How do Teams Continue to Win during Times of Turmoil and Uncertainty?
By Dominica DeGrandis
We had a big snow this week. Twelve inches total, a forty-three year record in our part of Puget Sound country. We lost power for ten hours – no furnace, no computer, no lights. No problem - I cozied up to an emergency kerosene stove and opened Jim Collins’ new book, Great by Choice, a study of winning behavior when confronted by uncertainty - with comparisons between companies that win and companies that languish. I was especially fascinated by the parallels I see between the behavior of Jim Collins’ winners and key concepts that we teach with Kanban for coping with uncertainty.
Collins begins with a story of two competing teams far removed from our 21st century business world. The location was Antarctica. The year was 1911. The competition was a race to the South Pole between a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen and an English team led by Robert Falcon Scott.
Each team’s leader was an experienced Antarctic explorer. Each team departed its home base at about the same time. Each faced a roundtrip of 1400 miles, all of it ice and snow. What was different?
The Norwegian team planted its flag at the South Pole on December 15, 1911 and returned safely to home base by January 25. The British team reached the Pole on January 17, 1912 - and never made it back, freezing to death near 79 degrees latitude.
The point of the story is that Collins attributes the difference between Amundsen’s success and Scott’s tragic failure to some fundamental concepts that apply to business management in the 21st century.
And I was almost startled when I realized that those same concepts apply to the Kanban method that we teach in our classes. These concepts are:
Amundsen lived and studied with Arctic Eskimos before going to the South Pole. Among the practices he observed was how the Eskimos never hurried, moving slowly and steadily, “avoiding excessive sweat that could turn to ice in Arctic temperatures.”
The Norwegian team, traveling on skis and using dogs to pull its sleds, set an attainable daily goal. And when they had reached that goal, the team stopped for the night. They set work-in-progress limits.
They managed risk by providing buffers. They provided three tons of supplies for five men. The British team, using ponies to pull its sleds, carried one ton of supplies for seventeen men. The Norwegians placed 20 pennants to mark supply depots. The British placed only one. Amundsen brought four thermometers to measure altitude. Scott brought only one – and it broke.
KANBAN PARALLELS
Studying is the essential first step to designing a Kanban system. Studying the “what and why” of an existing system’s performance leads to understanding improvements and understanding what prevents goals from being achieved.
Limiting work-in-progress (WIP) is a self-imposed constraint and a core practice of Kanban, where a limit is set on the number of tasks worked on at any one time. Collins uses the metaphor “20 Mile March” to describe an attainable and sufficient goal for a day’s work, identifying multiple benefits:
- It reduces the likelihood of catastrophe when you’re hit by turbulent disruption.
- It helps you exert self-control in an out-of-control environment.
Limiting WIP does not mean reducing WIP to near zero. The British had too little (food) inventory. The Norwegian’s had a lot more. Less inventory (traveling light), isn’t always better. This is especially true in knowledge work. The more important factor is controlling the WIP with a limit. Maintaining a healthy level of WIP creates options that mitigate specializations in the workforce and balance against uncertainty in the market or business domain.
Buffers improve predictability. Because the initial analysis of software development is never perfect, there are always unforeseen events. Service-level-agreements (SLAs) based on observed behavior buffer time expectations while WIP buffers in front of capacity constrained resources smooth flow and improve predictability.
The use of Kanban can be seen as an active part of risk management for IT organizations and product or service development groups. Organizations that know how to manage risk will have an edge in a volatile world. The more turbulent the world, the more you need to study your situation, keep an even pace (set WIP limits) and use buffers to meet expectations and improve predictability.
Kanban Leadership Workshop Barcelona, Spain - Mar 19-21, 2012
This 3-day leadership/coaching workshop with David is limited to just 12 people.
This workshop is for anyone tasked with leading a change initiative in their organization or at a client organization in 2012. It is suitable for managers, process engineers, change agents, experienced Agile, Lean, or project management coaches and consultants, existing Kanban practitioners with 1 year of experience, and those who have previously taken David J. Anderson’s Kanban class and are actively using Kanban at work. Attendees are expected to be familiar with the content of the book, “Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business.
These intensive 3 day workshops are intended to transfer the knowledge and skills to enable you to lead Lean transformations using the Kanban Method
Don’t miss out! Read what others are saying about this workshop.
Register today!
Regular price 4000 USD per person
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL 3000 USD per person!
Enter Discount code: BARCELONA
expires Feb 19, 2012
A copy of the book will be supplied upon registration. Attendees will maximize the value if they are already familiar with the material.
The intent is to have an interactive collaborative session designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning. Attendees should come prepared to discuss their own experiences with Kanban and challenging situations they’ve faced with change initiatives at clients or employers
The workshop will open with a round table of introductions and shared Kanban experience. Each participant will be asked for a list of questions they’d like answered over the 3 day session and from this a topic backlog will be built. David will augment this backlog with essential topics and foundational material. The agenda for the remaining time will then be set to insure the fullest of coverage and the maximum value for all participants. The focus will be on shared experience and discussion of the hard questions that clients and team members ask coaches during the introduction of Lean ideas through the use of a kanban pull system. The workshop will include the use of the GetKanban game simulation and discussion of its value as a teaching aid.
The goal is to enable participants to go back into the field and successfully coach Agile/Lean transitions using the Kanban approach. Every workshop is different because of the unique experiences of each participant and their specific focus and desired outcomes. Each participant will received a personal recommendation from David J. Anderson as a result of participating in the class.
Kanban offers agile and project management coaches another tool in their transformation and coaching toolbox. Kanban is proving to be a facilitator of evolutionary change with low resistance and an enabler of accelerated high levels of organizational maturity.
Kanban Leadership Workshop San Diego, CA - Mar 6-8, 2012
This 3-day leadership/coaching workshop with David is limited to just 12 people.
This workshop is for anyone tasked with leading a change initiative in their organization or at a client organization in 2012. It is suitable for managers, process engineers, change agents, experienced Agile, Lean, or project management coaches and consultants, existing Kanban practitioners with 1 year of experience, and those who have previously taken David J. Anderson’s Kanban class and are actively using Kanban at work. Attendees are expected to be familiar with the content of the book, “Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business.
These intensive 3 day workshops are intended to transfer the knowledge and skills to enable you to lead Lean transformations using the Kanban Method
Don’t miss out! Read what others are saying about this workshop.
Register today!
Regular price $3500 per person
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL $2800 per person!
Enter Discount code: DIEGOBIRD
expires Feb 14, 2012
A copy of the book will be supplied upon registration. Attendees will maximize the value if they are already familiar with the material.
The intent is to have an interactive collaborative session designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning. Attendees should come prepared to discuss their own experiences with Kanban and challenging situations they’ve faced with change initiatives at clients or employers
The workshop will open with a round table of introductions and shared Kanban experience. Each participant will be asked for a list of questions they’d like answered over the 3 day session and from this a topic backlog will be built. David will augment this backlog with essential topics and foundational material. The agenda for the remaining time will then be set to insure the fullest of coverage and the maximum value for all participants. The focus will be on shared experience and discussion of the hard questions that clients and team members ask coaches during the introduction of Lean ideas through the use of a kanban pull system. The workshop will include the use of the GetKanban game simulation and discussion of its value as a teaching aid.
The goal is to enable participants to go back into the field and successfully coach Agile/Lean transitions using the Kanban approach. Every workshop is different because of the unique experiences of each participant and their specific focus and desired outcomes. Each participant will received a personal recommendation from David J. Anderson as a result of participating in the class.
Kanban offers agile and project management coaches another tool in their transformation and coaching toolbox. Kanban is proving to be a facilitator of evolutionary change with low resistance and an enabler of accelerated high levels of organizational maturity.
Kanban for IT Services & Operations - Orange County, CA Jan 26-27, 2012
David J. Anderson’s
An Official “Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business” Class
with Dominica DeGrandis (instructor)
Kanban is a framework for changing, for improving, the way an organization works together. If ever-more frequent deliveries from software development are increasing pressure on your teams and creating bottlenecks in the delivery process, look at Kanban to extend agility and balance to IT services and operations teams.
This 2-day Kanban training class uses an interactive teaching method to help students gain an understanding of Kanban Pull Systems and how to apply them to IT services and Operations. Working in small teams, class attendees will analyze and design a kanban system implementation.
Based on David J. Anderson’s book “Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business”, attendees of the class will receive a copy of the book.
Register today!
$1200 per person
Because the value of software is achieved only after being deployed to production, the class begins by studying and mapping the workflow across your organization. You’ll learn how to improve predictability and therefore increase customer satisfaction. You’ll learn how to use policies to manage risk and to reset negotiations and recast them as collaborative problem solving.
Used effectively, Kanban will change you and your organization. If your workplace has been stagnating and you are looking for new ideas to handle increasing complexity around software delivery and support, take 2 days and come along.
What you will learn
Day 1
Kanban Mechanics
- Demand Analysis
- Workflow Mapping
- Visualization
- Work Item Types
- WIP Limits
- Classes of Service
- Kanban Simulation Game customized for operations
Day 2
Kanban Progression
- Kanban System design
- Operations Review
- Case Studies
- Service Level Agreements (SLA)
- Variability and predictability
- How to Get Started with Kanban
- Economic Cost Model for Lean
- Metrics
About the presenter
Dominica specializes in Kanban for IT Services and Operations - with teams interacting with software development. She spent her first 15 years in software engineering deeply embedded in Development teams performing builds, deployments and environment maintenance. She has worked in organizations of all sizes, from the US Army, Boeing, and AT&T to small start-ups. Dominica first worked for David Anderson at Corbis in 2006 where she helped deliver the first implementation of Kanban for software engineering in the US. Adept at leading teams performing Configuration Management and Release Management, Dominica found a passion for improving the way development and operations teams work together.
Is this for you?
If you would like to learn how Kanban, Pull Systems and Lean, can provide a useful perspective for improving work done on the periphery of software engineering and you are performing IT Services or Operations, this class is for you. From data administrative services to deployment/release managers to help desk, this class covers beginning to intermediate level material.
Location:
Newport beach, CA, USA
Venue:
Fashion Island
451 Newport Center Dr.
Newport Beach, CA 92660
My book reading demand is higher than my capability to read them all (too much book reading WIP),
so I love it when other people read and summarize books.
This week, we look at some new practical books and writings.
News
Troy Magennis (@t_magennis) published a new book, “Forecasting and Simulating Software Development Projects”.
It describes optimal WIP limits using Monti-carlo simulation for a board and a backlog of work.
Chapter 2 (Example Modeling Scenario) is currently free. Beta simulation software is available.
Send feedback to @AgileSimulation. http://www.focusedobjective.com/books-and-publications
Joe Dager (@business901) summarized Terri Griffith’s new book, The Plugged-In Manager .
“She discusses an evolution for managers, not a revolution.” Her 3 core practices are:
1. Stop-Look-Listen: What do your data say? What do you already know that will help you with this project?
2. Mixing: How do you balance your available resources?
3. Sharing: How can you achieve better results by integrating your choices with other team members? http://business901.com/blog1/are-your-managers-managing-technology-or/
