I hate part time assignments – when I see people being asked to split their time across projects. Where ever possible I try to get people full time on one thing at a time.
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Tag Archives: lean
I shall call him ‘Kanban,’ and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Kanban
“I shall call him ‘Kanban,’ and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Kanban.” I am outrageously paraphrasing Dory from Finding Nemo. My point is that everybody seems to want a piece of Kanban. As the authorities, and a few others, tear Kanban apart in definition wars and vying claims of ownership, a few flavours of Kanban are emerging with even more competing names. I thought I’d run through them.
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The Kanban Method 101
I’ve been using Kanban for a few years, quite a few years. I like it and mention it often in this blog, so I thought I would outline some of the basics for the benefit of those who haven’t dipped their toe in the Lean waters. Of course I’ll comment on what I like/dislike about it as I go along.
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Software Batch Sizes are Plummeting
When I said Continuous Delivery is Inevitable I cited shorter iterations as the main driver. However, along with shorter iterations we’re also getting smaller batch sizes. And from a Lean perspective it is the smaller batch sizes that are more interesting.
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Fluid Planning and Execution Creates Agility
Thought leaders in the US military are challenging traditional approaches to command and control. These military innovators are proposing a more fluid approach that allows simultaneous planning and execution. It is good to see they are catching up but as an Agile practitioner I already do fluid planning and execution.
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Kanban in Video, Post and Book
I’ve been using the Kanban method for several years now and I recently introduced my latest team to its joys. I do a lot of arm waving to explain the method but I also direct them to some essential viewing/reading. So I thought I’d share my Kanban recommendations – one video, two posts and a book.
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How to Juggle New Product Development with Operational Demands
You’ve got a product backlog as long as your arm but the system is live and operational demands keep landing on the developers doorstep. What to do?
Many development teams have to cope with operational commitments in addition to their new work. This is inconvenient but reality. Basically you need a mechanism to get operational work through the process despite high priority new development. There are a few mechanisms to enable this.
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When To Measure Lean-Agile Productivity, and When Not To
Lean-Agile offers two productivity measures: Velocity and Throughput. It is possible to improve both over time but there is little point in management demanding that a development team improve either because both metrics are very simple to fudge.
There is also little point in using either of these productivity measures in product development. The focus is discovery not churning stuff out.
Where a productivity measure is useful is in a project or programme. Where somebody is wanting to know when the team will be finished. Or, conversely, how much functionality will be delivered before the time and/or money has run out.
Journalism Portal: My Lean Startup in the BBC
For the last couple of years I’ve been running a lean startup within the BBC. No really, I mean it. It is indeed possible to have a successful lean startup inside a large publicly funded corporate. It is all about your outlook.
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Build Less, Start Sooner, Innovate Constantly
Jim Highsmith proposed two simple strategies for successful software development: Build Less, Start Sooner.
Jim’s observation is genius, but I would add “Innovate Constantly”.
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