1. Perspectives on Kanban for IT
Dr. David F. Rico, PMP, ACP, CSM
Twitter: @dr_david_f_rico
Website: http://www.davidfrico.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfrico
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1540017424
Dave’s Agile Articles: http://davidfrico.com/agile-message.doc
Lean & Agile
Methods & Frameworks

2. Author Background
 DoD contractor with 28+ years of IT experience
 B.S. Comp. Sci., M.S. Soft. Eng., & D.M. Info. Sys.
 Large gov’t projects in U.S., Far/Mid-East, & Europe
2
 Published six books & numerous journal articles
 Adjunct at George Wash, UMBC, UMUC, Argosy
 Agile Program Management & Lean Development
 Specializes in metrics, models, & cost engineering
 Six Sigma, CMMI, ISO 9001, DoDAF, & DoD 5000
 Cloud Computing, SOA, Web Services, FOSS, etc.

3. Today’s Whirlwind Environment
3
Overruns
Attrition
Escalation
Runaways
Cancellation
Global
Competition
Demanding
Customers
Organization
Downsizing
System
Complexity
Technology
Change
Vague
Requirements
Work Life
Imbalance
Inefficiency
High O&M
Lower DoQ
Vulnerable
N-M Breach
Reduced
IT Budgets
81 Month
Cycle Times
Redundant
Data Centers
Lack of
Interoperability
Poor
IT Security
Overburdening
Legacy Systems
Obsolete
Technology & Skills
Pine, B. J. (1993). Mass customization: The new frontier in business competition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Pontius, R. W. (2012). Acquisition of IT: Improving efficiency and effectiveness in IT acquisition in the DoD. Second Annual
AFEI/NDIA Conference on Agile in DoD, Springfield, VA, USA.

4. Traditional Projects
4
 Big projects result in poor quality and scope changes
 Productivity declines with long queues/wait times
 Large projects are unsuccessful or canceled
Jones, C. (1991). Applied software measurement: Assuring productivity and quality. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Size vs. Quality
DefectDensity
0.00
3.20
6.40
9.60
12.80
16.00
0 2 6 25 100 400
Lines of Code (Thousands)
Size vs. Productivity
CodeProductionRate
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
0 2 6 25 100 400
Lines of Code (Thousands)
Size vs. Requirements Growth
Percentage
0%
8%
16%
24%
32%
40%
0 2 6 25 100 400
Lines of Code (Thousands)
Size vs. Success
Percentage
0%
12%
24%
36%
48%
60%
0 2 6 25 100 400
Lines of Code (Thousands)

5. Global Project Failures
5
Standish Group. (2010). Chaos summary 2010. Boston, MA: Author.
Sessions, R. (2009). The IT complexity crisis: Danger and opportunity. Houston, TX: Object Watch.
 Challenged and failed projects hover at 67%
 Big projects fail more often, which is 5% to 10%
 Of $1.7T spent on IT projects, over $858B were lost
16% 53% 31%
27% 33% 40%
26% 46% 28%
28% 49% 23%
34% 51% 15%
29% 53% 18%
35% 46% 19%
32% 44% 24%
33% 41% 26%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Year
Successful Challenged Failed
$0.0
$0.4
$0.7
$1.1
$1.4
$1.8
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Trillions(USDollars)
Expenditures Failed Investments

6. Requirements Defects & Waste
6
Sheldon, F. T. et al. (1992). Reliability measurement: From theory to practice. IEEE Software, 9(4), 13-20
Johnson, J. (2002). ROI: It's your job. Extreme Programming 2002 Conference, Alghero, Sardinia, Italy.
 Requirements defects are #1 reason projects fail
 Traditional projects specify too many requirements
 More than 65% of requirements are never used at all
Other 7%
Requirements
47%
Design
28%
Implementation
18%
Defects
Always 7%
Often 13%
Sometimes
16%
Rarely
19%
Never
45%
Waste

7. What is Agility?
 A-gil-i-ty (ə-'ji-lə-tē) Property consisting of quickness,
lightness, and ease of movement; To be very nimble
 The ability to create and respond to change in order to
profit in a turbulent global business environment
 The ability to quickly reprioritize use of resources when
requirements, technology, and knowledge shift
 A very fast response to sudden market changes and
emerging threats by intensive customer interaction
 Use of evolutionary, incremental, and iterative delivery
to converge on an optimal customer solution
 Maximizing BUSINESS VALUE with right sized, just-
enough, and just-in-time processes and documentation
Highsmith, J. A. (2002). Agile software development ecosystems. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
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8. What are Agile Methods?
8
 People-centric way to create innovative solutions
 Product-centric alternative to documents/process
 Market-centric model to maximize business value
Agile Manifesto. (2001). Manifesto for agile software development. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http://www.agilemanifesto.org
Rico, D. F., Sayani, H. H., & Sone, S. (2009). The business value of agile software methods. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: J. Ross Publishing.
Rico, D. F. (2012). Agile conceptual model. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from http://davidfrico.com/agile-concept-model-1.pdf
Customer Collaboration
Working Software
Individuals & Interactions
Responding to Change
valued
more than
valued
more than
valued
more than
valued
more than
Contracts
Documentation
Processes
Project Plans
 Frequent comm.
 Close proximity
 Regular meetings
 Multiple comm. channels
 Frequent feedback
 Relationship strength
 Leadership
 Boundaries
 Empowerment
 Competence
 Structure
 Manageability/Motivation
 Clear objectives
 Small/feasible scope
 Acceptance criteria
 Timeboxed iterations
 Valid operational results
 Regular cadence/intervals
 Org. flexibility
 Mgt. flexibility
 Process flexibility
 System flexibility
 Technology flexibility
 Infrastructure flexibility
 Contract compliance
 Contract deliverables
 Contract change orders
 Lifecycle compliance
 Process Maturity Level
 Regulatory compliance
 Document deliveries
 Document comments
 Document compliance
 Cost Compliance
 Scope Compliance
 Schedule Compliance
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

9. Network
Computer
Operating System
Middleware
Applications
APIs
GUI
How Agile Works
 Agile requirements implemented in slices vs. layers
 User needs with higher business value are done first
 Reduces cost & risk while increasing business success
9Shore, J. (2011). Evolutionary design illustrated. Norwegian Developers Conference, Oslo, Norway.
Agile Traditional
1 2 3 Faster
 Early ROI
 Lower Costs
 Fewer Defects
 Manageable Risk
 Better Performance
 Smaller Attack Surface
Late 
No Value 
Cost Overruns 
Very Poor Quality 
Uncontrollable Risk 
Slowest Performance 
More Security Incidents Seven Wastes
1.Rework
2.Motion
3.Waiting
4.Inventory
5.Transportation
6.Overprocessing
7.Overproduction
MINIMIZES MAXIMIZES
 JIT, Just-enough architecture
 Early, in-process system V&V
 Fast continuous improvement
 Scalable to systems of systems
 Maximizes successful outcomes
 Myth of perfect architecture
 Late big-bang integration tests
 Year long improvement cycles
 Breaks down on large projects
 Undermines business success

10. Thousands of Tests
Continuously Executed
No More Late Big
Bang Integration
Agile Development Model
 User needs designed & developed one-at-a-time
 Changes automatically detected, built, and tested
 System fully tested and deployed as changes occur
10Humble, J., & Farley, D. (2011). Continuous delivery. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Duvall, P., Matyas, S., & Glover, A. (2006). Continuous integration. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Build
Integration
Server
Version
Control
Server
Build
Scripts
UsesWatches
Build
Status
ProvidesDeveloper A
Developer B
Developer C
Commits
Changes
Commits
Changes
Commits
Changes
Builds
Database
Analysis
Testing
Reporting
Documentation
Deployment
Early, Automated, Fast,
Efficient, & Repeatable
Constant Readiness
State & CM Control
Lean, Waste Free, Low WIP,
No Deadlocked Test Queues
Rapidly & Successfully
Dev. Complex Systems

11. How Do Lean & Agile Intersect?
11
 Agile is naturally lean and based on small batches
 Agile directly supports six principles of lean thinking
 Agile may be converted to a continuous flow system
Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean thinking: Banish waste and create wealth in your corporation. New York, NY: Free Press.
Reinertsen, D. G. (2009). The principles of product development flow: Second generation lean product development. New York, NY: Celeritas.
Reagan, R. B., & Rico, D. F. (2010). Lean and agile acquisition and systems engineering: A paradigm whose time has come. DoD AT&L Magazine, 39(6).
  
Economic View
Decentralization
Fast Feedback
Control Cadence
& Small Batches
Manage Queues/
Exploit Variability
WIP Constraints
& Kanban
Flow PrinciplesAgile Values
Customer
Collaboration
Empowered
Teams
Iterative
Delivery
Responding
to Change
Lean Pillars
Respect
for People
Continuous
Improvement
Customer Value
Relationships
Customer Pull
Continuous Flow
Perfection
Value Stream
Lean Principles
 Customer relationships, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty
 Team authority, empowerment, and resources
 Team identification, cohesion, and communication
Lean & Agile Practices
 Product vision, mission, needs, and capabilities
 Product scope, constraints, and business value
 Product objectives, specifications, and performance
 As is policies, processes, procedures, and instructions
 To be business processes, flowcharts, and swim lanes
 Initial workflow analysis, metrication, and optimization
 Batch size, work in process, and artifact size constraints
 Cadence, queue size, buffers, slack, and bottlenecks
 Workflow, test, integration, and deployment automation
 Roadmaps, releases, iterations, and product priorities
 Epics, themes, feature sets, features, and user stories
 Product demonstrations, feedback, and new backlogs
 Refactor, test driven design, and continuous integration
 Standups, retrospectives, and process improvements
 Organization, project, and process adaptability/flexibility

12. What is Lean Development?
 Lean (lēn): Thin, slim, slender, narrow, adequate,
or just-enough; Without waste
 A customer-driven product development process that
delivers the maximum amount of business value
 An economical way of planning and managing the
development of complex new products and services
 A product development process that is free of excess
waste, capacity, and non-value adding activities
 Just-enough, just-in-time, and right-sized product
development processes, documentation, and tools
 A product development approach that is adaptable to
change in customer needs and market conditions
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
Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean thinking: Banish waste and create wealth in your corporation. New York, NY: Free Press.
Liker, J. K. (2004). The toyota way: 14 management principles from the world’s greatest manufacturer. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2008). Scaling lean and agile development: Thinking and organizational tools for large-scale scrum. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

13. Lean Thinking
13
 Term coined by John Krafcik of MIT in 1988
 Taiichi Ohno of Toyota is credited with its ideas
 Toyota Production System was adapted from Ford
Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean thinking: Banish waste and create wealth in your corporation. New York, NY: Free Press.
Liker, J. K. (2004). The toyota way: 14 management principles from the world’s greatest manufacturer. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2008). Scaling lean and agile development: Thinking and organizational tools for large-scale scrum. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

14. Lean Six Sigma
14
 Created in late 1990s by Allied Signal and Maytag
 Combination of Six Sigma and Lean Thinking
 Focuses on eliminating waste vs. variation
George, M. L. (2002). Lean six sigma: Combining six sigma quality with lean speed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

15. Lean Product Development
15
 Lean product development emerged in the 1980s
 Adaptation of Toyota Production System (TPS)
 “Toyota [New] Product Development System”
Clark, K. B., & Fujimoto, T. (1991). Product development performance: Strategy, organization, and management in the world auto industry. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Lean Development
Frequent set-up changes
Lean Manufacturing
Short manufacturing throughput time
Reduced work-in-process inventory between
manufacturing steps
Frequent transfer of small batches of parts between
manufacturing steps
Reduced inventory requires slack resources and
more information flow between steps
Adaptability to changes in volume, product mix, and
product design
Broad task assignments for production workers
gives higher productivity
Focus on quick problem solving and continuous
process improvement
Simultaneous improvement in quality, delivery time,
and manufacturing productivity
Frequent product changes
Short development time
Reduced information inventory between
development steps
Frequent transfer of preliminary information
between development steps
Reduced development time requires slack
resources and information flow between stages
Adaptability to changes in product design,
schedule, and cost targets
Broad task assignments for engineers
(developers) gives higher productivity
Focus on frequent incremental innovation and
continuous product and process improvement
Simultaneous improvement in quality,
development time, and development productivity

16. Lean Systems Engineering
16
 Origin in MIT Lean Aerospace Initiative in 1992
 Lean Systems Engineering WG formed in 2006
 Lean Enablers for Systems Engineering in 2009
INCOSE. (2009). Lean enablers for systems engineering. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.incose.org/practice/techactivities/wg/leansewg.
Value
Map the
Value
Stream
Flow
Pull
Perfection
Respect for
People
Customer involvement
Streamline development
Deconflict suppliers
Establish metrics
Communicate effectively
Achieve smooth flow
Ensure program visibility
Use lead
Pull tasks as-needed
Appoint a chief
Eliminate waste
Perform continuous improvement
Create a learning environment
Treat people as valuable assets
Requirements engineering
Business value analysis
Program planning
Map value streams
Frontload program
Program monitoring
Clarify requirements
Frontload architecture
Coordinate activities
Tailor program
Continuous improvement
Strive for excellence
Perform lessons learned
Develop communication plan
Human resources
Respect all people
Strive for technical excellence

17. What is Kanban?
 Kan-ban ('kæn-bæn): Signboard, billboard, signal
cards; Lean, just-in-time system of production
 A lean and just-in-time manufacturing process for
regulating the flow of production based on demand
 A pull-system philosophy of customized production vs.
a push system of mass-market manufacturing
 A set of principles for creating a lean, efficient, and
waste-free product flow by limiting work-in-process
 Use of simple organizational policy changes resulting
in order-of-magnitude performance improvements
 Framework for optimizing workflow that maximizes
efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction
17

Kniberg, H., & Skarin, M. (2010). Kanban and scrum: Making the most of both. Toronto, ON: C4 Media, Inc.
Ladas, C. (2008). Scrumban: Essays on kanban systems for lean software development. Seattle, WA: Modus Cooperandi.
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.

18. Kanban for IT Projects
18
 Adapted to IT by Dave Anderson in 2006
 Activities, buffers, queues, WIP limits, tasks, etc.
 Lean, JIT pull/demand system leading to high quality
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.

19. Kanban Goals
19
 Kanban initially seeks to change as little as possible
 Change without resistance is the first Kanban goal
 Focus on improving quality, lead time and morale
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Goal 6
Goal 7
Goal 8
Deliver high product quality (to build stakeholder trust)
Reduce long lead times (and stabilize them)
Achieve sustainable pace (work-life balance)
Provide process slack (for process improvement)
Simplify workload prioritization (of customer needs)
Provide transparency (into design and operations)
Strive for process maturity (to improve performance)
Goal 1 Optimize existing processes (rather than change them)
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.

20. Kanban Recipe for Success
20
 Based on principles for product development flow
 Uses operations and mathematical queue theory
 Pragmatic operating principles for development
Focus on Quality Reduce WIP Deliver Often Balance Demand Prioritize Attack Variability
 Walkthroughs
 Inspections
 Technical reviews
 Peer reviews
 Pair programming
 Test driven design
 Continuous integration
 Design patterns
 Refactoring
 Design simplicity
 Usability engineering
 Formal methods
 Process flowcharts
 Workflow analysis
 Kanban boards
 Limit work tasks
 Limit queues
 Limit buffers
 Limit backlogs
 Simple prioritization
 Adequate resources
 Process automation
 Policy statements
 Simplify process
 Short releases
 Short increments
 Short iterations
 Small releases
 Frequent releases
 Small batch sizes
 Customer collaboration
 Developer collaboration
 Ample communication
 Frequent builds
 Deploy often
 Automatic updates
 Regulate inputs
 Identify bottlenecks
 Create slack
 Limit work-in-process
 Create pull system
 Focus on precision
 Focus on quality
 Take pride in work
 Improve morale
 Learn new skills
 Obtain training
 Continuously improve
 Prioritize inputs
 Business focus-
 Business value focus
 Influence prioritization
 Stabilize process
 Build stakeholder trust
 Perform risk analysis
 Analyze demand
 Evaluate size
 Evaluate complexity
 Market forecasting
 Technology analysis
 Work item size
 Work item type mix
 Service class mix
 Irregular flow
 Rework
 Ambiguous reqmnts.
 Expedited requests
 Environment avail.
 Market fluctuations
 Coordination
 Technological change
 Skill/experience mix
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.

21. Value Stream Mapping
21
 Start by flow-charting the as-is product workflow
 Add buffers and queues one feels are necessary
 Add WIP limits to buffers, queues, and activity
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.

22. 22
Traditional vs. Agile Cumulative Flow
Work(Story,Point,Task)orEffort(Week,Day,Hour)
Time Unit (Roadmap, Release, Iteration, Month, Week, Day, Hour, etc.)
Work(Story,Point,Task)orEffort(Week,Day,Hour)
Time Unit (Roadmap, Release, Iteration, Month, Week, Day, Hour, etc.)
Traditional Cumulative Flow Lean & Agile Cumulative Flow
Anderson, D. J. (2004). Agile management for software engineering. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.
 High work-in-process leads to longest lead times
 Low work-in-process greatly reduces lead times
 Results in better customer trust and satisfaction
Work-in-Process

23. Scaled Lean & Agile Framework
Beck, K., & Fowler, M. (2001). Planning extreme programming. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.
Highsmith, J. A. (2010). Agile project management: Creating innovative products. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2010). Practices for scaling lean and agile development. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Leffingwell, D. (2011). Agile software requirements: Lean requirements practices for teams, programs, and the enterprise. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
 Begins with a high-level product vision/architecture
 Continues with needs development/release planning
 Includes agile delivery teams to realize business value
23
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24. Lean & Agile Hybrid Methods
24
Shore, J., & Warden, S. (2008). The art of agile development. Sabastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media.
Cockburn, A. (2007). Agile software development: The cooperative game. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Shalloway, A., Beaver, G., & Trott, J. R. (2010). Lean-agile software development. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.
 Scrum is a basic agile project management model
 Scrum does not specify other critical functions
 Scrum hybrids include necessary practices
Enterprise
Portfolio analysis
Earned value mgt.
Enterprise arch.
Governance
Scrum
Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum
Sprint Review
Retrospective
XP
Release planning
Pair programming
Continuous integ.
Open workspaces
Open Source
Environments
Components
Frameworks
Operating systems
Other
User exp.
Security eng.
Reliability eng.
Safety analysis

25. Lean & Agile Recap
 Agile methods DON’T mean deliver it now & fix it later
 Lightweight, yet disciplined approach to development
 Reduced cost, risk, & waste while improving quality
25
Rico, D. F. (2012). What’s really happening in agile methods: Its principles revisited? Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://davidfrico.com/agile-principles.pdf
Rico, D. F. (2012). The promises and pitfalls of agile methods. Retrieved February 6, 2013 from, http://davidfrico.com/agile-pros-cons.pdf
Rico, D. F. (2012). How do lean & agile intersect? Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://davidfrico.com/agile-concept-model-3.pdf
What How Result
Flexibility Use lightweight, yet disciplined processes and artifacts Low work-in-process
Customer Involve customers early and often throughout development Early feedback
Prioritize Identify highest-priority, value-adding business needs Focus resources
Descope Descope complex programs by an order of magnitude Simplify problem
Decompose Divide the remaining scope into smaller batches Manageable pieces
Iterate Implement pieces one at a time over long periods of time Diffuse risk
Leanness Architect and design the system one iteration at a time JIT waste-free design
Swarm Implement each component in small cross-functional teams Knowledge transfer
Collaborate Use frequent informal communications as often as possible Efficient data transfer
Test Early Incrementally test each component as it is developed Early verification
Test Often Perform system-level regression testing every few minutes Early validation
Adapt Frequently identify optimal process and product solutions Improve performance
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26. Conclusion
26
 Agility is the evolution of management thought
 Confluence of traditional and non-traditional ideas
 Improve performance by over an order of magnitude
“The world of traditional methods belongs to yesterday”
“Don’t waste your time using traditional methods on 21st century projects”
Agile methods are …







Systems development approaches
New product development approaches
Expertly designed to be fast and efficient
Intentionally lean and free of waste (muda)
Systematic highly-disciplined approaches
Capable of producing high quality systems
Right-sized, just-enough, and just-in-time tools
 Scalable to large, complex mission-critical systems
 Designed to maximize business value for customers
Wysocki, R.F. (2010). Adaptive project framework: Managing complexity in the face of uncertainty. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
 

27. Books on ROI of SW Methods
 Guides to software methods for business leaders
 Communicates business value of software methods
 Rosetta stones to unlocking ROI of software methods
 http://davidfrico.com/agile-book.htm (Description)
 http://davidfrico.com/roi-book.htm (Description)
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