OOP2023: Heavyweight Agile Methods?!? Somehow, somewhere something went terribly wrong

When the Agile movement began, it started with the term “lightweight processes”. Lean was closely interwoven with some of the approaches and very often referred to in the general discussion – nowadays you hardly ever read about it.
If you really want to use “Agile” approaches for more than just pushing notes over the wall, or holding meetings as ceremonies, a look at Lean is not only helpful, but actually inevitable which we will present in this talk. We’ll also put them in the context of currently fashionable approaches.
Target Audience: All kinds of change agents – either by choice or by chance.
Prerequisites: Some working knowledge of agile software development techniques and practices
Level: Advanced
Extended Abstract:
When the Agile movement began, it started with the term “lightweight processes”. Lean was closely interwoven with some of the approaches and very often referred to in the general discussion – nowadays you hardly ever read about it.
If you really want to use “Agile” approaches for more than just pushing notes over the wall, or holding meetings as ceremonies, a look at Lean is not only helpful, but actually inevitable. Straight from “ Lean“ come many approaches that are helpful in the agile realm like:
Visual Management (as an approach to empowerment),
the Improvement Kata (as a leadership method),
the Jidoka concept (as an approach to deal with automation),
and many other ideas for change and organization,
which we will present in this talk. We’ll also put them in the context of currently fashionable approaches (like the Kanban method, Scrum, SAFe, etc.).

Transcript

1. Heavyweight Agile Methods?!? Somehow, somewhere something went terribly wrong Slido.com #419 388 Bild von Angelo Mazzotta auf Pixabay
2. There is so much documentation to read to understand this huge agile Framework There are so many new roles with this agile stuff, that we don’t know what we have to do We have too many meeting and spend too much time planning Since we work agile, we don’t get anything meaningful done anymore I don’t know anymore what’s going on in my company We always have to wait for the next quarter to plan new things
3. Oh, by the way - the slides are already on speakerdeck, ... ... the link will be on the last slide ;-)
4. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
5. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
6. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
7. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
8. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
9. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
10. Source: Alistair Cockburn on Twitter ~2018
11. There is so much documentation to read to understand this huge agile Framework There are so many new roles with this agile stuff, that we don’t know what we have to do We have too many meeting and spend too much time planning Since we work agile, we don’t get anything meaningful done anymore I don’t know anymore what’s going on in my company We always have to wait for the next quarter to plan new things
12. What do we mean by “Make them leaner?”
13. Toyota Production System What do we actually mean by “Lean”? (some sources)
14. Dank auch an David Schmithüsen für die Buchempfehlung “damals” ;-) slido
16. What do we actually mean by “Lean”? (one point of view - slightly simplified) Shewhart W. Edwards Deming Taiichi Ohno Toyota Production System Lean Production Lean Six Sigma Lean Management Lean Startup Lean Kanban University Lean Software Development Lean … Picture source: Wikipedia, Immediate source: http://toyotahistory.info/people.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46971844
17. Those who don’t live in the land of plenty… must get leaner https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-wood -planks-9552902/ Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash
19. Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” One Piece Flow Customer Driven Pull Principle JIT Jidoka Built in Quality Separate Man and Product Kaizen Heijunka Standardization Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime
20. “House of Lean” One Piece Flow Customer Driven Pull Principle JIT Jidoka Built in Quality Separate Man and Product Kaizen Heijunka Standardization
22. The crafting quality is essential – not botching it is key! The roof, and what it could mean for today’s agile-ish approaches Sidenote: In the spirit of lean the idea that “management does not have to understand the details” doesn’t make sense..
23. Crafting… craft a plan craft a budget craft an article craft a piece of software craft an ad craft…
24. Nichts darf „für die Katz“ sein 󰎲 My future self should (almost) never have a reason to tell me “Why did you invest all this effort there?” The crafting quality is essential – not ‘botching it’ is key! Nothing should be “for the birds” 󰏅 ?
25. Not “exploiting the difference between buying low and selling high” But instead “Making the part in between – the value generation - better than the competition (Which results in better customer lead time)“ A maker’s view of things instead of that of a merchant. Cost reduction is a side effect
26. It is about subsistence not about revenue.. Picture source: Wikipedia, Immediate source: http://toyotahistory.info/people.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46971844 The subtitle of Taiichi Ohno’s original book on TPS translates also to : “Aiming for management beyond [economy of]1 scale” Auskommen 1: We took the liberty of adding [economy of] due to Taiichi Ohno‘s reference to the Maxcy-Silberston curve when he explains the title (pg. 34 of the english translation)
27. [...] an attempt to recreate successful outcomes by replicating circumstances associated with those outcomes, although those circumstances are either unrelated to the causes of outcomes or insufficient to produce them by themselves. Cargo cult
28. Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” One Piece Flow Customer Driven Pull Principle JIT Jidoka Built in Quality Separate Man and Product Kaizen Heijunka Standardization
29. One Piece Flow Customer Driven Pull Principle JIT Jidoka Built in Quality “House of Lean” Separate Man and Product Customer Driven
30. Customers rhythm: What are the implications for today’s agile endeavors?
31. Photo by Florian G from Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/wood-sunset-fashion-people-7220729/ Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/FlHdnPO6dlw
32. Guidance for today’s Scrum, SAFe etc. This could be very helpful guidance for the PO It’s not about making one customer happy(er) but to deliver the best value for the most customers. Actually delivering things instead of creating a warm fuzzy feeling
33. One Piece Flow Customer Driven Pull Principle Jidoka Built in Quality “House of Lean” Separate Man and Product Pull Principle slido
35. Photo by David Ballew on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/qYrtoE6ESnI
36. Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations 3 2 3
37. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
38. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
39. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? 3 Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
40. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? 3 Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
41. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? 2 Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
42. How about WIP-Target? 2 Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term?
43. How about WIP-Target? 2 Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term?
44. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations 2
45. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
46. How about WIP-Target? Is WIP-LIMIT still the best term? Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations
47. Pull System (Signal to produce)
48. CC-Agile, SAFe, Scrum, Kanban, etc “Pull” is not “I work on what I like” and the primary goal is not a journey to personal happiness. People are in a team to achieve a common goal. (Personal happiness is not forbidden… ;-) Quarterly planning is an illusion… …Planning should be capacity driven We don’t need to “refine” (much) more than we can deliver. For the Kanbanistas: This is also true for Discovery Kanban.
49. Pull System: Implications for today’s agile implementations There is not only one Upstream and one Downstream... Actually treat your ‘system’ (your organization) as a “System of interconnected, interdependent systems (or services)” It is NOT “Upstream = Discovery” and “Downstream = Delivery”
50. One Piece Flow Pull Principle Jidoka Built in Quality Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” Separate Man and Product One Piece Flow
51. Photo by Tom Spross on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/ztFon6eMax4 slido
53. Every One Piece Flow One Piece Flow One Piece Flow One Piece Flow One Piece Flow One Piece Flow in
54. Photo by Capri23auto on Pixabay Riesenrutsche
55. In one go: What does it mean for DevOps, Kanban, et.al.? Aim for an appropriate batchsize and not blindly for “batchsize one” Don’t overvalue “swarming” (But don‘t underestimate it either ;-) ) Look at the time work spends in “passive” columns and make it visible Andon Board By Mustafasari, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Design your systems (e.g. the WIP-Targets) with the idea of “in one go” in mind. aka queues and buffers
56. One Piece Flow Jidoka Built in Quality Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” Separate human and product Jidoka
58. 自動化 人 Automation Mensch Autonomation + =
59. Autonomation Autonomation Autonomation
60. Autonomation! 自働化 Lean is not “We have the best process”, but instead “We constantly design and use the process that is appropriate on site right now” That’s what all the lean principles and lean practices are about. We think applying all this to our agile, adaptive world is immensely beneficial.
61. Built in Quality Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” Separate Man and Product Separate Man and Product Jidoka
62. Master: To be the master of AND to master the topic As in: A ruler and their subjects As in: mastering your craft
63. Autonomation: Implications for SAFe, Scrum, Kanban et.al.? Jira (or similar) does not rule over my process (my way of working) If I use something like Jira I have to rule over it and be proficient in it. In IT: If we have "build pipelines", then they must be really understood by all the people who use them. And they must not rest in the hands of a few ‘high priestesses.‘
64. Dazu Mari Furukawa-Caspari: „Denn Jidoka steht für die Forderung: Mensch beherrsche die Maschine (Systeme, Einrichtungen, Werkzeuge), bediene sie nicht! Deshalb darf man den Handwerker nie in einen Topf mit seinem Handwerkszeug werfen.“ Furukawa-Caspary, Mari. Lean auf gut Deutsch: Band 2 Zielsetzung und Just-in-Time (1) (German Edition) . BoD. Kindle Edition.
65. Dazu Mari Furukawa-Caspari: „[…] Jidoka stands for the demand: Man master the machine (systems, equipment, tools), do not operate it! Therefore, the craftsman must never be lumped together with his tools.“ Furukawa-Caspary, Mari. Lean auf gut Deutsch: Band 2 Zielsetzung und Just-in-Time (1) (German Edition) . BoD. Kindle Edition.
66. Built in Quality Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” Separate Man and Product Built in Quality
67. Built in Quality ... to stopping an entire production line when "something goes wrong" (Andon Cord). From the machine that stops when a thread breaks (and thus avoids misproduction) ... Electric loom, Toyoda 1897 Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
68. Built in Quality: What does it mean for our work today? Visualize blockers
69. Blockers can be hugely different Upstream work not done Waiting for suppliers “The build is red” Decision missing … and lots of others … Visualize blockers
70. Built in Quality: What does it mean for our work today? Visualisiere Blocker
71. Built in Quality: What does it mean for our work today? Visualize blockers Siehe auch (zum Beispiel): https://www.slideshare.net/klausleopold/1506-09-lkna15-blocker-clustering and evaluate them. Often.
72. Built in Quality: What does it mean for our work today? Think about a “Stop the Line” policy for certain blocker types. Visualize blockers and evaluate them.Often.
73. Built in Quality: What does it mean for our work today? Distinguish between Common Cause Variation and Special Cause Variation Visualize blockers and evaluate them. Think about a “Stop the Line” policy for certain blocker types. Often.
74. CC-Agile, Scrum, SAFe, Kanban etc. Follow through on your definition of done. (For the Kanbanistas: your pull criteria and policies) Add handling of blockers to your process Take quality seriously
75. “House of Lean” Built in Quality
76. “House of Lean” Visual Management & “Genchi Genbutsu”
77. Visual Management: Display Information exactly where it is needed, exactly when it is needed. Andon-Board (Visualization of the real, current status) Kanbans (sic!) to balance demand and production Business Process Monitoring Von MicroSYST Systemelectronic GmbH - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link „You know: Like a dashboard - but with real numbers“
78. Visual Management: What does that mean for us today? Visualization is what is seen... ... not, what could be seen! A board in an ticket-system, that could be looked at is ... Statistics, lying around on the desk of the {Team-Lead | Agile Coach | “Chef”} is ... Working agreements (process policies), in a binder (or on a Wiki-Page) far away from the place where the work happens are ... ... not visualization in the spirit of lean
79. Visual Management: What does that mean for us today? You can not see if a visualization is a visualization in the lean sense by statically looking at it You need to observe the visualization and the interactions of the people with it!
80. Visual Management: Some real world examples Visualisation is what you see... ... not what you could see! Shared use of individualised boards that only display what is currently needed at this point ... ... are some examples for visual management in this sense of lean People talk about the additional content of logon or start pages, where currently relevant information is displayed (error status, customer satisfaction, accident rate, build status, ... )
81. “House of Lean” Visual Management & “Genchi Genbutsu”
82. Genchi Genbutsu and Gemba Walk Visualize at the place where it counts Discuss work and the way of working at the place where it happens Gemba => “The place where it happens”, Also “Crime Scene” ;-) Genchi Genbutsu => The real thing at the real place (also Go and See) Go to the place where it happens: implications for today’s agile endeavors
83. Leadership should not be afraid to talk details Photo by luis gomes Photo by Shane Aldendorff As an aside: In the spirit of lean, management without the willingness to understand the details of the work doesn’t make sense
84. Visual Management & Genchi Genbutsu: What does it mean for process improvement today? Management by coaching => “When can we go and see” ;-) Improvement-Kata / Toyota Kata 2016 2017 Quelle - http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/The_Improvement_Kata.html 439 Slides ...
85. Visual Management & Genchi Genbutsu: What does it mean for evolutionary change today?
86. Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime “House of Lean” Visualize & Go to where it happens Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest leadtime Visual Management & “Genchi Genbutsu”
87. “House of Lean”
88. Wir meinen daher Visual Management (in the sense of the original “Taiichi Ohno Lean”), Improvement-Kata (as used in the TPS) and Jidoka (Master the machines, don’t obey them) support the objectives of the Manifesto for Lightweight Methods in Software Development in many cases better than many of the so-called "Agile processes” slido so called agile
90. Autonomation! 自働化 Lean is not “We have the best process”, but instead “We constantly design and use the process that is appropriate on site right now” That’s what all the lean principles and lean practices are about. We think applying all this to our agile, adaptive world is immensely beneficial.
91. Falk Kühnel Twitter @agiledivider http://derkomischeagilist.de Michael Mahlberg Twitter @MMahlberg http://www.michaelmahlberg.de Slides are available at https://bit.ly/LeanOOP23
92. Addendum: A couple of links… Improvement Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/The_Improvement_Kata.html Agile Alliance: How much Lean is in today’s Agile? https://www.agilealliance.org/how-much-lean-is-in-todays-agile-part-i/ Immer Ärger mit Jira (german) https://www.dropbox.com/s/038pwe6zsorsdgn/GMT20210714-172654_Recording_1854x864.mp4?dl=0 Turn the ship around: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158601-turn-the-ship-around Kanban – white book: https://kanbanbooks.com/free-kanban-book-downloads/ Lean auf gut deutsch (german): https://www.lean-auf-gut-deutsch.de/Buch Commitment: https://commitment-thebook.com/