tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80608365317674147872024-02-19T04:25:29.478+01:00Lean-Agile Software DevelopmentIdeas and validated experiments about Lean/Agile software development.
Home of the Kanban Kick-start Field Guide.Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-5956237832864939722020-02-10T06:40:00.000+01:002020-02-10T06:40:03.248+01:00Where am I?Since I’ve start working with <a href="http://www.crisp.se/" target="_blank">Crisp</a>, I’ve started blogging on Crisp’s platform. You’ll find more here:<a href="https://blog.crisp.se/author/christopheachouiantz"> https://blog.crisp.se/author/christopheachouiantz</a><br />
See you there!Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-26237618120201754912018-04-04T19:14:00.000+02:002018-04-04T19:14:14.707+02:00How to Get your Kanban Initiative Back on Track!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">All kanban systems experience some “heart attacks” once in a while. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As a team, you can react in two ways: abandon your kanban system, or act smart. If you manage the situation well, you can learn from this experience and improve your kanban system to propel you all the way to high-performance.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Building on my popular “Fika” blog series, I present here the mechanism at play behind these “heart attacks” (the policy debt trap) and give some advice on how to best handle it and stay on the high performing path. I also offer some new view on what “failing” with Kanban means: a fantastic opportunity for improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This presentation was recorded during a webinar organized by Digité (of SwiftKanban fame). The actual presentation starts at 09:35 after some introduction by Mahesh Singh of Digité. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">You will find the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=17wf4n5_iwnv-7DxuJli_UEHe0IBw7AIX">slides (PDF) here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-6394384739303023162017-11-17T11:53:00.003+01:002017-11-17T14:05:09.397+01:00Fika Stories 2 - The Policy-Debt TrapNovember in Sweden: Blä! The sky is impossibly low and grey, it’s pitch dark at 4 pm, freezing, and then everyone gets cold. Especially men: they get man-cold.<br />
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There are also situations when your Kanban gets a man-cold (though it doesn’t need to be November for that): it’s not really dying, but it feels like it and it becomes kind of <i>useless</i>. At the fika, the story sounds usually like this:<br />
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“Kanban worked well for a while, but then it started to feel cumbersome, it did not really fit anymore. So we started to skip some dailies…” (more details follow on how things start to go south).</blockquote>
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Something is obviously wrong, but the good news is: it may not automatically mean that <a href="https://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2017/11/fika-stories-1-help-our-kanban-died.html">you’re doomed and that your organization is unfit to all Lean/Agile things (find a new job)</a>. On the contrary, it could be positive, a sign that you are improving, becoming more mature! Wait, what? How can this it be?<br />
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The cause can be a mismatch between your understanding of your way-of-working and the design of your Kanban system. In other words, that you somehow outgrew the design of your Kanban.<br />
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You see, at its core, Kanban is about <i>understanding</i> Work, how you <i>manage</i> this Work and how the two match. Designing a kanban system, you put together a set of policies and rules governing what work you want to visualize, in which way, and how you want to manage it. Using the system daily, you then gain clarity and insight on how work <i>should</i> be managed and seen for you to best succeed (whatever success is for you). It could be insights on who to involve, when you have the daily meetings, what is in your DoD, how to manage Joe’s availability with a column, what WIP limits would work better, etc. And here comes the danger: <b>the more you wait before reflecting this new understanding in your system, the more you build a “policy debt”</b> (and as all of you agilists know very well, a paragraph containing “debt” will never end well). <b>The more “policy debt” you have, the bigger gap between your mental model and your system, and the less your Kanban will be relevant</b>, up to the point where it becomes misleading, unfit. There it is: it doesn’t “work” anymore, even if it all started well.<br />
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So, policy debt is bad, but seeing it in effect means that you have <i>matured</i>! You now better understand how to manage your work in your context. You have <i>learned</i> what needs to be done to come closer to your definition of awesome, your fitness to purpose, your definition of high performing. And that’s great news! You just need to <i>implement</i> this learning by performing changes. So, take the time to pay back your debts (re-fresh all policies?), and off you go with a newly-trimmed and Kanban to support you.<br />
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As a corollary, it also means that <b>you will see policy debt building up very quickly in new Kanban systems </b>(everything still smelling plastic and yet untested). With an inexperienced team, you must expect - and plan - for moments when the team feels that “the board doesn’t work anymore”. No reason to panic, this is all very normal. Rejoice instead, this is good news: "Team, we are <i>learning</i>!".<br />
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This makes me think that there is a way to measure a team’s maturity rate: keep track of the number of policy changes over time (redesign of the board, changes to DoD, new policies to interact with customers, changes to the agenda for daily meetings, etc.). You know that policy debt is building when no changes occur (especially at the beginning of your Kanban journey).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUEU5Z3vzmXmw6zK7iz1uTyjrfTBzXPxZ6xYV_eypSVU9tJbBUHSkRzR4GqTh1JbhTdhPQOEusxNFL5n4ZE4thzNI2KNSKUUt6CDtPYtd1GUHyAQq627a_0Z9uZzWOfyGCA1r_yzE8I0/s1600/Avoid+the+Policy+Debt+Trap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The policy-debt trap in Kanban" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUEU5Z3vzmXmw6zK7iz1uTyjrfTBzXPxZ6xYV_eypSVU9tJbBUHSkRzR4GqTh1JbhTdhPQOEusxNFL5n4ZE4thzNI2KNSKUUt6CDtPYtd1GUHyAQq627a_0Z9uZzWOfyGCA1r_yzE8I0/s320/Avoid+the+Policy+Debt+Trap.jpg" title="The policy-debt trap in Kanban" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are some tips on how to avoid the Policy Debt trap:<br />
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<li>Kanban works best when your policies (incl. visualization) are a <b>true reflection</b> of your current way of seeing and doing things. Unfortunately, teams tend to voluntarily inject a good dose of wishful thinking, wanting to create a “healthy” tension to force change (Document everything! Peer-review all changes! Longer Definition of Done! Tougher Definition of Ready! Etc.). Let me spoil it for you: it never works! Just stop. Now. Do you want positive changes? Don't force it, be as honest as possible when creating your system and let Kanban show you what's the next most meaningful improvement.</li>
<li>Pre-cooked Kanban templates may be a quick and easy way to start, but beware! The more complex these are (beyond "To Do, Doing, Done"), the more alien they are to your context, and the quicker they will generate policy debt. Instead, try to tailor your kanban system to your context using a STATIK method (like the <a href="https://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2013/04/the-kanban-kick-start-field-guide-now.html">Kanban kick-start</a> for example).</li>
<li><b>Policies should be updated as soon as you identify a mismatch</b>. The role of the facilitator of the daily meetings (flow manager, or whatever name you have for it) is crucial here in making the team reflect on which policies don’t work as intended and should be changed or removed. This especially relevant at the beginning of your Kanban journey.</li>
<li>You will gain insight faster at the beginning of your Kanban journey, so be prepared to update your policies frequently to not fall into the trap. As a rule of thumb: every week the first month, once a month the first 6 months, slower than that later (assuming a stable team and stable service).</li>
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Fell into the trap? Update your policies before Kanban gets a real man-cold!<br />
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-32340140186086684472017-11-10T12:28:00.003+01:002017-11-17T11:55:11.685+01:00Kanban - Revealing the Naked Truth since 2007<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5Bz0QSg0t0lKijDMlbAkZnv2fr2iT9E11levS4mt66gX3yHe3lH6bTthfVT49ihDHNVHRHKsrEvpL6f-V8ahAnzS8_bUd6EbsqO2gNUsjtTc6bJEXkcEUeDh0JZFkxaZeRyFaeTs-nQ/s1600/Kanban+Extra+Tabloid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kanban - Revealing the Naked Truth since 2007 @ChrisAch" border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="1037" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5Bz0QSg0t0lKijDMlbAkZnv2fr2iT9E11levS4mt66gX3yHe3lH6bTthfVT49ihDHNVHRHKsrEvpL6f-V8ahAnzS8_bUd6EbsqO2gNUsjtTc6bJEXkcEUeDh0JZFkxaZeRyFaeTs-nQ/s640/Kanban+Extra+Tabloid.jpg" title="Kanban - Revealing the Naked Truth since 2007 @ChrisAch" width="476" /></a></div>
Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-55195002669065230722017-11-09T19:03:00.000+01:002017-11-09T19:08:51.764+01:00Fika Stories 1 - “Help! Our Kanban died!”<div class="MsoNormal">
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In Sweden, we love to ‘fika’. Fika requires you to take time to sit down and sip coffee (usually strong and black) with your colleagues to chitchat about this and that. Visiting different organizations, I tend to fika a lot and hear all these stories about how things are going.<br />
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Today, I’ll like to share three classic fika stories about Kanban, more specifically how Kanban <i>doesn’t</i> “work”. It turns out that these stories are usually epic, picturing people and teams valiantly trying to implement Kanban in organizations that, unfortunately, turn out to be quite unfit for value delivery. Thus, the struggle and angst perfectly fitted for an entertaining fika. So, you have the one…<br />
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<li>Where the org turns out to not be ready for transparency and flow management: ”<i>We tried Kanban but it didn’t work for us: we ended up with too much on our board to handle</i>”. </li>
<li>Where the org exposes it has an inflexible and long tradition of classic, command and control management: ”<i>We could not control our WIP because our manager kept pushing new stuff on our board</i>”. </li>
<li>Where the org reveals it has structures that are unfit to deliver new stuff (e.g. using component teams): “<i>We could not limit our WIP because we got blocked all the time by other teams, so we kept starting new things</i>” (or the opposite, which I’ve heard only once, “<i>We followed the WIP limits but quickly starved because everything always got blocked!</i>”).</li>
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Tough! But it’s OK because, in all these stories, <i>Kanban is actually working as it should!</i> It is already helping by being instrumental in all these disquieting revelations, and making the problem blatantly visible: it died! What can you more ask of the poor thing? You see, <b>Kanban is like a canary in a mine</b>: when it dies, it shows you that you’re in real trouble. It means that the most basic preconditions for flow and continuous improvement are not (yet) in place. You must fixe these preconditions to get your Kanban back to life.<br />
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What to do then? There are several ways to mitigate some of these problems (start by better training and coaching, perhaps some new policies), but if you really want to get at the root causes, you need to fix cultural and/or structural problems. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts here: you “just” have to engage senior management. Explain what the dead kanban system means to their organization’s capability to deliver value and improve/innovate; get their commitment and do some change. Feeling up to the task? Look at<a href="http://leanchange.org/"> Jason Little and his excellent Lean Change Management</a> for guidance.<br />
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Oh, and by the way, a kanban system does not need to be advanced at all to act as a canary. Any kanban system, even (especially) simple/proto Kanbans, will do it, as each deeply connects with its environment and context.<br />
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Now, Good luck!<br />
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-81797477875729420002017-11-07T18:27:00.000+01:002017-11-07T18:27:13.250+01:00How to Train to Kanban - A workshop at Lean Kanban France 2017<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhnjCy3Nt5TRp8mdxeMjN9oaFXA5A9wqKdLsh29h6Hvb9904VaA9A0unC79CSu96NDRhRxr5utsT66kjLcIgGYTesVqatGatqbkZwztnK99dupfguNEz9BT4TZoXsu4S8hp9WaQKolCs/s1600/people-coffee-notes-tea+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="857" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhnjCy3Nt5TRp8mdxeMjN9oaFXA5A9wqKdLsh29h6Hvb9904VaA9A0unC79CSu96NDRhRxr5utsT66kjLcIgGYTesVqatGatqbkZwztnK99dupfguNEz9BT4TZoXsu4S8hp9WaQKolCs/s200/people-coffee-notes-tea+-+Copy.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US">I have the pleasure to be invited back to <a href="http://2017.leankanban.fr/">Lean Kanban France this year</a>! </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">I will host a workshop about <a href="http://2017.leankanban.fr/sessions/comment-former-a-kanban/">“<b>how to train to Kanban</b>”</a>. This session is specially designed for you who is about to <i>start training</i> one or several teams, or who want to <i>become better at training</i> Kanban. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">It builds on the “<a href="https://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2013/04/the-kanban-kick-start-field-guide-now.html">Kanban Kickstart</a>” concept and take it further. Welcome!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i><span lang="EN-US">How to consistently get the value promised by the Kanban method? A good start is delivering adequate training.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">The problem is that Kanban is tricky training material. On one hand, it appears deceptively simple (stickies on a wall! What could possibly go wrong?) while on the other hand, it has deep counter-intuitive elements that are challenging to put in place, especially in mature organizations (Pull, WIP limits, help each other’s cross boundaries). Quite simply: easy to start without experience, but harder to excel at without experience.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>In this workshop, I share my experience (gathered since 2009 with 70+ teams) on how to train teams in the use of Kanban. I share how succeeding consistently requires seeing training as a continuous effort that follows a team’s maturity curve. We look into how to frame training correctly, how to be clear on the “why” from the start, and what are the “prime directives of Kanban training” that help you better succeed.</i></span></blockquote>
Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-6035403676031316522017-03-14T14:10:00.000+01:002017-03-22T10:00:23.547+01:00Explaining the DevOps HypeI recently did a deep dive into DevOps to create a <a href="https://www.aim4knowledge.com/products/devops/devops-foundation/" target="_blank">DevOps Foundation training</a>. I thought it would be an uneventful journey, but while doing some research to complement my own experience I uncovered something much bigger than what I was prepared for. As if there suddenly was this major unavoidable <i>thing</i> popping up in front of me (“this is no moon, this is …a space station!”).<br />
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It’s only common sense!?</h4>
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Having worked with agile for quite a while, my view on DevOps was basically this: DevOps is about delivering the right service/product by shortening and improving the communication channels and feedback loops between the different units, teams and specialists in a value stream. In other words, e.g. “Infra” and “sec” must be involved from the start, operations engineers have as much excellent input from day one than any other application engineer and everyone must be involved to maintain and evolve the service/product. </div>
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Wake up! There is more a Stake here!</h4>
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While this is true, what really surprised me was how much deeper the DevOps movement goes: DevOps is far more than an alternative mindset, it really encompasses <i>the</i> work culture you <i>must</i> adopt if you want to be successful in the cloud. And, as there is a cloud in your future (whether you like it or not), it means that you <i>will</i> be working with DevOps or you will not work at all! </div>
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This is how I see it: DevOps is the re-writing of the IT services development and maintenance handbooks so that the services can be <i>fit</i> for the cloud. </div>
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This is worth looking further into, so let me elaborate on that a moment. </div>
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From the Enterprise to the Cloud</h4>
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To understand what is happening, I strongly recommend you watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K4ljFZWgW8&t=1769s" target="_blank">Mary Poppendieck´s fantastic talk “The Future of Software Development”</a> (Berlin’s GoTo Conference, November 2016). She summarizes the evolution of our industry from “the Enterprise” model (golden age in the 90’s) to Internet/“the Cloud”. Mary is always excellent, but this must be the most insightful talk I have seen about our industry, by large, go and watch it now! I have created two figures that try to summarize some of her key points (directly extracted from Aim 4 Knowledge’s “DevOps Foundation”). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid77CiJTmmRDY4BUu8o53iOGAiWtFxCjlovlaHXBwPo9sjZBESar4nG2kD6KjPkzLDjd_V1jGGNEsYVaxmJNbSBZv3mhyZSgEdMdZFM9NpVZSNPmWpvS84brNfPj9MU2eFDhM8cPV3N78/s1600/Slide+23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid77CiJTmmRDY4BUu8o53iOGAiWtFxCjlovlaHXBwPo9sjZBESar4nG2kD6KjPkzLDjd_V1jGGNEsYVaxmJNbSBZv3mhyZSgEdMdZFM9NpVZSNPmWpvS84brNfPj9MU2eFDhM8cPV3N78/s400/Slide+23.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i> Figure 1: the forces pushing for the cloud (click for larger)</i></div>
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<i>Figure 2: DevOps as a reaction to these forces (click for larger)</i></div>
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These two figures summarize the forces behind the emergence of DevOps (Why DevOps?), and the DevOps main components as a result (Infrastructure as code, Micro Services, Cross-functional teams, automation, feedback, continuous delivery and resilience engineering).</div>
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In Figure 2 you only see the result (DevOps emerging), but it is interesting to understand how it came to be: the real engine of transformation has been the survival instincts of the people in Dev and Ops. The existing development and maintenance handbooks (ITIL, PM body of knowledge, etc.) were fit for the Enterprise model and cannot cope with the level of scaling, complexity, and speed needed in the cloud. This made it unsustainable for the people tasked to develop and maintain these services. Quite bluntly, they had to adapt and re-invent the handbooks or quit (utterly dejected in the process). So, they pulled in everything that could help: agile, lean, automation, modern management methods, etc. The result is an adapted handbook, and its appropriate culture, that is “fit for purpose” (effective and sustainable) for the cloud. We call it “DevOps”.</div>
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Wait, should I throw out everything I’ve learned because it is not fit for the Cloud?</h4>
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Well, yes and no! I believe that the way the practices and taught and communicated are more at fault than their essence. Take for example the ITIL. The way ITIL is described, taught and implemented is very much anchored in the Enterprise model. Control is established by having many loosely-coupled processes, slow by design, implemented by-the-letter in silos. It is not surprising then that the very people that should be helped by these processes are the first to reject them once scale, speed and complexity are cranked up. Therefore, ITIL is proven to “not work” with DevOps. Well, on the contrary, we need it more than ever! But it should be reformed, adapted to better fit this new context we are rushing headlong into. We must change the way it is described, taught and implemented. Thankfully, there are efforts to make this happen, for example with <a href="http://www.theitsmreview.com/2014/03/trust-devops-movement-fits-perfectly-itsm/" target="_blank">Gene Kim staunchly defending ITIL for </a><a href="http://www.theitsmreview.com/2014/03/trust-devops-movement-fits-perfectly-itsm/" target="_blank">DevOps</a>, or <a href="https://www.opentrim.org/" target="_blank">Pelle Råstock with his lightweight and service-centered TRIM model</a>.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h4>
Re-write your own Handbook, Now!</h4>
<div>
Go and learn what DevOps is about, for real. Don’t go for tool vendor X’s “we have you covered” sales pitch. DevOps is much more than tools: it is about re-writing your service/product creation and maintenance handbooks. This requires new practices that are fit for the cloud. These require new ways of thinking and new mindsets: a new culture! As you can imagine this will take some time. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As everything accelerates, my advice to you is: start now!</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-13792512497121603962017-03-10T16:30:00.000+01:002017-03-10T16:30:43.254+01:0010 Tips on How To Best Start your Kanban Journey<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNX3qfsOCUt-5iBBWtrvgpRJEWOvv-1W5Z6744Vu_LvIP6h91S1QkoT4-SSu9F_0jOPkJ2pqvJVB4VgTVLNJn71moFZJmFGut7pN8JBkmyyhfiqWELmVf3qOke70urAeJrYvhjc4v7lk/s1600/young-game-match-kids+%2528small%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNX3qfsOCUt-5iBBWtrvgpRJEWOvv-1W5Z6744Vu_LvIP6h91S1QkoT4-SSu9F_0jOPkJ2pqvJVB4VgTVLNJn71moFZJmFGut7pN8JBkmyyhfiqWELmVf3qOke70urAeJrYvhjc4v7lk/s200/young-game-match-kids+%2528small%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a>Are you thinking to start using Kanban but are unsure how and where to start? Here are <b>10 tips </b>to help you get going on your Kanban journey!<br />
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h3>
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Start with a small “Team”</h3>
An easy way to gain experience with Kanban is to introduce it to a team that already delivers a well-understood service. These teams usually have a clear purpose, goals, and customers, which makes creating a meaningful Kanban system easier. It is also easier to start with small teams (2-8 persons) than bigger ones. For example, a small project team, an application maintenance team, a small function (process managers, operation, communication, etc.).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>Kanban delivers spectacular results (100-700% efficiency increase) when applied to whole value streams involving several teams, functions and specialists. But You’ll need to get some Kanban experience under your belt before venturing there. For the moment focus on a single existing team.</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make sure the Team’s lead or manager is on board</h3>
The team’s lead/manager must want to introduce Kanban. This is the most important person as he/she is setting the tone for all other team members. If the team-lead does not understand the benefits, is skeptical or against, then don’t bother and look for another team as you will waste everybody’s time, including your own.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>You may want to have separated preparation meetings with the team-lead to get buy-in. </blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make the team’s purpose clear</h3>
Clarity of purpose is key for succeeding with improvements in general and with Kanban in particular. A meaningful Kanban system can only be created when the purpose is clear. So before introducing Kanban, the team should be able to answer the questions: “What service(s) are we providing, to whom?” and “When do we succeed?”. This step is included in the Kanban Kick-start workshop.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments)</i> Not all organization groups - especially in larger organizations - have a common purpose. Groups are usually put together to manage people. Kanban can be used to bring clarity to those groups as well but it requires more coaching effort, so let them on the side for the moment and focus on smaller service-focused teams.</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Start where you are</h3>
“<i>Start where you are</i>” is one of the main principles of the Kanban method. Done correctly, introducing Kanban should create very little friction and almost no resistance to change. Make sure that you follow this principle too by not introducing anything new when adopting Kanban: no new ways of working, new roles, meetings, interfaces or artifacts. Just focus on making the current way of working clear and explicit.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>This is plenty enough as a first step, as team members often realize that they have been working very differently all along and need to agree on a common way of working. This may be a change in itself for some team members, but it usually does not create resistance as it comes from the team. After some time, the team will have a much better understanding about how the work works. The team itself will then propose some changes to its own way-of-working (and, yes, that’s totally OK to do the change then!).</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Establish Pull</h3>
Actually, there is one important change to make a.s.a.p: to adopt Pull!<br />
When starting with Kanban, “Pull” is mainly about letting team members pull ready-work when they have capacity, instead of having the manager pushing work onto individuals (regardless of how much work-in-progress they have). In effect, this rule removes a lot of the micro-management from the manager and gives it to the team. This may require a difficult behavioral change for some managers.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>Discuss this with the manager on beforehand and make sure to participate to the Kanban meetings to give feedback and support. Eventually “Pull” will encompass other aspects like balancing demand with capacity, replenishment policies, making demands refutable and flow efficiency. But, you have time to get there.</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Give the team the authority it needs</h3>
Kanban is about making the team fully aware and in control of its work. It allows the team to assume full responsibility. For this to succeed, the team must have the authority it needs to decide about its own way of working. It must be up to the team, not the manager or anyone else, to decide the rules and policies about how to handle work.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>Of course, this must happen within the boundaries set by the organization (legal, safety, etc.).</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make everything explicit and transparent</h3>
The key to success with Kanban is to give everyone (team members, customers, and stakeholders) a perfect understanding about the current situation, policies, and past performance (statistics). Everyone should be able to provide input - based on facts - to the question “what is the smartest thing to do for us right now?”.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments)</i> Makes this as visual, and accessible, as possible (think “stickies in the corridor”).</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Keep it simple</h3>
Regardless of how much time you’ve spend creating your Kanban system, it will be wrong. It’s only by using the system that you will be able to make it right. So, do not spend too much time upfront (keep it simple), start early and keep adapting.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>The team will soon realize that “the board doesn’t work anymore!”. That is excellent news! It doesn’t mean that you’ve done a poor job, it simply means that the team has matured and better understands how the work works. Help the team adapt its system (visualization and policies) and off you go!</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
9.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don’t do this alone</h3>
Kanban is much more than stickies on a wall! It looks deceptively simple, but in order to reap the benefits of Kanban (100-700% efficiency increase) you may need help. Learn from others in your organization and elsewhere. Share experience by inviting other teams to your Kanban meetings, go and see for yourself what others are doing, go to “Lean Coffees” and conferences. A Lean/Agile coach can be a good investment to help you go further and make your team(s) succeed in the long term.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(The coach’s comments) </i>Strength in numbers!</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Spread out!</h3>
When you start to be confident with your first implementation, try to expand your Kanban “bubble” upstream and/or downstream in your value stream. Involve customer(s), other units, teams, and specialists that you are depending on. Re-design your interfaces with them by establishing regular meetings to discuss what works and what doesn’t, what you need from them, what you can do better for them, etc. Create a bigger Kanban system with everyone needed to deliver value from concept to cash. Soon, you will have given control of a whole value stream to the individuals working in it, and great things will happen!<br />
<br />
<br />
Bon Voyage!<br />
<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-7355745540284529022017-01-02T13:21:00.000+01:002017-03-29T16:10:19.848+02:00New Aim: Knowledge!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4nPmtxUcn-ir0k8-ttc51MeHdx_7OoT-AsICOT__hRuCTQwNXgA_MXaDVuL6F3bX0sxy0YsPyMX5hf8Crs9zFMXlRNJpAGLmiSDYQWqH_lK2-fxKhxrIVowjeTByLy5F-allrcAjurg/s1600/Aim4Knowledge-logosmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4nPmtxUcn-ir0k8-ttc51MeHdx_7OoT-AsICOT__hRuCTQwNXgA_MXaDVuL6F3bX0sxy0YsPyMX5hf8Crs9zFMXlRNJpAGLmiSDYQWqH_lK2-fxKhxrIVowjeTByLy5F-allrcAjurg/s200/Aim4Knowledge-logosmall.jpg" width="200" /></a>Today, I am starting a new chapter in my Lean/Agile journey! After focusing on bringing more agility and flexibility to an Enterprise, I will now go back to what I feel are my roots: a small company.<br />
<br />
I am now working for <a href="https://www.aim4knowledge.com/" target="_blank">Aim 4 Knowledge,</a> a Stockholm-based company delivering training solution to IT organizations. My new role is officially ‘Product Owner’ for the Lean and Agile area. I will work to bring, create and deliver excellent training and education on: <br />
<ul>
<li>Lean for knowledge work</li>
<li>Kanban for end-to-end value streams, portfolio and teams</li>
<li>DevOps</li>
<li>Agile development</li>
<li>Lean Startup & User eXperience</li>
</ul>
The idea is a to support companies (you?) in creating an iterative, incremental and streamlined value creation stream from customer to production.<br />
<br />
Why does this matter? Because more than ever before we are in a fast moving, highly competitive environment where those who win can simply deliver more value, earlier.<br />
<br />
Don’t hesitate to contact me at <a href="mailto:christophe.achouiantz@aim4knowledge.se">christophe.achouiantz@aim4knowledge.se</a>Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-10676539146639921492016-11-30T14:58:00.000+01:002017-03-09T16:03:51.524+01:00From Good-enough to Great: LKFR16 PresentationHere are the slides I've been using to present "From Good-enough to Great" at the Lean Kanban France 2016 conference (LKFR16).<br />
<br />
In this presentation, I speak about some the patterns I have observed when coaching many Kanban team. Especially regarding how teams mature and how to help team better succeed. I introduce for the first time the "<b>Kanban Quantum Mechanics</b>" model that I intend to flesh-out in future posts.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="470px" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/slideshelf" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="490px"></iframe>
You will also find the templates I presented in this practical <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bw1lzqt8kB8ENG8wZXZ1bGFaRk0" target="_blank">hand-out format</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>Update</i>: <a href="https://www.infoq.com/fr/presentations/lkfr-christophe-achouiantz-from-good-enough-to-great" target="_blank">The session has been recorded by InfoQ and is available on their french site (the presentation is in english).</a><br />
<br />
Now, go slain your Dragons!Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-78419186303529899132016-11-18T16:05:00.001+01:002016-11-18T16:06:58.467+01:00Speaking at Lean Kanban France 2016I will - finally - be speaking at <a href="http://2016.leankanban.fr/" target="_blank">Lean Kanban France 2016</a> this year.<br />
<br />
Being French, it should perhaps falls naturally to present at a French conference. Life as had other plans for me so far, but this year the stars are in the right position and it is happening. Though, I have to confess that I've never actually discuss Lean, Kanban and Agile in French. So, I'll do my talk in ...english. Yes, it's weird!<br />
<br />
My talk will be about my RPG-inspired <b>"From Good-Enough to Great"</b>, a very condensed version of the workshop that I've run at LKNA16 last May. I'll upload the slides just in time for the conference.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GW7Wp1smqQxCK5lUBom48YbeeQh4EJc-91sa8Gh74JMK3NPdaDfIJWdqeow_S2vVe6vNkSPEn2X3LlZjMR3Y3LtENqHUCanGzr8poKR_vLAY12OtA9luCzBtc19pDAe19XtggY9H194/s1600/LKFR16+-+Good-Enough+to+Great+-+Slides+%2528PA2%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GW7Wp1smqQxCK5lUBom48YbeeQh4EJc-91sa8Gh74JMK3NPdaDfIJWdqeow_S2vVe6vNkSPEn2X3LlZjMR3Y3LtENqHUCanGzr8poKR_vLAY12OtA9luCzBtc19pDAe19XtggY9H194/s320/LKFR16+-+Good-Enough+to+Great+-+Slides+%2528PA2%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>From Good-Enough to Great</b> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b></b>You’ve had some success with your Kanban System: you’ve managed flow and quickly increased your capability. But now the energy goes down, your Kanban system – (r)evolutionary at first - becomes the new normal. How do you keep momentum? How do you keep succeeding in the long term? </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Building on the insights gathered by starting and following more than 70 Kanban implementations, this talk presents a set of tools designed to discover the real purpose of your Kanban system. You will understand your quest, your origin story, your strengths and weaknesses. Having found your “Why”, you will be able to create a plan to lift your Kanban system from good-enough to great. You will have unity and alignment around a strong sense of purpose: the bases to make you Kanban system resilient!</i></blockquote>
Actually, the more I work on this presentation, the more I find stuff to speak about. Which is making it very hard to keep it under 45 min. I'll really need to write some blog posts to fill the gaps!<br />
<br />
See you in Paris!<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-71934141585110462802016-08-03T10:26:00.000+02:002016-08-03T10:37:54.872+02:00Fast Feedback is Back!<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.fastfeedback.se/" target="_blank">The Fast Feedback conference</a> is back this year in Stockholm
on the 21-22 of September.<br />
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It’s my great pleasure this year to assist <a href="https://hakanforss.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Håkan Forss</a> and
<a href="http://blog.crisp.se/author/mattiasskarin" target="_blank">Mattias Skarin</a> - two of the most influencial
Lean/Agile coaches in Scandinavia - in setting up this year’s conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The theme is “<i>Strategy – Turning Insight into Action</i>”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think that we’ve succeeded in setting up a very exciting
program.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Look at that:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li><b>Stephen Bungay</b>. I’ve had the privilege to attend some of
Stephen keynotes at various conferences and it’s always been entertaining and
mind-blowing in equal measure. His work on applying the military concept of “mission
command” to business is essential to strategy planning and execution.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We then have speakers from a bunch of extremely innovative companies/startups:
<b>Simon Marcus</b> (<a href="http://www.spotify.com/" target="_blank">Spotify</a>), <b>Arne Roock </b>(<a href="http://www.jimdo.com/" target="_blank">Jimdo</a>), <b>Sami Honkonen</b> (<a href="https://reaktor.com/" target="_blank">Reaktor</a>) . They will
share how these dynamic companies form their strategies and apply them. If you
are not familiar with Sami’s <a href="http://www.bosslevelpodcast.com/" target="_blank">excellent podcast “Boss Level”</a> do yourself a favor
and check it out right away!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We also have the true and tried companies sharing their
experience: <a href="http://lego.com/" target="_blank">Lego </a>(<b>Eik Thyrsted & Mattias Skarin</b>), <a href="http://ericsson.com/" target="_blank">Ericsson </a>(<b>Erik Schön
& Jonas Plantin</b>) and <a href="http://volvotrucks.com/" target="_blank">Volvo Trucks </a>(<b>Amer Catic</b>).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Finally we have a set of speakers that know what it means to
take insight into actions outside of the board rooms: <b>Lottie Knutson</b> (with
experience in managing a travel agency's reaction to the catastrophic events of the 2004 tsunami in south-east asia) and <b>Marcus Hammarberg</b> (with a very human and
emotional journey to save a hospital in Indonesia).</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://www.fastfeedback.se/" target="_blank">Join us</a> in Stockholm! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-23106772160321068432016-05-19T06:49:00.000+02:002016-05-23T15:49:01.066+02:00Won the Brickell Key Award 2016!Wow, just Wow!<br />
I am very honored to have won the <b>Brickell Key Award 2016</b>!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0KGrFalpXxHVn_AyjbaLrxNfVtzrfQyLyy3eGI27SbNhz2asP1yET90udbAQ8i4yud6sgwf_4IWVFwkD6kVrchQg7OiXHRD57o20h1scUt4OVaIKTotlk4rcQ99Cs8SxwTw8BpVu4tk/s1600/IMG_20160518_072709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0KGrFalpXxHVn_AyjbaLrxNfVtzrfQyLyy3eGI27SbNhz2asP1yET90udbAQ8i4yud6sgwf_4IWVFwkD6kVrchQg7OiXHRD57o20h1scUt4OVaIKTotlk4rcQ99Cs8SxwTw8BpVu4tk/s320/IMG_20160518_072709.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
<br />
Actually, very glad, surprised and <i>humbled</i>. <a href="http://lkna16.leankanban.com/brickellkey/" target="_blank">The competition was impressive</a>, if possible even more so than two years ago when I was first nominated. I want to thanks the Kanban community, David Anderson for his inspiration, Sandvik IT for their trust and my wife and kids for their support.<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-21903641443947959422016-05-19T06:33:00.000+02:002016-05-27T09:21:39.607+02:00From Good-Enough to Great: the WorkshopHere comes the slides from the Workshop I've held at the <b>Lean Kanban North America 2016</b> conference in San Diego:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/Axg1yx13YfTKLr" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/from-goodenough-to-great" target="_blank" title="From Good-Enough to Great">From Good-Enough to Great</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch" target="_blank">Christophe Achouiantz</a></strong> </div>
<br />
The <b>slide-deck</b> is also available on <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1lzqt8kB8EZVBHVTJQTlJ2VkE/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Google Drive</a><br />
The<b> hand-outs</b> are available here on <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1lzqt8kB8EelZzLTE2b21MWVU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Google Drive</a><br />
<br />
This what the Workshop is about:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>From good-enough to great</b><br />
You’ve had some success with you Kanban System: you’ve managed flow and quickly increased your capability. But now the energy goes down, your Kanban system – (r)evolutionary at first - becomes the new normal. How do you keep your momentum? How do you keep succeeding in the long term?<br />
Building on the insights gathered by starting and following 60+ Kanban systems, this workshop will give you concrete tips on how to lift your Kanban system from good-enough to great! You will learn how to better understand the service(s) you are delivering and how to make your Kanban system continuously fit for purpose. Fusing Kanban with tabletop RPGs, this workshop will help you: <br />
<ul>
<li>Know what you really want: find the Why in your Kanban system</li>
<li>Define and work with fitness criteria for your service and for your Kanban system</li>
<li>Improve your Kanban system continuously</li>
<li>Grow using depth of Kanban assessments</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<div>
Have you been attending the workshop? I would really like to hear how you are doing using the tools I presented!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
By the way, I do plan to keep improving the method and material. Come back here for more!</div>
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-67881773073908013482014-05-15T13:28:00.000+02:002014-06-09T14:38:29.873+02:00Lean Kanban Nordic 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3SEk8DlgFh4GA0b_enZpx83LH2MFOKvo5MGfQcIL266FPRWNK7Mt6WSsKyIXnfo_88bXxrED6SOVOgNmfLRg8mZI-4_CzP1OlLJ6760SxAhoaNGuMNaZjPqK199o_HVHqMoPnefBHJE/s1600/Speaker-at-LKN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3SEk8DlgFh4GA0b_enZpx83LH2MFOKvo5MGfQcIL266FPRWNK7Mt6WSsKyIXnfo_88bXxrED6SOVOgNmfLRg8mZI-4_CzP1OlLJ6760SxAhoaNGuMNaZjPqK199o_HVHqMoPnefBHJE/s1600/Speaker-at-LKN.gif" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lottaolsson" target="_blank">Lotta Olsson</a> and I will present Sandvik IT's Kanban journey at the <a href="http://www.dfkompetens.se/utbildning/sssf2014/-sssf/english" target="_blank">Lean Kanban Nordic 2014 </a>conference in Stockholm (a.k.a. "Stop Starting, Start Finishing" conference). Lotta is currently managing the Operational Excellence Support (OpX) unit within Sandvik IT. The OpX is the 'home' of Kanban, ITIL and other processes and tools designed to improve the IT teams capabilities.<br />
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The title of our talk on May the 28th is "<a href="http://www.dfkompetens.se/utbildning/sssf2014/-sssf/28-maj" target="_blank">Implementing Kanban at Scale at Sandvik IT</a>". We will cover the story depicted in the<a href="http://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-1" target="_blank"> InfoQ articles</a>, but also how we plan to build on what has been acheived to go further.<br />
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Edit: The presentation <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/implementing-kanban-at-scale-at-sandvik-it" target="_blank">slides are available on slideshare</a>Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-87486883328673928882014-04-25T15:03:00.001+02:002014-06-09T14:38:44.806+02:00An Interview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudn41MK-MYUPlXTs-eU8nApt1Z80xCVfmbB7ro3t1J_8V8VVsiHsgnVci6hMB0yI7tO1aIEZUz4bO8WVrW59r3HIPDcuTexa4JSdk4qGMyYZg0ynhb92u-CY19tsQrMSj1ubWH79BEio/s1600/457020755_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudn41MK-MYUPlXTs-eU8nApt1Z80xCVfmbB7ro3t1J_8V8VVsiHsgnVci6hMB0yI7tO1aIEZUz4bO8WVrW59r3HIPDcuTexa4JSdk4qGMyYZg0ynhb92u-CY19tsQrMSj1ubWH79BEio/s1600/457020755_640.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></div>
Being <a href="http://lkna.leankanban.com/support">nominated </a>to the <a href="http://conf.leankanban.com/brickell">Brickell Key Award</a> 2014 has its advantages. One is to travel all the way to San Francisco to attend a ceremony during the <a href="http://lkna.leankanban.com/tag/lkna14">Lean Kanban North America Conference</a>. Another is to be interviewed like a rock-start. <a href="http://lkna.leankanban.com/brickell-key-award/christophe-achouiantz">Here is the result of the interview</a>. Thanks Lean Kanban University and <a href="https://twitter.com/strawbana">Irina Dzhambazova</a> for the opportunity!Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-14777017318051229122014-03-11T13:42:00.000+01:002014-03-11T13:42:32.227+01:003 years of Kanban at Sandvik IT: Sustaining Kanban in the Enterprise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Here comes the second article in the Kanban at <a href="http://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2014/02/3-years-of-kanban-at-sandvik-it-story.html">Sandvik IT series on InfoQ</a>.<br />
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Based on the experience from Sandvik IT, I try to answer the question "<b>How to engineer kanban systems to be sustainable and resilient despite the constant level of changes in today's Enterprise?</b>".<br />
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This article is somewhat more complex and deeper than the first one. It is intended to the coaches out there that are working in an Enterprise environment.<br />
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Here are some extracts to pique your interest:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><i>“In an Enterprise context, perfect is not nearly as good as sticky.”</i></li>
<li><i>"[a kanban system] should provide clarity not only of purpose, but clarity of opportunities."</i></li>
<li><i>"In other words - and that is somehow quite depressing - there is always a ceiling to any continuous improvements work."</i></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Find<a href="http://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-2"> the whole article on InfoQ</a>.<br />
<br />
I want to thank again InfoQ's editor extraordinaire <a href="http://www.benlinders.com/">Ben Linders</a> for his valuable feedback!<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-16091875323611500932014-03-11T09:59:00.000+01:002016-05-23T15:38:30.173+02:00Brickell Key Award Nominee!I have just got the amazing news that I am one of the 6 nominees for this year's <b>Brickell Key Award</b>! I am really humbled by the fact that you guys out there voted for me.<br />
<br />
The Brickell Key Award has been awarded to people that I look up to in the Kanban community like, among others, David Joyce (2010), Alison Vale (2010), Jim Bensson (2012), Arne Rook (2012) and Yuval Yeret (2013). Being nominated to this award is for me a great honor in itself!<br />
<br />
This year the competition is fierce with <a href="http://hakanforss.wordpress.com/">Håkan Forss</a> (past colleague and my personal favorite) and <a href="http://www.klausleopold.com/">Klaus Leopold</a> as very strong candidates. It is very interesting to see that we are two nominees from Sweden (well, technically I am French, but I only work in Sweden) as it shows how strong the Kanban community is here.<br />
<br />
Being nominated is just the first step, let's get this prize!<br />
<b>You can help: cast your vote on the <a href="http://lkna.leankanban.com/support">LKNA 2014 conference site</a></b><br />
<br />
Huge Thanks!<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-12025665264925986322014-02-10T15:22:00.000+01:002014-03-10T16:14:54.971+01:003 years of Kanban at Sandvik IT: The Story of an Improvement JourneyI have finally found the time to write an article relating Sandvik IT's journey into Kanban-land. The article is <a href="http://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-1">now available on InfoQ</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PElARaFq-EETe-anPDCGI5swby9X9t9nfy5g3aoitwq_JZroHyADoILelYTPzjQ0nGLjagHotEWKoI-RcVpbrTrHEifHYs1yby67LLRhklJCh_M8fy3NQe9m2ziV8sP1HgtGXKw700Q/s1600/InfoQ.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PElARaFq-EETe-anPDCGI5swby9X9t9nfy5g3aoitwq_JZroHyADoILelYTPzjQ0nGLjagHotEWKoI-RcVpbrTrHEifHYs1yby67LLRhklJCh_M8fy3NQe9m2ziV8sP1HgtGXKw700Q/s1600/InfoQ.png" /></a></div>
<br />
This story has been told several times, with Johan Nordin (check our <a href="http://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2011/08/hello-munich-here-i-come.html">LKCE11 talk</a>) or alone (check my <a href="http://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2013/11/lessons-learned-from-coaching-50-kanban.html">LKCE13 talk</a>), but this is the first time that it is available as an article. I hope the format will make it easier to share and learn from.<br />
<br />
I would like to tanks <a href="http://www.benlinders.com/">Ben Linders</a> for giving me the opportunity to write for InfoQ, and providing me with excellent continuous and frequent feedback along the way.<br />
<br />
I look forward to work with Ben on a second article based on my Sandvik IT experience. This new article will detail the experiences that we have learned at Sandvik IT about the Kanban method and change management during these 4 years. So, stay tune if you want to learn more!Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-77279062051277199242013-11-25T12:54:00.000+01:002014-03-10T16:14:17.110+01:00Deliver More Value, Earlier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The world is <i>changing</i>!<br />
Powered by <b>the social medias revolution</b>, customers are now in the <b>driving seat</b>. Succeeding in this environment requires you to <b>deliver more value, earlier</b>! More than you can today, and faster than your competitors. How do you do that? It really all comes down to how fast you can <b>generate</b>, <b>absorb </b>and <b>respond</b> to <b><i>feedback</i></b>.<br />
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In this talk we look at how Lean and Agile way-of-thinking and techniques help you accelerate your feedback loops and create new ones. You identify what is valueable to your customer and deliver it early to them.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/28596261" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" width="427"> </iframe> </div>
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<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/leanagile-deliver-more-value-earlier" target="_blank" title="Lean/Agile: Deliver More Value, Earlier">Lean/Agile: Deliver More Value, Earlier</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch" target="_blank">Christophe Achouiantz</a></strong> </div>
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Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-39966363657700624222013-11-25T11:11:00.001+01:002014-05-08T16:12:20.814+02:00The Kanban Kick-start Field Guide v1.1<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Here comes<b> version 1.1 of "The Kanban Kick-start Field Guide"</b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Download it <a href="http://bit.ly/KanbanFieldGuide" target="_blank">here on Dropbox</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The changes in this version are mostly <i>corrections </i>and <i>clarifications</i>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">They reflect the way the Kick-start concept is currently <b>evolving </b>(for the better, of course) within Sandvik IT.</span><br />Here are some noteworthy changes:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">The single biggest change is the renaming of the "Team Lead" into the "<i>Flow Manager</i>" role. This new role brings clarity on how the coaching is done and the dynamic between the team and the coach.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">There is one new PREP stage "Get a GO/NO GO decision" as well as one new BOOST "Increase Flow".</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Some of the headings have change name to be more aligned with how they are referred to by the community (thanks Karl Scotland and his "<a href="http://availagility.co.uk/kanban-thinking/" target="_blank">Kanban Thinking</a>" and Mike Burrows and his "<a href="http://positiveincline.com/index.php/2013/01/introducing-kanban-through-its-values/" target="_blank">Kanban Values</a>").</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">We are now also using Steve Tendon's <a href="http://tameflow.tendon.net/post/56252147592/replacing-cycle-time-with-flow-time" target="_blank">lead-times definitions</a>. These help a lot to agree about what lead-time is currently of interest.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Don't hesitate to contact us with any feedback you may have on the field guide. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">As <a href="https://twitter.com/KentBeck/statuses/369898356698386432" target="_blank">Kent Beck would say</a> "It's not the number of hours I work in a day that measures progress, it's the number of feedback loops I complete!".</span></span>Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-88545084678667643742013-11-04T21:32:00.001+01:002014-03-10T16:13:18.781+01:00Lessons Learned from Coaching 50+ Kanban Teams: The Presentation<div class="tr_bq">
Here are the slides from my Session at Lean Kanban Central Europe 2013 (LKCE13).</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/27898511" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" width="427"> </iframe> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/lessons-la" target="_blank" title="Lessons Learned from Coaching 50+ Teams">Lessons Learned from Coaching 50+ Teams</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch" target="_blank">Christophe Achouiantz</a></strong> </div>
</div>
<br />
<u><i>Edit</i></u>: The talk went well overall. The first versions took well above one hour, therefore I worked hard to remove stuff that was not directly on the red thread. I was surprised to succeed in delivering the talk in 40 minutes (I had 5 minutes left for questions) and, based on the questions I got afterwards, I realized that I may have left too much out. For instance, I did not talk about how I coach the teams using the improvement Kata.<br />
<br />
To be sure to get the whole message across, I will blog on some of the aspects the ideas and aspects in the presentation (especially the qualities a Kanban system should have to be successful on the long run). I may also record a full-length version of the talk when time permit.<br />
<br />
The most unexpected question I got was from an elderly gentleman that said that he misunderstood the title of my talk, as he thought it had to do with lessons that I had learned working with people over 50 years old (50+)! Well, that is also an interesting topic, though not quite what I delivered.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<u><i>Edit</i></u>: The excellent guys at LKCE13 now made the video available. Check it here directly:</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/80980287?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vimeo.com/80980287">Lessons learned from coaching 50+ Kanban teams (Christophe Achouiantz)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/lkce">Lean Kanban Central Europe</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-193062753891264292013-07-05T14:00:00.000+02:002013-07-05T14:00:48.561+02:00Naked Kanban Dresses in Teams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYi-Zj1CDHi41TBmWSBmxb96de9wuW_nKR3pa1KbwQqzNG23mRzsE9BKnWJIHvxIu_7F3Bvyubw4wmB_i9JKTuydDkwZJd5BoEmRmHqXC_rpgp3pSrCsJQMhBwwmtUrEvwqQ6nOzaER1w/s1600/Kanban+Team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYi-Zj1CDHi41TBmWSBmxb96de9wuW_nKR3pa1KbwQqzNG23mRzsE9BKnWJIHvxIu_7F3Bvyubw4wmB_i9JKTuydDkwZJd5BoEmRmHqXC_rpgp3pSrCsJQMhBwwmtUrEvwqQ6nOzaER1w/s1600/Kanban+Team.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a></div>
I tend to focus a lot on Kanban and Teams. <a href="http://bit.ly/ZzgVWp" target="_blank">The Kanban Kick-start Field Guide</a> has 1098 occurrences of the term <i>team</i>, and I even write about <a href="http://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2013/07/lessons-learned-from-coaching-50-kanban.html" target="_blank">Kanban teams</a>. But, as David Anderson<a href="https://twitter.com/djaa_dja/status/347375090553483264" target="_blank"> reminded me recently on Twitter</a>, there is no concept of <i>team </i>in Kanban, and as such there are no "Kanban teams"! So why I am rambling about teams and Kanban all the time?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<h2>
Kanban is Naked</h2>
The Kanban method does not specify the use of <i>teams </i>because Kanban does not provide, nor require, any <i>specific </i>organizational structure (people & processes). Still, Kanban requires <i>some </i>structure to start with. As such, you cannot just “run” Kanban, you need something, some existing structure or organization to support it. You could say that<b> Kanban comes <i>naked </i>and gets dressed in whatever structure you are currently using</b>.<br />
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This <i>nakedness </i>is actually Kanban's greatest strength: it enables Kanban to transform what you currently have (team, organization, value-stream) into something better, fitter to your context and challenges. The recipe really is: y<b>ou start with what you have right now, you apply Kanban and you evolve into what you <i>must </i>to succeed.</b> A more prescriptive model (say, Scrum) would not allow for smooth evolution as it would require a good deal of revolution (<a href="http://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/2013/03/how-to-make-it-stick-journey-from-agile.html" target="_blank">with the problems of "non-stickyness" that come with it</a>).<br />
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Some groups tell me "Kanban is not a process? But we need a process! We've worked <i>ad-hoc</i> for ages, we have nothing!". Well, this is actually never really the case! There is always some (informal) structures and some implicit and natural processes; else they would not have delivered anything, <i>ever</i>. The first step to apply Kanban in these cases is to unearth these structures and make them visible.<br />
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<h2>
Teams are the way we do Things</h2>
Now, what is the most common organizational structure used in today’s software development companies? Based on my experience as a consultant in Sweden (so perhaps this only really applies to Scandinavia), I see: project teams, application management teams, product teams, technology teams, system teams, program management teams, steering groups, etc. So, for me it seems that the concept of <i>team </i>is rather strong. Actually, teams seems to be the way we do <i>things</i>, <i>anything</i>. Of course the definition of <i>team </i>differs widely, even within the same company. Sometime we call them “groups” or “units” but it really is the same thing: individuals working and learning together with the goal to create some value<br />
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<h2>
"Kanban Teams"</h2>
This means that if you want to <i>evolve </i>(starting from where you are) your current organization into something fitter using Kanban<i> as a change management tool</i>, you will most probably end-up helping <i>teams</i>. Teams that use Kanban. As an extension, you get “Kanban teams”.<br />
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<h2>
A Proto-Form of Kanban?</h2>
What would a highly valuable Kanban implementation look like? The highest Return on Investment should come from having a Kanban system that spans whole value-streams, end-to-end, from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Implementing-Lean-Software-Development-Concept/dp/0321437381" target="_blank">“concept to cash”</a>. This gives you opportunities to tweak the whole stream to<i> predictably deliver value faster with higher quality in a sustainable way</i>. Products get released early and deliver more value. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/05/30/the-management-revolution-thats-already-happening/" target="_blank">You win</a>.<br />
<br />
With that in mind, being stuck at the team-level may not be optimal for the whole as <b>most of the organizations seldom organize their people according to their value-streams</b>. Enterprises still tend to organize themselves to optimize resources utilization over flow. So, except for few extremely successful organizations (like <a href="http://blog.crisp.se/2012/11/14/henrikkniberg/scaling-agile-at-spotify" target="_blank">Spotify</a>), teams are often responsible for parts of each-others value-streams. Note that Kanban makes this issue very visible as you will notice that teams tend to block each-others.<br />
<br />
Consequently, Kanban Teams may be <i>Proto-Kanban</i> implementations, that is to say<b> implementations that are in transition towards an ideal, end-to-end Kanban systems or "<i>True Kanban</i>"</b>. Not because Kanban Teams are inherently bad, but because<b> teams are usually not built </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">right</i>.<br />
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<h2>
Evolution goes via Kanban Teams</h2>
So, is a Kanban Team a Proto-Kanban? It all depends on how you have structured your organization (optimize resource utilization or optimize work flow). But I believe that if your organization uses teams, <b>Kanban Teams are a necessary step to make your organization <i>evolve</i></b>.<br />
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If that is true, then we need a way to make the Proto-Kanban teams evolve towards true Kanban. How do you do that? That will be the subject of another blog post...<br />
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Now, if you would, I have some teams to attend to.<br />
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-82319591533050540292013-07-02T11:32:00.001+02:002013-07-05T08:04:14.919+02:00Lessons learned from coaching 50+ kanban teams<span style="font-family: inherit;">Johan Nordin and I plan to attend the <a href="http://www.lkce13.com/" target="_blank">Lean Kanban Central Europe (LKCE) conference</a> this year again. Due to a busy fall it will unfortunatly be our only chance to meet everyone from the community. <span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here is the abstract of <a href="http://www.lkce13.com/submissions/" target="_blank">the paper that we have submited</a> to LKCE13, entitled </span><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>"<span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lessons learned from coaching 50+ kanban teams"</span></b>:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
this experience report, we present the lessons we have learned during a
three years-long journey coaching more than 50 teams in using the
Kanban method at Sandvik IT. We share our experience gathered when
introducing, supporting and scaling Kanban systems with the purpose to
improve the organization as a whole.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Based on validated experiments and facts, we present:</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How we use the Kanban method to create a culture of continuous improvements.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How
we introduce Kanban to overburdened teams using a one-day kick-start
workshop, and how this workshop evolved into what is described in the </span><a href="http://bit.ly/ZzgVWp" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">“The Kanban Kick-start Field Guide”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How we help teams to improve their kanban system using a depth-of-kanban coaching tool.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How
we discovered the key role that management plays in maintaining the
will to improve continuously, and our experiments on how to nurture it.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How we keep track of the improvement capability of the various teams and how we act on it.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How we scale our coaching capability to help even more teams.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This talk is a direct continuation of our </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/57062630" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">LKCE11 talk “Igniting Change in 20 teams within 6 months”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, rated as </span><a href="http://bitly.com/bundles/yyeret/9" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">‘</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the best Kanban case studies out there</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">’</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Brickell Key Award winner Yuval Yeret.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
The title of the talk has triggered an interesting reaction for David Anderson. Here is the <a href="https://twitter.com/djaa_dja/status/347375090553483264" target="_blank">twitter exchange</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/leankanbance">@leankanbance</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisAch">@ChrisAch</a> I'd still like to understand what a <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23kanban&src=hash">#kanban</a> team is? Terms like that make me think people don't get it at all!</p>— David J Anderson (@djaa_dja) <a href="https://twitter.com/djaa_dja/statuses/347375090553483264">June 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/djaa_dja">@djaa_dja</a> But what we are really after are end-2-end value streams. Our experience report tells the story of how we swap to stream-focus.</p>— Chris Achouiantz (@ChrisAch) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisAch/statuses/347422727512154112">June 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisAch">@ChrisAch</a> okay. So it's a form of <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23protokanban&src=hash">#protokanban</a> . Maybe the 3rd form I need to document? Good. Thanks</p>— David J Anderson (@djaa_dja) <a href="https://twitter.com/djaa_dja/statuses/347423815141322752">June 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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I will find the time to blogg more about teams and Kanban in a short while to better explain my position.<br />
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Thanks for reading!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c31450b-9eaa-c91b-8b65-a503153809d6" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060836531767414787.post-53518868296196144122013-07-01T16:08:00.001+02:002013-11-29T13:41:58.942+01:00Improve your Team using Kanban<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have just made available a <b>30 min webbinar</b> about "<b>See and understand how to improve your team using Kanban</b>".<br />
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The webbinar is about a how a team can<i> get in control </i>of its work <i>while understanding what needs to be improved</i>. In the presentation, we see how <b>a small team gradually introduces new policies</b> to get a better clarity about the current situation and ends-up with a Kanban system. There is of course much more to say and present about Kanban than what is in the webbinar, but I find that it helps most of the teams I meet to get interested in the tool.<br />
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Here is the video:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/69466315" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/69466315">See and Understand How to Improve your Team using Kanban</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user15725516">Christophe Achouiantz</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
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Here are the slides:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/23737909" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" width="427"> </iframe> </div>
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<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch/see-and-understand-how-to-improve-your-team-using-kanban" target="_blank" title="See and understand how to improve your team using kanban">See and understand how to improve your team using kanban</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisAch" target="_blank">Christophe Achouiantz</a></strong> </div>
<br />Christophe Achouiantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04375361383264765505noreply@blogger.com1