by David Anderson | Nov 7, 2016 | ESP, Kanban
In part 1 and part 2 of this blog series, I discussed how organizations benefit from Kanban but leave much value on the table by not embracing its full potential. Making the changes to implement a true enterprise-wide pull system is very possible so what is getting in the way of progress?
by David Anderson | Nov 4, 2016 | ESP, Kanban
In part 1 of this series I described the incredible benefits that Kanban is providing to organizations around the world. I asserted that far greater gains could be achieved if only Kanban initiatives were fully embraced and moved to a deeper level of “pull” at enterprise scale.
But how do we even know if we are achieving a complete pull system or not?
by David Anderson | Nov 1, 2016 | ESP, Kanban
On my recent trip to China, I visited several companies with vast and impressive Kanban initiatives. In this 3-part blog series, I will share my realizations about the value of Kanban and the potential to do more, even at enterprise scale. Kanban is Ubiquituous! It’s...
by David Anderson | Jun 2, 2016 | Kanban
There are two recognized types of failures with Kanban initiatives: a failure to install, Kanban aborted before it gets started; and a failure to improve after an initial shallow Kanban adoption. Both of these failures are avoidable and both are reasons why the Kanban...
by David Anderson | Jun 2, 2016 | Kanban
This is part 3 in my series dissolving our fascination with prioritization using Cost of Delay and related queuing theory equations such as WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) or derivatives thereof such as CD3 (Cost of Delay divided by Duration). I truly believe we all need to be protected from this latest cult. I don’t think it is serving the Lean or Kanban movements well – people simply can’t generate reliable numbers for these prioritization equations and even if they could the underlying mathematics isn’t sound. It’s going to take me 6 parts to fully deconstruct the futility and uselessness of these methods. This is part 3, the final part examining the denominator in such equations, the duration …
by David Anderson | Apr 14, 2016 | Kanban
This is the second in my series of posts about Cost of Delay. This post looks at what we know and understand about duration (lead time). To catch up, you can read the first in the series, What We Know About Duration: Individual Activities. Aside: Recently I attended...
by David Anderson | Apr 6, 2016 | Kanban
I was requested by a client to provide a mapping of my organizational maturity model and patterns of Kanban maturity, to Jim Shore & Diana Larsen’s Agile Fluency model which has been boosted by the support of Martin Fowler. The clients’ request was...
by David Anderson | Apr 5, 2016 | Kanban
This is an addendum to my 4 part blog series on Kanban Patterns and Organizational Maturity. Lean Kanban training classes and curricula are designed to cover all levels of maturity and to enable clients to improve significantly. This post looks at which class is...
by David Anderson | Apr 4, 2016 | Kanban
This is part 4 of my series looking at Kanban, organizational maturity and evolutionary change. If you haven’t yet read parts 1 to 3, you can catch up here: Part 1: Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect; Part 2: Patterns of Kanban Maturity; Part 3...
by David Anderson | Mar 31, 2016 | Kanban
This is part 3 of at least 4 parts in a series studying kanban system and board designs and relating these to organizational maturity as a core coaching tool. If you need to catch up, read Part 1: Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect and Part 2: Patterns...
by David Anderson | Mar 30, 2016 | Kanban
This is part 2 of current series on organizational maturity, evolutionary change, and Kanban. Catch up on Part 1: Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect for more context. What follows is in no way intended to be an exhaustive set of Kanban board designs....
by David Anderson | Mar 29, 2016 | Kanban
This is the first in a series of at least four posts about Kanban, evolutionary change and organizational maturity. In this first post in the series, I look at the psychology and impact of traditional large scale managed change initiatives and how evolutionary change...
by David Anderson | Mar 8, 2016 | Kanban
Seth Godin once suggested that you only get one chance to be a purple cow. A “me too” position with marketing isn’t remarkable or differentiated and doesn’t capture imagination or mind share. If people have already picked a solution they like...
by David Anderson | Jan 24, 2016 | Kanban
This is the second post outlining the 6 principles of The Kanban Method. This one explores the 3 Service Delivery Principles. While service delivery has been core to Kanban since 2004, the emphasis on it in our literature is recent and this text is new and still...
by David Anderson | Jan 23, 2016 | Kanban
In 2016, we are extending the Kanban Principles to specifically break out Service Delivery from Change Management as two sets of three. In the first of two posts on this I lay out the 2nd Edition of The Kanban Method, Change Management Principles. Change Management...
by David Anderson | Jan 19, 2016 | Kanban
This is the 2nd part of my post following Defining KPIs in Enterprise Services Planning. Running our classroom exercises with private clients this past 18 months has shown me that most businesses have KPIs which really aren’t Fitness Criteria Metrics. In other...
by David Anderson | Jan 19, 2016 | Kanban
The latest fad in the Agile software development community is to promote the use of Cost of Delay for prioritization. Many readers will know that I have been an advocate of Cost of Delay style prioritization and my 2003 book, Agile Management for Software Engineering...
by David Anderson | Jan 17, 2016 | Kanban
The following article was first published June 7th, 2000. It describes a project to create a design for a set of wireless data applications for Nokia at their Americas office in Las Colinas, TX. This edition has been slightly edited for style, and in content to keep...
by David Anderson | Jan 11, 2016 | Kanban
“scrumsplaining” is the phenomena where a Scrum practitioner tries to explain why you can’t use some alternative approach without actually making any attempt to understand the other approach or a different point of view or paradigm. In...
by David Anderson | Jan 11, 2016 | Kanban
Regular followers of my work will know that I have expressed dissatisfaction with Net Promoter Score (NPS). Steve Denning in his book Radical Management suggested NPS was “the only metric you’ll ever need.” Steve is a writer for Forbes, an investment...
by David Anderson | Jan 11, 2016 | Kanban
“scrumsplaining” is the phenomena where a Scrum practitioner tries to explain why you can’t use some alternative approach without actually making any attempt to understand the other approach or a different point of view or paradigm. In...
by David Anderson | Jan 7, 2016 | Kanban
There is a class of replenishment meeting which I believe we need to call out and name separately. In these replenishment meetings the backlog is already committed and often already prioritized. I am proposing we label these proto-replenishment meetings. This post...
by David Anderson | Jan 7, 2016 | Kanban
With the acknowledgement that two clear roles are emerging in Kanban implementations, the Service Delivery Manager, and the Service Request Manager, does this signal that Lean Kanban University will be reorganizing to offer role-based training? It’s a fair...
by David Anderson | Jan 6, 2016 | Kanban
Kanban has always been the “start with what you do now” method, and no one gets a “new role, responsibilities, or job titles” at least not initially. However, it is now clear that some roles are emerging in the field with some implementations....
by David Anderson | Jan 6, 2016 | Kanban
With the emergence of the SDM & SRM roles with Kanban, we need to ask the questions, when do we need these roles? When do we need both? And are they merely roles an existing member of staff takes on as new responsibilities, or might they be new positions for which...
by David Anderson | Jan 5, 2016 | Kanban
In 2008 I was scheduled to give a talk to the Bay Area APLN meetup group. The meeting was being held at the offices of The Gap in downtown San Francisco. The organizers arranged to meet up for a reception in a bar prior to the meeting. As the guest of honor some of...
by David Anderson | Jan 5, 2016 | Kanban
In November 2013 the Kanban coaching community agreed that we recognized 3 specific agendas that come with Kanban implementations: sustainability; service-orientation; and survivability. The first of these three is shared with Agile software development methodologies....
by David Anderson | Jan 4, 2016 | Kanban
For a decade now, Kanban has offered an alternative path to agility. At the time of writing my first book, Agile Management for Software Engineering in 2002, I believed that an alternative path was required because too many people were resisting adoption of Agile...
by David Anderson | Jul 15, 2015 | Kanban
Lean Kanban University is introducing a new entry level Kanban class for Team Kanban together with a certification and professional credential, TKP, Team Kanban Practitioner. This new class becomes the entry level on the “alternative path to agility” and...
by David Anderson | Jul 15, 2015 | Kanban
The Kanban Method was conceived as an alternative path to agility – as a means to improve responsiveness and adaptability without any significant revolution or reorganization in your way or working or political structure of your business. Lean Kanban University...
by David Anderson | Apr 23, 2015 | Kanban
Recently, I’ve taken a new approach to teaching The Kanban Method. The new Lean Kanban “Practicing the Kanban Method” class is built around the 7 Kanban Cadences – the cyclical meetings that drive evolutionary change and “fit for...
by David Anderson | Apr 5, 2015 | Kanban
Lean Kanban North America takes place in Miami, Florida 8-10 June 2015 at the Eden Roc Hotel on Miami Beach. This year we are both going “back to our roots” while “looking to the future” with a very specific Kanban practitioner event. If you...
by David Anderson | Apr 5, 2015 | Kanban
This year we’re taking our LeanKanban North America conference back to Miami for the first time in 6 years. It’s very much a “back to our roots” event as we held our first Kanban conference in 2009 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on...
by David Anderson | Mar 11, 2015 | Kanban
Kanban from the inside! What does that mean? Perhaps it’s about practicing Kanban and it is written by a practitioner? And that would be true! Perhaps it’s about understanding Kanban and its community of followers from a community insider? And that would...
by David Anderson | Feb 23, 2015 | Kanban
We’ve updated the LeanKanban Training Roadmap for 2015 following the introduction of the modular 5-day Enterprise Services Planning class. 2015 Edition LeanKanban Training Roadmap The new training roadmap includes the new Enterprise Services Planning classes but...
by David Anderson | Oct 30, 2014 | Kanban
We’ve listed only 1 public Kanban Coaching Masterclass for 2015 in San Diego in January on the week of the 19th. So far we have 11 out of 12 places subscribed and one client expects to fill that final place. We will be listing a 2nd spillover class also in...
by David Anderson | Oct 28, 2014 | Kanban
Agile software development methods, with the exception of Feature-Driven Development, adopt the use of fixed time increments, often wrongly called “iterations”. In Scrum, these are known as Sprints. A Sprint is a fixed period of time with a defined scope and a...
by David Anderson | Oct 17, 2014 | Kanban
In the Kanban Coaching Professional Masterclass, I teach coaches and those leading Kanban initiatives how to assess the appropriateness of the Kanban Method and the appropriateness of applying a kanban system within an organization. This is the first of a series of...
by David Anderson | Jan 29, 2014 | Kanban
Our firm doesn’t sell process improvement or provide consulting services in defined or designed processes. I’m often asked, as a I travel around the world, “What does you firm do?” The answer to this is simple! “We are a management...
by David Anderson | Oct 18, 2013 | Kanban
Regular readers who follow everything I post may already have spotted that I introduced a new way of thinking about Kanban. Like almost all of these “new” things, it isn’t new at all. In fact, the concept existed in my first book, Agile Management,...
by David Anderson | Aug 9, 2013 | Kanban
So another Agile Conference in North America is over. Once again, perhaps for the 7th year running, we’ve heard a number of leaders in the Agile community promoting the idea that you should focus on doing the right thing – discovering what customers really...
by David Anderson | Aug 26, 2012 | Kanban
This is the second post in my series related to change management and evolutionary capability, following Change Management vs Process Evolution on Friday. It seems our world is full of lots of advice on how to do things better, or properly, and suggestions on what we...
by David Anderson | Aug 24, 2012 | Kanban
Managed Change Change management is the discipline of managing change in organizations. Changes to processes or changes in organizational structure the discipline used to bring some control and governance to these activities is called change management. There is a...
by David Anderson | Jun 30, 2009 | Kanban
My younger daughter’s pre-school uses a kanban system. I’d been staring at it for months without realizing it was a kanban system and after I did I was troubled by the fact that it wasn’t a pull system. So I had to think about it a bit. First an explanation The board...
