Friday Flicks: Kanban -- Limit Work In Progress and Go Faster

Here on the Project World and World Congress for Business Analysts blog, we sometimes like to share insights from our live event. For this week's video pick, enjoy a recording of our 2011 session Kanban -- Limit Work In Progress and Go Faster with Linda Cook. In this video, Linda Cook introduces Kanban and gives the audience at PW&WCBA some tips on implementing Kanban in their organizations.

We learn that Kanban can:
Help visualize the process with workflow models
Help to identify bottlenecks when the steps of the process are drawn on a model
Encourage continuous improvement
Minimize the initial impact of changes
and May help reduce the resistance to change

Have you considered using Kanban to improve the speed of projects in your organization?



Interested in learning more about Kanban? Join us for Agile: The Kanban Way with Gil Irizarry, Program Manager, Constant Contact in our half day Agile summit this September at PW&WCBA. Download the brochure for access to more information on the 2012 event, and more PW&WCBA 2011 videos and insights.

What is your one burning agile question for 2012?

Our PW&WCBA agile summit covers a wide range of topics each year. So now we're asking: What is your one burning agile question for 2012?

This year's summit - titled "Transitioning Practices for Agile Delivery" will include the following sessions:

Chairperson Welcome Address, Ellen Gottesdiener, Founder, Principal Consultant, EBG Consulting, Inc.
Can You Hear Me Now?, Robert Woods, IT Project Manager, Health Dialog Services Corporation
Agile Adoption & Governance for an Evolving Global PMO, Gopal Renganathan, MS, MBA, PMP, Senior Manager, PMO, Cisco
Collaborate for Value: Using Facilitated Sessions to Discover and Deliver Product Needs, Ellen Gottesdiener, Founder, Principal Consultant, EBG Consulting, Inc.
Agile: The Kanban Way, Gil Irizarry, Program Manager, Constant Contact
Retrospective: Interactive Session

(Plus, if you need a more basic introduction to Agile, you can join our workshop "Agile Essentials: People, Planning, and Product Practices" with Ellen Gottesdiener, Founder, Principal Consultant, EBG Consulting, Inc. from 8am to Noon on Monday, September 10th)

For a taste of what will be in store, visit our 2011 Agile Summit Live Coverage:

Live from #PWWCBA: Agile Summit Beginnings
Live from #PWWCBA: All Analysts are Bilingual
Live at #PWWCBA: The Corporate Agile Transformation: Yes, It Can Happen
Live from #PWWCBA: Structured Conversations to Deliver Value

Plus, At PW&WCBA 2010, Ellen Gottesdiener spoke with our guest blogger Agile Scout's Peter Saddington about some key takeaways from her session on agile retrospectives:

So, in retrospective if you will: what is one agile question you hope to have answered? What is one challenge you are facing? Comment here or join the discussion on our LinkedIn group.

Live at #PWWCBA: The Corporate Agile Transformation: Yes, It Can Happen

Jennifer Brownson of BMC Software kicked off the after lunch sessions at the Agile summit discussing the fact that everything at BMC is run using Agile practices, from software development to accounting.

Starting with a core agile cross functional team in 2004, Jennifer was part of a group that made the original switch to Agile. Originally one large product line of about 350 people worked on intentionality, trust of the team, and risk taking. By summer of 2008, those practicing Scrum within the company numbered close to 1,000 and eventually the momentum built to where it is today.

Some growing pains are to be expected during a transformation like this, but with internal buy-in, a certain amount of peer-pressure and a dedicated evangelist team that eventually won over agile champions within the PMO, the battle wasn't entirely uphill. The tipping point: management support of agile, building a symbiotic IT/product team relationship and a structured training program that is readily available.

General Organizational Impacts of the transformation:
Everyone becomes agile
Cross functional teams
No organizational silos
Time management
Measurement driven culture

Make sure to login to crowdvine if you're attending the conference to download Jennifer's presentation for more resources.

Live from #PWWCBA: All Analysts are Bilingual

In Linda Cook's session "Kanban – Limit Work In Progress and Go Faster" we started speaking the language of Kanban. Literally meaning "Card Signal," Kanban has some manufacturing roots as cards directed employees which task to start when.

Linda made one fun observation during the session: that business analysts are key to Kanban as they have a unique skill: they are "bilingual," translating information into stories. So, let's start deciphering Kanban and translate what it is and is not:
- Kanban is not just a software development methodology, not just an approach to project management, and much more than just a card wall

- Kanban is used to control Work In Progress, it promotes incremental change and  it requires some existing process to already be in place

The core elements of Kanban are:
- Visualize workflow
- Limit work in progress
- Measure and manage flow
- Make process policies explicit
- And use models to recognize improvement opportunities

Next Linda introduced the idea of creating "Slack":
Slack can reduce variability and thus improve quality and smooth out the flow to achieve an even cadence, or rhythm of events.

Kanban methods:
Help visualize the process with workflow models
Help to identify bottlenecks when the steps of the process are drawn on a model
Encourage continuous improvement
Minimize the initial impact of changes
May help reduce the resistance to change

We then wrapped up the session by making sample Kanban walls. Look for pictures of our work here soon.