Work Item Tracking, to See or Not to See?

Work Item Tracking, to See or Not to See? This is always an interesting debate. The lists are much longer but for simplicity I’ve surfaced a few salient points. So which is best? Physical or virtual? For me physical boards win hands down, but there are occasionally good reasons for a careful blend.
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How to Distinguish Between Activity and Queues on a Kanban Board

My Kanban boards follow a certain pattern, what I call the “Step In Progress then Done” pattern. By default each step in my process has an “In Progress” column and a “Done” column. Some people don’t like that. You wouldn’t believe the number of conversations I’ve had about it. These conversations more or less boil down to me explaining that “Done” is a queue, not an activity. And I want my Kanban board to make it clear that each activity has an associated queue.
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Lead time versus Cycle Time – Untangling the confusion

Despite being a fan of Lean and using Kanban I’ve stopped talking about “Cycle Time”. The problem is that there are two conflicting definitions of Cycle Time. And one of those definitions is identical to Lead Time. Given the competing definitions for Cycle Time, and that the variations have alternative unambiguous names, it is easier not to use the term at all. All I need is “Takt time”, “Order Lead Time” and “Production Lead Time”.
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Disruptive Innovation is an Illusion Hiding Efficiency

The way I see it disruptive innovation is an illusion to observers who have not had the same focus. From my experience that apparent disruptive innovation actually comes from companies who have invested and honed very tight, very frugal or cost effective product iterations on what is ultimately a predictable destination. In other words, to be truly innovative in a digital landscape you just need to be very efficient.
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Little’s Law – the basis of Lean and Kanban

Sometimes I think it helps to go back to basics. And when using Lean Software Development, including Kanban, that means a man called Little and his Law. “Little’s Law” is a fundamental of queue theory and defines the relationship between Work in Progress (WIP), Throughput and Lead Time. It is the reason why Kanban teams try to limit WIP.
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