Andrew rusling 21 experiments to increase velocity

21 Experiments

to increase

your Velocity

www.journey-to-better.com

What if…

Lights out

Run to exit?

Chaos in development

• Rushing

• Competing

• Shifting goals

• Misalignment

• Indecision

• Shortcuts

@AndrewRusling

Agile Coach

Terminology

Velocity ~= Throughput


Source of Experiments

Two Theories

Four Principles

21 Experiments


Queuing Theory


Serious math

Not for today


Simple principles

To increase velocity, reduce


Utilisation Batch Size Item Size

System with Variability

Why reduce utilisation?


Velocity

Cycle

Time

Resource

Utilisation

Tipping point

Utilisation0 100

Cycle

Tim

e

Tipping Point

Some examples:

• Computer CPU

• Building Fire Exit

• Road

Tipping Point in action


Why reduce batch size?

Littles Law

Avg. Cycle Time =

Work In Progress (WIP)

Avg. Velocity


Velocity

Cycle

Time

WIP

Batch

Size

Why reduce item size?


Velocity

Queue

Size

(WIP)

Item

SizePredictability

Bad

Variability

Cycle

Time

Improving freeway velocity

Image by Atlantacitizen at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1811360

Reducing utilisation


Image by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/highwaysagency/

• Radio messages

• Signs

• Promote Car Pooling

• Promote Public Transport

• Tolls

• High Taxes and fees

• Limit access by registration

• Add more lanes

Reducing batch size

Image by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/


• Control entry points

• Stagger work times

• Multi nucleolus city

Reducing item size

Image by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/null0/

Replace Buses with Cars, Cars with Bikes.


Queuing Theory

is baked into

agile & Scrum


Good news!

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Queuing Theory in agile

agile lowers Utilization by

• Promoting sustainable development.

• Customer collaboration.

agile lowers Batch Size by

• Focus on early delivery of Working Software.

agile lowers Item Size by

• Focus on simplicity & business feedback.

www.journey-to-better.comImage: http://www.agilemanifesto.org/

Queuing Theory in Scrum

Scrum lowers Utilization by

• Team members 100% allocated.

• Team pulls in work to sprint.

Scrum lowers Batch Size by

• Sprint length.

Scrum lowers Item Size by

• Time boxing & D.O.D.


Utilisation experiments

• Pull in less total Story Points (-20%)

• Commit to less team hours (-20%)

• Limit # of I.P. User Stories (p/2)

• Show requesters your Scrum board

Batch size experiments

• Split up Releases (½)

• Split up Epics/Features (3 to 12)

• Shorten your Sprints (-1w)

Item Size Experiments

• Split up your User Stories (# in sprint ~= p)

• Use Spikes

• Practice Simplicity

• Split up your Tasks (max 1d)

To increase velocity:

Lower

Utilisation

Work on

smaller batches

Work on

smaller items

Queuing Theory Summary


Theory of Constraints


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Why add just one lane?

Why not replace them?

Focusing our efforts


IdeaProcess

AProcess

BProcess

C

Customer

• A?• B?• C?• A, B & C?• Need more info?

Focusing our efforts

5 units per week

2 units per week

3 units per week


IdeaProcess

AProcess

BProcess

C

Customer

• A?• B?• C?• A, B & C?• Need more info?

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

"a chain is no stronger than its

weakest link“

Improving strong links, does not

strengthen the chain.

To achieve more of your goal,

improve your weakest link.


Five Focusing StepsConstraint

1. Identify the constraint

2. Cheap changes

3. Align everyone

4. Expensive changes

5. Repeat

Applying TOC in Scrum

We are going to:

1. Map team workflow

2. Populate a Scrum board

3. Use TOC to increase velocity


Backlog Analysis Coding Review Testing Accept Done

Map team workflow



Populate with current state


1. Identify the constraint

Symptoms

• Work waiting in front of the constraint.

• Resource is heavily stressed.

• Starvation downstream.


Constraint


Where is the constraint?



Doing Ready

Split Testing column

1st Possibility



Doing Ready

Split Testing column

2nd Possibility



Doing ReadyDoing ReadyDoing ReadyDoing Ready

Split all other columns


2. Cheap Changes

Some experiments:

• Shield them from interruptions.

• Limit their WIP.

• Reduce their non value adding work.

No overtime!www.journey-to-better.com



(5)

Cheap Changes

Limit WIP in Testing




(5)

Let it run

Constraint remains


3. Align everyone

Some experiments:

• Limit WIP of upstream to match.

• Upstream do preparation work.

• Upstream improve their quality.

• Pair upstream with constraint staff.




(5)(5)(5)(5)

Align everyone

Match upstream WIP to constraint

Devs do more test prep work.

Dev-QA pairing




(5)(5)(5)(5)

Let it run

Constraint remains


4. Expensive Changes

Some experiments:

• Improve their tools.

• Improve their environment.

• Improve their team work.

• Hire more people.




(5)(5)(5)(5)

Expensive Changes

Improve tools (reduce manual effort)

Get Devs to help execute tests

Hire another tester




(5)(5)(5)(5)

Let it run

Constraint has been broken


5. Repeat

• The bottleneck should now have shifted.

• Start all over again.


Scrum enables TOC

• Task board

• Stand upIdentify

• Focus on Sprint Goal

• Scrum Master

Cheap Changes

• Shared Team Success

• Self Organising Team

Align Everyone

• Retrospective

• Self Organising Team

Expensive Changes

Questions

Analogies

Utilisation, Batch Size, Item Size

Queuing theory in Agile

Queuing theory in Scrum

Improving the weakest link

Five Focusing Steps

Scrum enables TOC

Real life examples

Experiments

Contact: @andrewrusling [email protected]

Slides: http://bit.ly/21ExperimentsToImproveYourVelocity

mailto:[email protected]

QT Experiment Summary

• Pull in less total Story Points (-20%)

• Commit to less team hours (-20%)

• Limit # of I.P. User Stories (people/2)

• Show requesters your Scrum board

• Split up Releases (½)

• Split up Epics/Features (3 to 12 sub items)

• Shorten your Sprints (-1 week)

• Split up your User Stories (# in sprint ~= people)

• Use Spikes

• Practice Simplicity

• Split up your Tasks (max 1d)

TOC Experiment Summary

• Shield them from interruptions.

• Limit their WIP.

• Reduce their non value adding work.

• Limit WIP of upstream to match.

• Upstream do preparation work.

• Upstream improve their quality.

• Pair upstream with constraint staff.

• Improve their tools.

• Improve their environment.

• Improve their team work.

• Hire more people.

Andrew rusling 21 experiments to increase velocity

Business

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