ddegrandis.com @dominicad Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Workflow Dominica DeGrandis Director, Digital Transformation 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad handoffs aren’t clear or clean as they should be. work request How many get work intake requests via email? Disconnects in communication interferes with collaboration & delays delivery 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad WHAT’S THE POINT? “Things take too long” is a universal problem. Time matters. A lot. 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis The 5Thieves of Time Unplanned work Conflicting Priorities Unknown Dependencies Neglected work Too Much WIP 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Too much WIP comes from too much Yes Thief Too much Work-in-progress (WIP) 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad The Honey Do List 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad #1 - I don’t want to let the team down. 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad #2 I’d rather start a shiny new thing than toil in something unglamorous. optimize for fun 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad #3 I Didn’t realize how big the request was. 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad It’s hard to say “no,” to the boss. Who feels okay to refuse a manager’s request? #4 The boss asked me. 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Go to www.menti.com and use code: 68 51 36 Why do you take on more work than you have capacity to do? 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Flow Load – a measure to balance demand & capacity Flow Load: All the partially completed work. All the work-in- progress (WIP) in the value stream 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad WIP is a leading indicator • At 100% capacity you have minimal throughput. • High WIP means that other items sit waiting for service longer. • The single most important factor that affects queue size is capacity utilization. Why WIP Matters 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Thief Too much Work-in-progress (WIP) • Queuing Theory allows us to quantify the relationship between wait times and capacity utilization. • Wait times increase exponentially as utilization approaches 100%. • If the goal is speed, consider managing work by queues. Queuing Theory: Applied statistics that studies waiting lines http://reinertsenassociates.com/books/ 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Thief Conflicting Priorities Expose the WIP • Visualize WIP • WIP limit as enabling constraint • Primary factor of speed is the amount of WIP 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.” ~Warren Buffett https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/756.Warren_Buffett 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Think twice before saying yes 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Unplanned Work: Interruptions that prevent you from finishing something or from stopping at a better breaking point. Unplanned Work is a time thief b/c unplanned work usurps planned work • Teams rarely work in isolation. • The larger the org, the more teams, the higher probability of unknown dependencies. • The hardest thing we do is communicate across teams. THIEF UNKNOWN DEPENDENCIES 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Why Dependencies Matter • 8 ways to have three inputs • 1 in 8 chance of on time delivery • Every dependency doubles your chance of being delayed • Dependencies are asymmetrical in their impact. • 4 dependencies = 16 possible outcomes People aren’t available when needed 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Synchronize Coordination across teams Make dependencies visible 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Remove Dependencies when possible The more teams, the higher probability of more dependencies. High coordination costs 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Unplanned Work: Interruptions that prevent you from finishing something or from stopping at a better breaking point. Unplanned Work is a time thief b/c unplanned work usurps planned work THIEF UNPLANNED WORK 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Thief Unplanned Work Why Unplanned Work matters Unplanned Work: • Delays planned work • Steals your predictability integrate performance tests into delivery pipeline 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Thief Conflicting Priorities Projects and tasks that compete with each other. Conflicting Priorities is a time thief b/c people take on too much WIP when priorities are unclear. Expose Unplanned Work • Born in doing • Resistance to logging unplanned work 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Look at Flow time date Unplanned work delays Planned work Flow Time – a measure of speed 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad A decision to do one thing is a decision to delay something else. THIEF CONFLICTING PRIORITIES 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad @dominicad People have a finite amount of capacity https://itrevolution.com/book/the-cornerstone-for-winning/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qav1y7G15JQ Why Conflicting Priorities matter 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Explicit Prioritization Policies help teams be more predictable § PNW rainy weather causes unpredictable Landslides § Limited number of rails - freight trains have higher priority 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Prioritization & Decision-making frameworks FIFO: First In First Out ROI: Return of investment ÷ Cost of investment CoD: Cost of Delay (Missed revenue + costs) WSJF: HiPPO: Highest Paid Persons Opinion Computer Algorithms: wsjf - http://reinertsenassociates.com/books/ if work is same size, do work w/ high CoD If work is same CoD, do short work 1st if size & CoD are diff, base priority on delay cost divided by duration measure of impact of time on desired outcomes 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Go to www.menti.com and use code: 68 51 36 How do you prioritize your work? 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Thief Conflicting Priorities Expose Competing work items • Visualize priority indicators (money bag) • identify top 3 things 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Neglected Work is partially completed work that gets postponed. It’s work that sits idle on the bench waiting for attention. Neglected work is a time thief b/c it either gets in the way of higher value work or it delays the delivery of important work. THIEF NEGLECTED WORK 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Dominica DeGrandis Thief Neglected Work Neglected Work is partially completed work that gets postponed. It’s work that sits idle on the bench waiting for attention. Neglected work is a time thief b/c it either gets in the way of higher value work or it delays the delivery of important work. Why Neglected Work Matters 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Make tradeoffs clear – set strategic direction Flow Distribution – Work-item type allocation 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Flow Distribution allocation example (3) (1) (5) (5) WIP limit 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad What we measure impacts people because people value what is measured. 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad § Flow Time – a measure of speed § Flow Velocity – a measure of throughput/productivity § Flow Efficiency – work vs. wait ratio § Flow Load – amount of Work-in-Progress (WIP) § Flow Distribution – work-item type allocation 5 Flow Metrics - focused on business outcomes https://go.tasktop.com/Flow_Metrics_Webinar.html 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad TAKEAWAYS § Make Work Visible § Time matters - expose time thieves § Experiment & measure outcomes 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad BENEFITS Making Work Visible § Helps diff teams become aware of mutually critical info § Provokes necessary convo’s for change § Exposes time thieves that resonate at all levels 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Email: [email protected] Subject: flow To receive: • copy of this presentation deck • excerpts of Making Work Visible • Tasktop video on JIRA/SN tool integration • Forrester article: Agile-Plus-DevOps With Value Stream Management • IT Rev paper: Overcoming inefficiencies in work mgmt. systems 

ddegrandis.com @dominicad Flow Time – a measure of speed Yes, let’s do this! Flow Time: The duration from when work enters the value stream to its completion.