LeanKit Kanban

When the Agile Manifesto for Agile Software Development was written 10 years ago, it stated "We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it." The very first of four values listed within the Manifesto was "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools"

The Manifesto goes on to state "...while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more."

Well, I am compelled to write about one of the items on the right.  I still believe the tool should be good enough that it helps you reach your goals.  But after that, it should not become a big process onto itself.  What I want to do is finish tasks and get some actual closure on them.

I recently read in the book Personal Kanban by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry, a phenomenon known as the "Zeigarnik Effect".  It states that 90% of people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.  Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnic found that the human brain becomes preoccupied with things that are not closed.

Though I have leveraged Kanban with teams, it took me a while to realize that Visual Control Systems could be used to visualize and manage both personal and professional work.  I then found myself using a physical board at the office and an electronic version (web-based tool) at home.

What is visual control, exactly?

A visual control is a technique employed in many places where information is communicated by using visual signals instead of texts or other written instructions. The design is deliberate in allowing quick recognition of the information being communicated, in order to increase efficiency and clarity.

The real question is, can a process tool take the place of individuals and interactions?  Perhaps we need to stop and think about the reality of our world.  Is everyone in your company physically located in the same office space or are you geographically dispersed?  If you're not all sitting there together in an open workspace, you need to find a tool that will bridge that physical gap and then stay out of the way. Bandit Software's  LeanKit Kanban does that.  Let me tell you what puts LeanKit in the lead of the Kanban tool race.  It's called mobile computing.

I seem to carry my iPad with me everywhere. (I'll be getting an iPhone as soon as my contract is up).  Though the LeanKit iPhone/iPod interface could use a little work, the iPad interface is completely awesome.  The image above is actually a screen print from my iPad.  The design is simple; it's lightweight; it's functional.  It helps me visualize my work and it helps control my work in process.  Merge LeanKit Kanban and an iPad and you will have an amazing user experience, as it allows individuals to interact wherever they see fit.  I'm happy because I can access half a dozen different boards with tap of my finger and my wife is happy because I didn't cover the walls of my home office with whiteboards and sticky notes.

If you're thinking about using a web-based Kanban tool for yourself, your team, or your organization, all of the vendors out there have relatively similar features.  See which one fits your budget.  If you or your teams are using mobile devices like iPhones, iPods, or iPads (in addition to desktops or laptops), you need to go to iTunes and download this app.  Though you need to have an existing LeanKit account to make the Apple App versions work, you can get a personal account for free!

After you see how well it works for your personal life, I don't doubt you'll be using it in the office in the not-too-distant future.

HT: Wikipedia HT: LeanKit HT: Personal Kanban

I Got a Feeling

I was sitting at my desk when this song by the Black Eyed Peas called "I got a feeling" came on Pandora.  My son rushed over yelling to turn it up. I attribute turning up the volume to the resulting earworm that has lasted the last few days.  There could be worse things in the world.  Each time I hear it, I think of the flash mob that danced in Chicago for Oprah.  It amazes me how so many (strangers) came together to create something that brings a smile to my face every time I see the video. As I was preparing for day zero for LitheSpeed (I don't officially start until tomorrow), I found myself singing the song and thinking about "the feeling".   After taking a week off, I was able to break the cycle that had me feeling a bit numb for so long.  Just a few weeks ago, I felt like I was trying to keep control of an uncontrollable situation.  That can become exhausting.  But today I felt completely different.  This morning I felt excited about what I was about to do.  I felt an entrepreneurial drive I haven't felt for a long time.  It's that feeling when you play offense not defense.

Tomorrow is day one.  I have my Kanban loaded.  I have my WIP limited.  I got a feelin' tomorrow is gonna be a good day.  Let's do it.

Zero Cost Effect

I had dinner with a colleague the other night.  I inadvertently quoted something verbatim from Dan Pink's book, Drive. My colleague said if I liked Dan Pink's work, I should read something from Dan Ariely.  So, I started on Predictably Irrational:  The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. Wow, this book is crazy!  I'm not going to go into any more details in the post other than a comparison of an experiment detailed in the book and something I've seen in the real world. In the book, the author described an experiment on 34 Halloween trick-or-treaters. As soon as the children knocked on the door, they received 3 Hershey's (each weighing about 0.16 oz.) and were asked to hold the Hershey’s they had just received in their open hand in front of them. Each child was then offered a choice between a small (1 oz.) and a large (2 oz.) Snickers bar, under a Cost Condition and under a Free Condition.  In the Free Condition, they could simply get the small 1 oz. Snickers bar (for free) without giving up anything or they could exchange 1 of their 3 Hershey's for the 1 large Snickers bar.  In the Cost Condition, the children could exchange 1 of their .16 oz. Hershey's for the small (1 oz.) Snickers bar or exchange 2 Hersheys for the large (2 oz.) Snickers bar.  They could also choose to do nothing but all of the kids chose to make an exchange.

Experiment Results

In the Free Condition, in which the small Snickers bar is free, demand for it increases substantially (relative to the Cost Condition).  The results demonstrate the attractiveness of zero cost.  People gravitate more toward options that do not require giving up anything.

Example of this on a project

At work, I've had a Product Owner (PO) who wanted to add items from the Backlog to the Sprint.  During sprint planning, the team basically added a buffer, to account for unforeseen events.  I know people are going to crucify me for this, but basically, the Product Owner always seemed to want to shift priorities of work mid-Sprint.  Rather than killing the Sprint, we added a buffer.  This would allow new work to be entertained without totally derailing the work already being completed.  Yes, we could have used Kanban and all of this could have been avoided.  But, Kanban wasn't an option.

So, what happened?  I offered the PO a deal.  I could allow him to add a certain amount of work to the Sprint for free. When I did this, he usually asked for smaller deliverables (relative to other items on the backlog that were ready to work).  But, when I said some work would have to come off the table to pay for the new work, he always went big.  He would choose larger deliverables relative to other items on the backlog that were ready to work.

All I can say is we truly are predictably irrational.

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Yes, the links to the books are affiliate links.

Getting PMI Agile PDUs Early

Let's say you're interested in the upcoming Agile Project Professional (APP) certification from PMI.  You look to see the eligibility requirements and notice you'll need 21 hours of Agile Project Management Training.  If you're determined to get the PMI APP and looking to do this on the cheap, start watching webinars now. I can guarantee there will be a lot of training opportunities in the near future.  Check out a future location to find upcoming Agile PDUs. Once it is fully rolled out, it should be an excellent resource to find PDUs to meet your PMI needs. So back to the intent of getting the training.  After I read (and recently reread) Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, it made me stop and question why people wanted to get the PMP or APP.  Are we trying to discover better ways to deliver value to customers or just trying to get a piece of paper and a few extra letters after our names?  Dan breaks it down to pursuing the mastery of performance-based objectives versus learning-based objectives (ie. getting a passing score on a certification exam versus learning new approaches to deliver value to customers).

Regardless, information is information and I want to do what I can to help people discover it.

One of the approaches I really enjoy using is Kanban.  Today I stumbled upon a free Kanban webinar.  Though you do have to enter some contact information, it's free.  You have the option of downloading it or viewing a playback.  So, regardless if you're looking to bank those PMI Agile PDUs or not, enjoy 1 free hour of training.  By the way, I am in no way affiliated with the provider.   I just like free webinars.

HT: ASPE Events HT: Agile PDUs

Link to Drive is an Amazon affiliate link Drawing by Pictofigo

Say Goodbye to that Expensive Meeting

Back in August (2010) I wrote about attending a $17,904 meeting.  It was painful to watch the PMO have a 3 hour meeting every month that seemed to cost so much but deliver so little value.  As a follow-up post, I wrote about the value proposition for the expensive meeting. I am happy to report that the meeting in question has been cancelled indefinitely.  In one year alone, the cost savings is $214,848.  Wouldn't you like to have that kind of money added to your budget?  I want to be clear that I'm not being a hater of meetings.  I'm being a hater of waste.  Time and money are precious and I strongly believe we need everyone to communicate more.  But it's about communicating effectively.  I can facilitate the communication of more strategic information, without saying a word, by using a enterprise level Kanban.  I can facilitate the communication of more tactical information, by having Daily Scrums or Stand-ups.

Though the cancellation was months in the making, I commend those who finally made the difficult (but necessary) choice.  It's easy to complain about things but accept the status quo.  It's hard to ask why and then act on it appropriately.

Drawings by Pictofigo

Meeting with GAO

After finding out the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was coming to pay our program a visit, I was also told to work with a small cross-functional team to collect all of the data to meet their requests.  There was a list of recommended executive actions and we had to prove how we were satisfying those recommendations.  To visualize our progress of collecting the data, I used a physical task board and sticky notes.  I would call it a Kanban but we really didn't have any work in progress (WIP) limitations.  The board was comprised of 4 columns:  Backlog, WIP, Blocked, Done.

As of last night, everything was in the done column and I even had one team member come up and shake my hand.  For some reason, I think there may have been a lack of confidence that we could identify and collect the data requested.  With some leadership, inspiration and clear goals, we got it done.  Though I'm not at liberty to say exactly what we supplied them, the requests they made were not unreasonable.

I've been through a SOX audit before so I understood how an audit works.  Provide proof that you do what you say you do.  Be able to explain why you do it.  Now, what you do and how it aligns with how others think you should do it is another story.  But, if the auditor is not satisfied with how you do it, they will make a recommendation on how you can meet their expectations.  Here is the important thing.  An auditor does not care what you say you are going to do.  They care what you say you've done or do.

Reading about Process Improvement

Over the weekend, I found myself trying to read a physical book about systems analysis while listening to a book on operational process improvement.  I'm not going to go into the physical book because I am so impressed with the audio book.  I guess it wouldn't matter if it was physical, digital, or audio.  It's just a really really good book! It's titled: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (yes, if someone clicks on that link and buys a book, I would get credit)

Though the story reads like fiction, in its introduction of characters and story, it does an amazing job of introducing concepts to the reader.  The main character manages a production plant, where everything is always behind schedule and things are looking pretty bad. (Sound like any projects you know?)  The production plant is doing so poorly, the company has given the main character an ultimatum.   With a threat of closure, the plant has three months to turn operations from being unprofitable and chronically late on deliveries to being profitable and successful.  In the book, we are introduced to the Socratic method. Throughout the book, a character poses questions to another or a member of a team, which in turn causes them to talk amongst themselves to come up with a solution to their problem.

Because the book revolves around manufacturing and not application development or project management, there are a few dotted lines that need to be drawn.  But, overall, it really got my wheels spinning.  It doesn't matter if you're using Kanban or if you're in any type of management position, I would recommend this book.

One quote really stuck with me

Intuitive conclusions (common sense) are commonly masked by common practice

Process Improvement

The following lists some of the ways that processes can be improved.

• Reduce work-in-process (WIP) inventory to reduce lead time
• Add additional resources to increase capacity of the bottleneck
• Improve the efficiency of the bottleneck activity to increase process capacity
• Move work away from bottleneck resources where possible to increase process capacity
• Increase availability of bottleneck resources to increase process capacity
• Minimize non-value adding activities to decrease cost and reduce lead time

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PMI and Kanban

How are you? My name is [author] and I'm a writer for PM Network magazine, the official publication of PMI. I'm doing a piece about e-kanban systems and their role in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Would you be interested in doing a quick interview?

So begins my hope of spreading the positive impacts of Kanban in a PMI publication, only to feel betrayed.

Let's go back a few years

Back in 2009, when I was first learning about Kanban, I saw both David Anderson and Jim Benson write about AgileZen on their blogs.  That's when, in addition to using a physical Kanban, I started using AgileZen to manage my personal work.

Fast forward to June 2010

After reading David Bland's blog post about creating virtual story boards with Google Docs, it inspired me to create a DIY virtual Kanban. What I discovered was, yes, you can do it.  But, why would you do it when a physical Kanban works so much better?  For me, it's all about visualization and simplicity.  If you're dealing with distributed teams, in addition to a physical Kanban at each location, I would recommend using AgileZen to bridge the 2 physical boards.  AgileZen is my personal preference.  It's clean, it's easy to use, and it's free if you only have 1 project.  I never used my Google Docs hack because it was too easy to use a physical Kanban and AgileZen.

Now fast forward to just 2 months ago

A writer for PM Network magazine writes me, asking to interview me.  I agree and we spoke at length by telephone two times.  During the first interview, I got the impression that he had not used Kanban before.  He didn't get visualizing workflow. He didn't get limiting your work in progress.  So, I threw out my L.A. Freeway analogy and related it to activities at work.  The author had done research about JIT lean manufacturing but I got the impression he was unable to bridge the gap on how he could apply it to his world.  I couldn't understand why he kept pushing the virtual Kanban.  Because I wanted to answer his questions, I said he could go so far as to do it in Google Docs.

A few weeks passed and I was contacted by a research editor.  She said she was fact checking and also wanted a high resolution headshot and introduction to include in the article.  Her "facts" surprised me.  What the author had written was sending the wrong message!  He was pushing the Google Docs (hack) and not AgileZen.  He clearly had not even tried the Google Docs hack, based on what he wrote.  The last sentence made me cringe.

...but you have to see if this will work with your culture before you try implementing it, even for yourself.

No, what I said was, you can leverage Kanban on an enterprise level, like for portfolio management, but you need to verify if this approach will be accepted by the organizational culture.  It doesn't even make sense to say "...even for yourself".

I sent back edits to what she provided.  The following is my additional responses to them.

Is there a way I can proof the entire article?  I've been leveraging Kanban for several years now.  Based on a few of the edits I made, I have a few concerns.  Though I don't want to take anything away from [Author], I want to ensure your readers get the highest quality and most accurate information possible.   To be clear, I recommended AgileZen, hands down as the virtual Kanban of choice.  But, IF you wanted a (very limited) DIY virtual Kanban, then you could do it with Google Docs.

I finally picked up the phone and called them.  I stated, if I could not proof the entire article or could not be assured my changes would be incorporated in full, I did not want to be associated with the piece.

Yesterday

I received my March copy of the magazine.  On the front cover, I read "Kanban goes digital".  On page 66 and 67, I find that I am quoted but with no introduction as a technical contributor or headshot.  To set the record straight, I didn't choose the images used in their article nor did I write it.  I am merely quoted.

...and this is why I write my own blog and tweet.