KANBAN for Software ProjectsA Practioner’s View of PULL in Projects

Govindarajan S

Not a Tutorial

Experiences from the Ground

Chronicles the Evolution

Our Worlds are Un Predictable !

Increase in Project Success Rate

From the 1994 levels

100%

34%

an

Source: Standish Report on project success rate

“The primary reason is the projects have gotten

a lot Smaller. Doing projects with

Iterative processing as opposed to the waterfall method,

which called for all project requirementsto be defined up front, is a major step forward.”

Project Cadence!

Faster Turnaround

Iteration Time box is Restrictive ?

Customer’s world is fluid

4New

Cus

tom

Dev

elop

men

t

Rapid DeliveryRe-engineering of Platform

Regression Test

Performance Based Contract

Legacy Code

No Sound Eng Practices

Rapid Response

Well defined Backlog

Milestone Releases

Learn Adapt & Respond

Short Iterations

Team Stalls

Lack of Stories

Rapidly changing backlog

Routine Levers Didn’t Work

No Control on Story ThrottleFluid Requirements landscapeInventories caused wastage

How Real was the

Backlog ?

Flexible Process

Response1

Build A

StrategicBuffer

LimitIn Process

Stories

Focus on doingEnd to End

WIP In Action

WIP CausedPULL

Realization of Constraints• What is the teams capacity ?

Mindset on Fixed Backlog

Streamlining of Analysis WorkVisible Slack in the System

Questions Still Lingered …

Sudden Burst in Velocity

Consistency of Story Sizes

2 Response

Coarse Grained Estimation

Small

Medium

Large

Throughput

How many ?

Vs

How long ?

What do we Stand For ?

What is the Value Adding Process ?

3 Response

What is in Control ?

Requests from Users

Planned for Development

Elaborate Requirements Development Test Merge and

Validate

Deploy

Set Of Activities that matters !

Evolve From Requirements

To Development Done

From Requirements

ToAutomation

Clarity to the Process

Requests from Users

Planned for Development

Deploy

Well Defined Value ChainProvides

Clarity of Purpose

Call for Action8 Cards In Process – How to Restore Limit ?

1

2

3 4

56

7

Call for ActionCapacity Available for New Work

How does Pull Work – Scene 1

BacklogIdentified

Analysis Ready forDEV

In DEV DEV Done In QA QA Done AtmnDone

Merged

Backlog In Process Done

Deployed

WIP Limit 10

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

• DEV completed triggers upstream pull• Signals Bas / Product Owners to line up the next

high priority story for playAdvantages• Commit late to the stories to play• Automatic signaling for the next activity

BacklogIdentified

Analysis Ready forDEV

In DEV DEV Done In QA QA Done AtmnDone

Merged

Backlog In Process Done

Deployed

WIP Limit 10

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

• Critical limit reached for Deployment• Can be taken into deployment at any point of timeAdvantages• Deployment cadence• On Demand or frequent deployment

How does Pull Work – Scene 2

BacklogIdentified

Analysis Ready forDEV

In DEV DEV Done In QA QA Done AtmnDone

Merged

Backlog In Process Done

Deployed

WIP Limit 10

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 1

Stage Limit: 2

Stage Limit: 1

• Limit reached. Bottleneck at Automation• Don’t pull in new Story• Instead automate and push the story out into

Ready for Merge.

How does Pull Work – Scene 3

4 Response

Cycle Time Replaced Velocity

Measure Throughput

Cycle Time

Lead Time

Wait Time

Metrics

Just in Time assures RelevancyInventory was reduced

Pull Assures Throughput

Value chain improvement resulted in Quality

Iteration was a checkpoint

Iteration ?

Flexible on Rituals

Swarm to Retrospect

Team Obsessed with WIP

Swarming to Remove Bottlenecks

Awareness on Taking in Inventory

Process change for Inclusive Delivery

Awareness of Team ThroughputAffinity with the Wall to pick cuesTake One Step at a Time

Explicit Process SpecificationsFlexibility in the Rituals

Learn Continuously

Looking Back

Theory Of Constraints

• Focus on throughput, rather than improving individual processes

• Enables one to look at the process in terms of the weakest link

• Manage the constraint to get a grip on the throughput

• Enables you to have a good measure on the Capacity

“Kanban to promotes flow and reduced cycle-

time by limiting WIP and pulling value through in a visible manner.”

“Kanban helps our team contribute to the business by promoting flow and reducing cycle-time through a limited WIP and a fully

transparent value pulling system.”“Value Pull, Limited WIP, and Visibility can create an ecosystem

where teams have the opportunity to improve.”

Source: www.limitedwipsociety.org

Finally….•Start slowly•Focus on Your Value Chain•Accurately Measure Progress•Retrospect•Use Stand ups to pull and adapt•Inculcate a culture of continuous improvement

Image Credits: www.sxc.hu

Questions ?

govinds@thoughtworks.com