This document provides many tips for improving a kanban board, including using different colors to identify different types of work, tracking metrics like lead time and throughput, setting work in progress limits, and ensuring a continuous flow of work through the use of techniques like pull systems and queues. It emphasizes making the board visually clear and focusing on workflow rather than individuals.

1. quick ideas on how to
improve your kanban board
Marcus Hammarberg
@marcusoftnet
202122232425262728293020

2. http://bit.ly/minskvote

3. http://bit.ly/minskvote

4. http://bit.ly/minskvote

5. http://bit.ly/minskvote

6. http://bit.ly/minskvote

7. http://bit.ly/minskvote

8. http://bit.ly/minskvote

9. http://bit.ly/minskvote

10. http://bit.ly/minskvote

11. http://bit.ly/minskvote

12. Use code
ctwitspring
at manning.com
40% off
http://bit.ly/minskvote

13. http://bit.ly/minskvote

14. Have a board in
the first place

15. http://blogs.ubc.ca/qualresearch/narrative-inquiry/the-storyteller/

16. https://pixabay.com/en/lost-places-chair-abandoned-old-1533790

17. So…. how do I get started?

19. Todo

20. Todo Doing or something

21. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo

22. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo

23. ?
DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding

24. Analyze Development Testing AcceptTodo

25. Create Toolbox For
Your Team

27. Official team-ware
© ® ™

28. Walk the board from
right to left

29. Test DoneDev.AnalyzeInbox
Walk the board

30. Use avatars to indicate
who is working on what

31. Analyze Development Testing AcceptTodo

32. Analyze Development Testing AcceptTodo
Hannah
Hugo
John
Hugo
John
Daphne
Daphne

35. Focus on the work,
not the workers

36. The 3 questions © ® ™
Does everyone have
things to do?

37. Flow - effectiveness
Resource
efficiency
Source: This is Lean!
Niklas Modig, Pär Åhlström

38. Flow - effectiveness
Resource
efficiency
Source: This is Lean!
Niklas Modig, Pär Åhlström

39. Flow - effectiveness
Resource
efficiency
Source: This is Lean!
Niklas Modig, Pär Åhlström

40. Flow - effectiveness
Resource
efficiency
Source: This is Lean!
Niklas Modig, Pär Åhlström

41. The 3 questions © ® ™

42. Enumerate the work not the workers

43. Done-column? There is
no Done

44. Production

45. By Julija Rauluševičiūtė, Advanced Mac user II, Used under Creative Commons
“Working Software” is software
that users are actually using.
Until it’s in use it is truly useless
- Woody zuill

46. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Follow upGather data

48. Use Progress indicators
to indicate how far we have come

54. https://www.pinterest.se/pin/463800461598761716/

56. Use WIP limits on
your board

57. No WIP limit
No kanban

58. Aaaah …. kanban is speaking to
the lazy seal in me

59. By zzpza, Tools, Used under Creative Commons

60. WIP too high
=
work idle
WIP too low
=
people idle
Stop starting
Start finishing

63. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
3 3 2

64. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
3 3 2

65. Analyze Development Testing Accept
Waiting
for Ops
In
ProductionTodo

66. S-M-L should not start
from a date span

67. http://saphanatutorial.com/sap-hana-t-shirt-size/

68. http://saphanatutorial.com/sap-hana-t-shirt-size/
1 day 2-3 days 3-5 days 6-8 days 8-12 days

71. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo
S
Coding
S
M
S

72. Small
Medium
Large
1-3 days
Span
# of items
counted
8
2-6 days 3
4-46 days 2
Average
2 days
4 days
25 days

73. Small
Medium
Large
1-5 days
Span
# of items
counted
120
2-12 days 36
4-86 days 21
Average
1,6 days
2,8 days
32 days

74. Work to the cake limit
Have a WIP limit on Done

76. Demo
Retrospective
Planning
Celebrations

78. Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose

80. Write about exactly
one item per sticky

81. Create new login functionality
Update Search Form
Change profile page

82. Create new login functionality
Change profile pageUpdate Search Form

83. Good
Lots of Stuff Delivered
First Code in GOLang!
Bad
Sprint to Short
Improve
More Test
Coverage

84. Set your TPP = 1
Topic per post-it

85. Blocked should
not be a column

87. DoneDeployTestDevTodo CodingAnalyse

88. DoneWaitCodeDevTodo Wait WaitDeployWaitTestAnalyse

91. Use Disneyland
wait time to be predictable

92. Disneyland

95. Small
Medium
Large
1-5 days
Span
# of items
counted
120
2-12 days 36
4-86 days 2
Average
1,6 days
2,8 days
45 days

96. Tear off the post-its
the correct way

97. DoneDeployTestDevTodo CodingAnalyse

98. Certified Post-It Master © ® ™

100. Certified Post-It Master © ® ™

101. Create a pull-system for new
work using an order point item

103. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

104. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

105. …
Todo Design
Order
point
6 2

106. …
Todo Design
Order
point
6 2

107. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2
It’s time to get More work. MOOOAR!
Do this:
* Move the remaining cards up
* Call the PO and create a meeting
* Tell team to come to meeting

108. …
Todo Design
Order
point
It’s time to get More work. MOOOAR!
Do this:
* Move the remaining cards up
* Call the PO and create a meeting
* Tell team to come to meeting
6 2

109. …
Todo Design
Order
point
6 2

110. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

111. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

112. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

113. …
Todo Design
6
Order
point
2

114. Annotate the card with reference
to external issue tracker

115. Electronic tool
or physical board
Or both …?

116. In your face
Tactile
Big
Always present
Attachments
Capturing discussions
Track a lot of data
Distribution
Physical board Electronic Tool

118. JIRA-63215
DoneStarted
Not
started

119. JIRA-63215

120. In order faster find people
that have visitors
As a receptionist
I want to be able to fuzzy
search on their
complete names
JIRA-63215

121. That special case of the
invoicing batch where it fails
on odd numbers
in the dates of February
greater than 28
JIRA-63215

122. Increase conversion by 20%
by allowing for customers
to actually pay…
JIRA-63215

124. Use queues
to ensure flow and
exploit bottlenecks

126. DoneAcceptTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding

127. Done
Ready to
Accept
TestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Accepted
5

128. Done
Ready to
Accept
TestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Accepted
5

129. DoneDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Testing

130. Done
Ready
to test
DevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Testing
5
Dev

131. Don't have a backlog -
have an impact map

132. http://thearterie.blogspot.se/

133. Features
IMPACTS

134. https://www.impactmapping.org

135. https://www.impactmapping.org

137. Design your work to
Goldilock size

139. “If the mountain will not
come to Muhammad,
then Muhammad must
go to the mountain”
- Francis Bacon, 1625

140. https://neilkillick.wordpress.com/

141. Get your work up to standard
with exit criteria per column

142. Definition
of Done

144. DoneDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Testing
Quality
Quality Quality Quality Quality

145. DoneDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Testing
Definition of Done - Coding
* Unit test written >80% code
coverage
* at least one e2e integration test
written and passing
* Installed in test environment
* documentation updated
Definition of Done - Coding
* Unit test written >80% code
coverage
* at least one e2e integration test
written and passing
* Installed in test environment
* documentation updated
Definition of Done - Coding
* Unit test written >80% code
coverage
* at least one e2e integration test
written and passing
* Installed in test environment
* documentation updated
Definition of Done - Coding
* Unit test written >80% code
coverage
* at least one e2e integration test
written and passing
* Installed in test environment
* documentation updated

146. DoneDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding Testing
Definition of Done - Coding
* Unit test written >80% code coverage
* at least one e2e integration test
written and passing
* Installed in test environment
* code review done

147. https://hakanforss.wordpress.com

148. Have a continuous retrospective
running on your board
Kanban Kata style

149. https://www.cprime.com/2013/01/effective-retrospectives/

150. Toyota Kata
Kanban Kata

152. Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
Jimmy Janlén

153. Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
We can run month end
close daily, all automated

154. Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
Automated first 3 of the
steps in “month end
close”-work
We can run month end
close daily, all automated

155. Automate the
reporting of
monthly plays
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users
Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
We can run month end
close daily, all automated
Automated first 3 of the
steps in “month end
close”-work
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users

156. Automate the
reporting of
monthly plays
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users
Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
We can run month end
close daily, all automated
Automated first 3 of the
steps in “month end
close”-work
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users

157. Automate the
reporting of
monthly plays
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users
Each “month end close”-
work takes about 20 days
with a lot of manual work
We can run month end
close daily, all automated
Automated first 3 of the
steps in “month end
close”-work
Automate the
reporting of
monthly users

158. Toyota Kata
Kanban Kata

159. Move the stickies as status is
updated - not only at the standup

161. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding

162. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding

163. DoneDeployTestDevAnalyseTodo Design Coding
“Be like water” - Bruce Lee

164. Let the order in the column
be the priority of the work

166. Location!
Location!
Location!
Todo
More important
Less important
This First
This later

167. Use Different Colors For
Different Type Of Work

169. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done

170. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done

171. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done

172. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
Tech
debt
Bug
Feature

173. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
Tech
debt
Bug
Feature

174. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
Tech
debt
Bug
Feature
4 =

175. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done

176. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
Tech
debt
Bug
Feature
4 =

177. Have an expedite lane for
urgent work

179. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
3 3 2
Maint.
Bug
Feature
Urgent

180. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
3 3 2
Maint.
Bug
Feature
Urgent

181. Analyze Development Test DoneTodo
Doing DoingDone Done
3 3 2
Maint.
Bug
Feature
Urgent

182. Max 1 at the time
Highest priority
Retrospective
For exceptions

183. Track time taken per item
- Lead time

184. Measure lead time - it’s good for you

186. “The customer doesn’t care how we are organized”
- Leif Östling

187. Analyze Dev.Inbox Test
Done
In: 130202 In: 130202
Out: 130318
Ready to
Deploy

188. Small
Medium
Large
1-5 days
Span
# of items
counted
120
2-12 days 36
4-86 days 2
Average
1,6 days
2,8 days
45 days

189. Track throughput per time
unit for your work

192. DoneDeploy
…

193. DoneDeploy
…
Small Medium Large
4 items 3 items 1 item 8 items=

194. # items
completed
Week
14 15 16 17 18
X
X
X
X
X
1
2
3
4
5
6
X
X
19 20 21
X

195. http://bit.ly/2opcKAn - Control Charts by Håkan Forss

196. www.marcusoft.net
@marcusoftnet
marcus.hammarberg@aptitud.se

197. Pictures from Pixabay if nothing else indicated
Public Domain pictures - free
or Kanban in Action
which is written by Joakim and me