The Definitive Guide! KANBAN, Successful Evolutionary Change For Your Technology Business.
The Kanban Method will improve your existing development process. This book explains why and shows you how to get started using it right now. Case studies and illustrations make it easy to adopt the improvements you need for your unique situation. More...
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“Make the need for change visible, obvious and undeniable.”
—Joshua Bloom, from Quotable Kanban
Channel Kanban
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Is Kanban A Framework?
Recently, I hear some people familiar with Scrum compare it with Kanban by saying that “Kanban is also a framework” or that “Kanban offers an alternative framework.”
I know several leaders in the Scrum community promote Scrum as a framework, and while I might debate that appraisal I’m happy to accept it for the purposes of this post.
I do, however, want to take issue with those who propose that “Kanban is a framework.” Kanban is not a framework! It is a process to catalyze evolutionary change! It is a change management process. Arguably, it is currently the _only_ Agile change management process.
Definition of “Framework”
Here is one definition: A structure for supporting or enclosing something else, especially a skeletal support used as the basis for something being constructed. FreeDictionary.com
If Kanban were a framework it would suggest that it gives you the skeleton of a process framework and that you have to enhance and embellish that skeleton in order to have a specific process for a given context. This is clearly not how the Kanban Method works.
Definition of the Kanban Method
The Kanban Method is a change management method. It describes a process for driving change in an organization and that process has sufficient detail as to be repeatable. The context for which the process could be applied started specifically as software maintenance, then expanded to be general software development, and has grown to cover IT operations, IT services and some other areas of knowledge work. There is some belief and hope that Kanban will develop as a general purpose change management approach for knowledge worker industries.
The Kanban Method has three basic principles:
you start with what you do now - regardless of how ugly it is;
you agree to pursue an evolutionary approach to change;
and you initially respect current roles, responsibilities and job titles.
I then identified five core practices that were common to organizations that had success through Kanban. These were:
Visualize - make the invisible work and its workflow visible;
Limit WIP - implement a virtual kanban system;
Manage Flow;
Make management policies explicit;
and Improve Collaboratively - using models and the scientific method to implement a “guided” approach to evolution. There are no random mutations of the target process with Kanban.
As such Kanban is an orthogonal process to the target workflow process. If you are doing software development, the Kanban Method acts upon that process. It is not part of the process - though to be fair implementing a virtual kanban system will require changes to the target process.
Summary
The Kanban Method is a change management process. It is not a software development, project management or IT operations process or framework for such a process. The Kanban Method is a change management process and not a framework for a change management process. The Kanban Method is a specific formula for driving evolutionary and cultural change in an organization. It is designed to be followed and has shown some level or reliability and that outcomes from its use can be predicted within some spectrum of possible outcomes.
Kanban represents pragmatic, actionable advice for leading lasting, effective change in knowledge worker organizations. It is not an abstraction, or a skeleton. Take it, use it, let it help you evolve your existing processes for the better!
Podcasts are a great forum for learning. One can replay the important bits as much as one wants to. This week’s kanban roundup includes two podcasts in addition to thoughtful articles on working with the Feds, variation and standups. Enjoy!
News
A thoughtful blog post titled, “Bringing Kanban to the Federal market space” looks at the challenges kanban practitioners face when working in the federal space and provides suggestions on how to make progress. I found the advice to, “save your political capital for a later day” insightful. http://blog.leankitkanban.com/2012/04/bringing-kanban-to-the-federal-market-space/#more-1315
I’m proud to be the opening key note speaker at the first Lean Kanban Southern Europe Conference in Madrid, Spain next month. This small event is an attempt to emulate the first Lean Kanban conference in Miami in 2009 and catalyze the emergence of a strong community in Spain and Portugal. It’s a 2 day event with a single track of top quality international speakers the first day with 2 tracks on the 2nd day, one offering a full day of Spanish presentations with speakers from Spain, USA, Peru and Argentina. The pricing makes the event accessible for Spanish and Portuguese attendees in these tough economic times and makes this a truly low cost opportunity to learn Kanban and meet some of the leading practitioners from around Europe and further afield. There is still time to register. Pricing starts at 445 euros + VAT. Register now! Come enjoy Madrid and build your network of Limited WIP Society members
I’m particularly proud of the program we’ve put together for a smaller regional event. We’re working with the assumption that much of the audience will be new to Lean thinking in software product development and IT services and learning about Kanban for the first time. The first day is a single track designed to give attendees an overview and basic understanding of Kanban and how and where it is being used. This first day includes a presentation of the award winning Kanban implementation at BBVA by Atos Origin consultants, Oscar Garrido and Erika Weiss that earned them a Brickell Key Award nomination at the Lean Software & Systems Conference in Boston the following week.
The speaker lineup in Madrid is also very impressive as well as the quality of the businesses represented. Brickell Key award winner, David Joyce, on his way from Australia to Boston, will break his travel to give the 2nd key note. David is always an entertaining, informative speaker with beautiful presentations. As well as the BBVA case study from Spain, Angel Diaz, will present his experiences at ING Direct. Sticking with the financial industry, Eileen Shuter will tell the story of Vanguard, an American pensions firm, and their 3 year story of large scale Kanban adoption. From the media industry, we have Leopoldo Simini from Thomson Reuters in Argentina. Kevin Ryan will talk about portfolio level Kanban pioneered with the Financial Times. And at the other end of the scale, Nina Schwab from mobile search app startup, Tupalo in Vienna, will tell their Kanban story.
Explore the whole speaker line up for yourself. This is the truly unique opportunity to meet and share Lean and Kanban experience around Europe this spring. While a regional event, Greenlight PM have put together a high quality program and offer superb value for money. Don’t miss out. Register now! See you in Madrid!
Advanced Kanban Masterclass London, UK - June 27-29, 2012
This 3-day masterclass for advanced Kanban practitioners, consultants, coaches, change agents and managers with pioneer of Kanban, David J. Anderson is limited to just 12 people.
This workshop is for anyone tasked with leading a change initiative in their organization or at a client organization in 2012. It is suitable for managers, process engineers, change agents, experienced Agile, Lean, or project management coaches and consultants. Existing Kanban practitioners with 1 year of experience, or those who have previously taken an accredited 2-day Kanban class and are actively using Kanban at work are welcome. Attendees are expected to be familiar with the content of the book, “Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business.
Kanban takes a cultural approach to capability, performance and organizational performance. These intensive 3 day workshops are intended to transfer the knowledge and skills to enable you to lead Lean transformations using the Kanban Method. This is your opportunity to get your hard questions answered by the founder of the method and to develop deep ties in the community and network with fellow practitioners. All attendees will receive an automatic invitation to the next Kanban Leadership Retreat, 2-day open space conference.
Don’t miss out! Read what others are saying about this workshop.
Register today!
4000 USD per person
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL 3000 USD per person automatically applied through May 30, 2012!
A copy of the book will be supplied upon registration. Attendees will maximize the value if they are already familiar with the material.
The intent is to have an interactive collaborative session designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning. Attendees should come prepared to discuss their own experiences with Kanban and challenging situations they’ve faced with change initiatives at clients or employers
The workshop will open with a round table of introductions and shared Kanban experience. Each participant will be asked for a list of questions they’d like answered over the 3 day session and from this a topic backlog will be built. David will augment this backlog with essential topics and foundational material. The agenda for the remaining time will then be set to insure the fullest of coverage and the maximum value for all participants. The focus will be on shared experience and discussion of the hard questions that clients and team members ask coaches during the introduction of Lean ideas through the use of a kanban pull system. The workshop will include the use of the GetKanban game simulation and discussion of its value as a teaching aid.
The goal is to enable participants to go back into the field and successfully coach Agile/Lean transitions using the Kanban approach. Every workshop is different because of the unique experiences of each participant and their specific focus and desired outcomes. Each participant will received a personal recommendation from David J. Anderson as a result of participating in the class.
Kanban offers agile and project management coaches another tool in their transformation and coaching toolbox. Kanban is proving to be a facilitator of evolutionary change with low resistance and an enabler of accelerated high levels of organizational maturity.
SEP Teamworks launched a two minute video demonstrating the new Kanban features available for Team Foundation Server. http://www.sep.com/labs/teamworks/
