STATIK: Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban

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STATIK
Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban
Brad Swanson, agile42
brad.swanson@agile42.com

What is the most
difficult aspect of
introducing Kanban to
a team or
organization?

The elements of STATIK
1. Understand 'ﬁtness for purpose’
1.including sources of dissatisfaction
2. Demand & capability analysis
3. Model the workﬂow
4. Discover classes of service
5. Design the kanban system
6. Rollout plan

1. Fitness for purpose
•WHY does your team/service
exist?
•WHO do you serve?
•What VALUES will you uphold?
•HOW do your stakeholders
measure the value you provide?
•Are you OPTIMIZED for this
purpose? Or something else…

Discover the sources of dissatisfaction
External
perspective
Internal
perspective

Discover the sources of dissatisfaction
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Problem
1
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Problem
2

How do your stakeholders measure value /
satisfaction?
•Activity: identify 5 ways that your
stakeholders or customers would
measure the value you deliver, and
their level of satisfaction
•Extra credit: be very speciﬁc and
quantiﬁable

Measuring ‘Fitness for purpose’
• Quality
• Timeliness / speed
• Predictability
• Innovation
• New Revenue
• Cost savings / efﬁciency
• “Seconds per support call” (a call center)
• “Pennies saved per claim
processed” (Insurance/medical claim
processing)

Innovation Games to articulate purpose
•Remember the Future
•Cover Page
•Product Box

2.Demand & capability analysis
6. Rollout plan

2(a) Demand Analysis
• WHERE does work come from? From WHOM?
• WHAT are the different types of work items?
• What is is the arrival rate? Periodic, seasonal, or event-driven variations?
0"
10"
20"
30"
40"
50"
60"
70"
80"
Jan" Feb" Mar" Apr" May" Jun" Jul" Aug" Sep" Oct" Nov" Dec"
Arrivals(
Arrivals"

Variations
(斑: mura)
keep the Flow
Even

2(b) Capacity Analysis
• What is our throughput?
0"
10"
20"
30"
40"
50"
60"
70"
80"
Jan" Feb" Mar" Apr" May" Jun" Jul" Aug" Sep" Oct" Nov" Dec"
Arrivals"
CompleEons"

•What is our lead time distribution?
Lead Time (days)
0"
2"
4"
6"
8"
10"
12"
14"
16"
18"
20"
2" 4" 6" 8" 10" 12" 14" 16" 18" 20" 22" 24" 26" 28" 30" 32" 34" 36" 38" 40"
Lead%&me%frequency%

•What is our flow efficiency?
•Flow efficiency = (active work time) / (lead time)
•5-10% is a common starting point. 40% is very
good

3.Model the workﬂow
6. Rollout plan

7 Stages:
1.Parking lot
2.Qualiﬁcation*
3.Analysis
4.Proposal
5.Short List
6.Contracting
7.Closed

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/clearpathchiropractic/
Don’t institutionalize
handoffs

Workflow modeling tips
•Identify queues and wait states
•Where do items wait on internal or external people or
resources?
•Validate the workflow with actual work items in progress
•Do they all fit cleanly in the categories/stages identified?
•Try it with an item that was unusual or problematic in
some way.

4.Discover classes of service
6. Rollout plan

4. Discover Classes of Service
• How do you decide which items are more urgent than others?
• Do you have explicit Service Level Agreements in place already?
Other explicit policies that determine priorities or sequencing?
• Do the ‘sources of dissatisfaction’ imply different classes of service?
• Do items with different business risk proﬁles need different policies?
• Do you need a class of service to overcome emotional objections to
the kanban system?
• “My XYZ requests MUST get timely attention.”

Common classes of service
•Expedite
•Fixed date
•Standard
•Intangible
time
must do now
delaycost
time
fixed date
delaycost
time
linear
delaycost
time
intangible
delaycost
Cost of Delay

“Intangible” class of service
• Cost of Delay horizon is long or unknown
• Important but not urgent
• Fire prevention - to avoid fire fighting
• Technical debt reduction
• Outcome is uncertain
• Experiment; innovation
• Prototype or spike
• Investing or exercising an option to reduce risk may be beneficial
time
intangible
delaycost

Common classes of service
•Expedite
•Fixed date
•Standard
•Intangible
time
must do now
delaycost
time
fixed date
delaycost
time
linear
delaycost
time
intangible
delaycost
Activity: balance
your “portfolio”
of work items.
What % of
capacity for each
class?

5.Design the kanban system
6. Rollout plan

Wait
state
commit
point
class of
service
class of
service
legend
WIP limit

Design the cards
item
type
Due date.
May be
multiple
dates per
item! Tasks. May be
concurrent.

6.Rollout plan

The Satir change curve
time
performance

Where to start with kanban?
•Visible project, but not mission critical
•So much pain that any change is welcome
•Enthusiastic sponsor

The Ladder for motivating change
As described by David J. Anderson

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/19779889@N00/
1. Avoid sources of resistance

• Empathize
• Know their identity & values
• Become a member of their
tribe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tza/3214197147
2. Engage people emotionally

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/k1ngﬁsher_photos/
3. Pack leader introduces the change

4. Personal Identity Change
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/hoyvinmayvin/

5. Trump resistance with a stronger emotion
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/a_gods_child/
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ara854/
Pride
Loyalty

6. Burning Platform
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/skytruth/

•Burning platform
•Trump resistance w/ stronger emotion
•Personal identity change
•Pack leader introduces change
•Engage people emotionally
•Avoid resistance: ﬂow around the rock
Activity

Thank you!
Brad Swanson, agile42
brad.swanson@agile42.com
Please complete the session feedback survey!

STATIK: Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban

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STATIK: Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban