Kanban Adoption at SEP^WIP limits seem to be the worst-understood part of the Kanban. When used...
Transcript of Kanban Adoption at SEP^WIP limits seem to be the worst-understood part of the Kanban. When used...
Kanban Adoption at SEPHow Kanban has impacted SEP
1
Agenda
• Context – An overview of SEP
• Maturation of a Kanban team
• A success story: How Kanban saved EHMS
• Lessons learned
• Custom software development company
• 20 Years in business
• Located in Carmel, IN
• 76 Employees
We work in a variety of industries
39%
5%
3%
9%5%
40%
AeroSpace
Automotive
Other
Dept. of Defense
Healthcare
Medical
SEP Market Breakdown
Projects at SEP average 4 – 6
people, last an average of 4 – 6 months, and are
transitional in nature
Prior to Kanban…
2004 –Experimentation began with Feature Driven Development (FDD) on a few teams
As a company, SEP was Agile friendly, but wasn’t able to get buy in from everyone
Any widespread institutionalization of Agile practices was met with resistance and ultimately failed to gain traction
Over time, experience with Agile practices and Lean principles grew but
only in limited pockets…
Nothing changed… until Kanban
After its initial implementation in
2007, it quickly became apparent
that Kanban would be different
Since 2007, I’ve worked with teams to
implement a dozen Kanbans across a wide variety of projects and
surveyed over 30 employees using
Kanban
While coaching these projects, a pattern began to emerge
In an effort to describe and understand this pattern, I began to look at existing learning models
Today, we are going to look at
the Dreyfus Model of Skill
Acquisition and how it can help
us.
Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition
• Stage 1 - Novice
• Stage 2 - Advanced Beginner
• Stage 3 - Competent
• Stage 4 - Proficient
• Stage 5 - Expert
The model does two important
things:
• It defines different stages of learning
• It explains how people move from one stage to the next
As leaders, this is important to us because it gives us guidance how
to best train and coach teams.
As we walk through each stage, I will:
• Define each stage
• Share what I saw at SEP
• Demonstrate how a Kanban team matures in a way consistent with the Dreyfus model
Stag
e 1
-N
ovi
ceDefinition
• Little or no previous experience
• All about following rules – context free rules
• Little situational perception
• No discretionary judgment
• Want to accomplish a goal, not learn
Stag
e 1
-N
ovi
ceWhat I observed…
• Teams viewed the board as a task tracking system with a simple set of rules such as:
– When a work item is completed, move it to the next section
– Use a yellow sticky for scenarios, blue for bugs…
– Prioritize the work to be started in the ER queue
• Little or no regard for WIP limits
Stag
e 1
-N
ovi
ce Teams told my they experienced an enhanced understanding of the project – clear priority of work
items, what to work on next, easier to see progress, etc.
Teams experienced a culture change through the introduction of Kanban
boards and standup meetings
(This was a significant change!)
“We never implemented WIP limits. What Kanban DID
accomplish though, was illustrate the development process to a
team that had never thought about it much before. It basically
exposed them to their selves.” - Ryan
Definition
• Still rules based, but start to understand situational conditions
• No holistic understanding – they don’t want it and likely see it as not relevant
• Principles, based on experience, start to be formulated
Stag
e 2
–A
dva
nce
d B
egin
ner
What I observed...
• WIP limits were being followed and, for the first time, teams began to realize how too much work in progress really negatively impacted things.
• Teams started to understand the impact of ‘blocked work items’ and ‘rework’
Stag
e 2
–A
dva
nce
d B
egin
ner
• Team members began to collaborate with each other
• Teams began to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement
Stag
e 2
–A
dva
nce
d B
egin
ner
“WIP limits seem to be the worst-understood part of the Kanban. When used properly, it exposes bottlenecksand reduces lead time for individual work items. Used improperly, it can starve developers for work or resultin too many people working on the
same work items.”- Keith
The Dreyfus model says taking responsibility is often the critical
point for people when learning a new skill. Without accepting responsibility most people never move to Stage 3 –
Competent
Deming tells us that fear is a barrier to improvement so we should strive
to ‘drive fear out’ of the organization.
As long as fear exists in the organization, it is unlikely that people
will choose to take responsibility.
Kanban provides an way to successfully manage organizational
changes.
Managing changes effectively encourages people to take
responsibility. Thus, Kanban works to drive out fear
Definition
• Start to recognize patterns and principles
• Rule sets become more “rules of thumb”
• Start to establish guidelines
• Seeking out and solving problems - begin troubleshooting issues
• Sees actions in terms of long-term plans and goals
Stag
e 3
-C
om
pet
ence
The whole team participated in making process changes. They
felt a sense of ownership
Stag
e 3
-C
om
pet
ence
What I observed…
The team started “pulling” in alternate practices to optimize
the process
However, unlike previous attempts, practices are being introduced to solve specific
problems
Stag
e 3
-C
om
pet
ence
The team experienced a real sense of gratification as they witnessed the effect of those
changes.
Stag
e 3
-C
om
pet
ence
Interestingly, teams began to become ‘Lean’. They discovered
the principles themselves –cause and effect of flow, value,
quality, and waste
Stag
e 3
-C
om
pet
ence
“It was like switching on a light, no joke. Suddenly, everyone was able to offer ideas on how to improve our processes. It really motivated
everyone.”- Julie
Definition
• Seek out and want to understand the ‘big picture’ – sees situations holistically
• Perceive a complete system instead of a set of individual parts
• Can correct previous poor task performance
• Can learn from the experience of others and take full advantage of reflection and feedback
Stag
e 4
-P
rofi
cien
t
Stag
e 4
-P
rofi
cien
tWhat I observed…
Teams made throughput and reducing cycle time its primary
focus
Teams began to focus on optimizing the whole and reducing the cost of delay
Stag
e 4
-P
rofi
cien
t
Stag
e 4
-P
rofi
cien
t
Teams began actively trying to reduce their WIP limits
Stag
e 4
-P
rofi
cien
t
Kaizen moments became more commonplace
“The entire picture allows me to work with full knowledge of our progress in relation to our goals. The limits in each section forces
me to work in the areas that most need help – in order for the board
to keep flowing.”- Matt
What began as a few minor changes…
…resulted in a team that is
continuously changing and
improving their process – all in 6
months time.
What I saw led me to believe that the
maturation of a Kanban team causes people to learn and understand
Lean principles
So, when teaching a new skill, should we start with the principles
or practices?
Practices!
It’s ok to talk about principles.
However, teaching principles does not equate to acquiring
a new skill.
An expert has experience that “is so vast that normally each
specific situation immediately dictates an intuitively appropriate action.”St
age
5 -
Exp
ert
The expert can distinguish between very important details and those considered irrelevant. They know which details to
focus on and which can be safely ignored.
Stag
e 5
-Ex
pe
rt
Stag
e 5
-Ex
pe
rtWhat I observed…
Before EHMS… there was a long standing, small, successful team - well versed in how they did things, and rarely worked in
a ‘deadline environment’
At the start of EHMS… the team sized ballooned (>2X), the
technology platform changed, and there was a high pressure,
politically charged deadline and we didn’t change the way we worked.
A couple months in… the project was not proceeding well. The lead did not have a feel for what people
were working on or how the project was progressing.
Discontent and frustration was felt throughout the team. There was
negative emotion and no one stepping up to fix the bigger
problems - only heroes dealing with symptoms.
Kanban is introduced… Some minor confusion at first but the
team quickly aligned. It immediately revealed WIP
problems without even having added limits yet. People started to
have a little hope.
A short time later… the team hit the first delivery date, but
sacrificed quality to do it. After delivery, Kanban limits were
enforced. The limits prompted some immediate changes.
The team ‘took the pain’ and fixed the bugs along with process issues.
People who were normally quiet were now pointing out issues and
coming up with different solutions.
Today… The team enforces good behavior in their day to day
activities. The board has changed several times and fits the situation
well.
There is a sense of progress, which leads to constructive attitudes. The team is a bunch of ‘true believers’
now. They are starting to really look at data and see what they can
learn from it.
“I wish we'd started Kanban six months earlier.”
- EHMS Project Lead
Let’s look at some data…
Work-In-Progress
0
50
100
150
200
250
8/1
/20
08
8/9
/20
08
8/1
7/2
00
8
8/2
5/2
00
8
9/2
/20
08
9/1
0/2
00
8
9/1
8/2
00
8
9/2
6/2
00
8
10
/4/2
00
8
10
/12
/20
08
10
/20
/20
08
10
/28
/20
08
11
/5/2
00
8
11
/13
/20
08
11
/21
/20
08
11
/29
/20
08
12
/7/2
00
8
12
/15
/20
08
12
/23
/20
08
12
/31
/20
08
1/8
/20
09
1/1
6/2
00
9
1/2
4/2
00
9
2/1
/20
09
2/9
/20
09
2/1
7/2
00
9
2/2
5/2
00
9
3/5
/20
09
3/1
3/2
00
9
3/2
1/2
00
9
3/2
9/2
00
9
4/6
/20
09
4/1
4/2
00
9
4/2
2/2
00
9
4/3
0/2
00
9
5/8
/20
09
5/1
6/2
00
9
5/2
4/2
00
9
6/1
/20
09
6/9
/20
09
6/1
7/2
00
9
6/2
5/2
00
9
7/3
/20
09
7/1
1/2
00
9
7/1
9/2
00
9
7/2
7/2
00
9
8/4
/20
09
Tasks
Bugs
Bugs Found
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Series1
Lead Time (4 wk rolling avg.)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Act. Avg.
Lessons Learned
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” – Thomas Edison
Lesson 1 – Start by teaching practices, not principles
Lesson 2 – Don’t set WIP limits too low for a new team
Lesson 3 – Keep rules about
moving tokens/cards
simple
Lesson 4 – WIP is strongly
correlated to product quality
Conclusions
• Kanban teams mature in a way consistent with the Dreyfus model
• Kanban is an effective tool for teaching Lean principles and managing change in an organization
• There are multiple levels of maturity; in each level, certain behaviors should guide your focus (as the trainer)
™
THANKYOU
Software Engineering Professionals ™(SEP) is a project based developer of software systems and products for business, data and safety critical applications. Over the past 21 years, SEP has grown into one of the largest and most well respected engineering companies in central Indiana.
Chris is a graduate of Purdue University and resides in Indianapolis with his wife and two sons.
Chris Shinkle has been with SEP for over 12 years. He has used Agile and Lean methods to lead large complex projects, most notably, a military aircraft engine monitoring and maintenance system and an FDA regulated remote patient monitoring system. He introduced FDD to SEP in 2004, and then continued to evolve the internal processes and approaches over the following years. In 2007, SEP began to adopt Kanban processes under Chris' guidance, as he trained and mentored engineers across the company.
sep.com