “token” the visitor has to keep the token until he leaves, then he returns the token into the pool: A simple Kanban System! Token = Story. The system has LWIP for number of tokens, and three phases: Queue into the palace, LWIP inside the Palace, and Exit of the Palace (where tokens are returned and LWIP is replenished, to “pull” visitors!) 19
20. IV. "We don't need roads any more" 20
21. No More Boards! Agile Zen is a web 2.0 board that replaces and enhances anything a Sticky Board can do. Advantages over other solutions: Right balance of features Desktop app. experience on a browser Elegant UI Requirements: Firefox 3.x or later (avoid Chrome or Safari for now) Internet Connection Mac or PC 21
22. Learning Session Lab Minimal Kanban Process: Ready - Working - Done How Process Flow Works Story Creation Story Movement and common Situations Story Features 22
23. The End! Now Fly Solo. 23