How we introduced and implemented Kanban for both a software and a system engineering team @ nine.ch, a leading provider for managed Linux server in Switzerland.

1. KANBAN @ NINE.CH
Matías E. Fernández
nine.ch DEV DAY — 2014-06-05

2. INITIAL SITUATION
• work overload
• too much simultaneous work in progress
• unclear priorities
• undefined cycle times
things just happened … somehow

3. REQUIREMENTS
• we didn’t want to turn everything upside
down
• evolutionary change process towards a
sustainable system

4. ALTERNATIVES
• Scrum
• Kanban

5. SCRUM
• too many prerequisites
• time boxing doesn’t work well with day-to-
day work

6. THE KANBAN METHOD
1. Start with what you do now.
2. Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary
change.
3. Respect the current process, roles,
responsibilities & titles.

7. THE CHANGE CURVE
time
competenceandemotion
shock
denial
insight
acceptance
training awareness integration

8. CORE PRACTICES
• Visualise
• Limit Work in Progress (WiP)
• Manage flow
• Make policies explicit
• Improve collaboratively, evolve
experimentally (using models and the
scientific method)

9. VISUALISE
CORE PRACTICES

10. WHAT DOES A BUSY
CONSTRUCTION WORKER
LOOK LIKE?

11. He’s busy!

12. WHAT DOES A
CONSTRUCTION WORKER
LOOK LIKE WHEN HE’S
HAVING A BREAK?

13. They’re having a break.

14. WHAT DOES A BUSY
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
LOOK LIKE?

15. She’s busy!

16. WHAT DOES A
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
LOOK LIKE WHEN SHE’S
HAVING A BREAK?

17. She’s
having a
break.

18. How do you know whether
the software engineer has time
to fix
your super urgent request?

19. KNOWLEDGE WORK
IS NOT VISIBLE …
YOU HAVE TO
MAKE IT VISIBLE!

20. KANBAN BOARD

21. BURN UP CHART

22. LIMIT
WORK IN PROGRESS
CORE PRACTICES

23. STOP STARTING
AND START FINISHING!

24. EXPERIMENT
• Time yourself counting from 1 to 26.
• Time yourself saying the alphabet a to z.
• Add up the times.
• Now time yourself counting from 1 to 26
while alternating saying the alphabet, so 1, a,
2, b, 3, c, etc.
• Were you faster at saying each sequence
individually or when you alternated?

25. WIP LIMITS

26. MANAGE FLOW
CORE PRACTICES

27. KNOW THE PHYSICS OF YOUR
SYSTEM
• cylinder capacity: 2 L
• power: 125 kW (170 PS)

28. KNOW THE PHYSICS OF YOUR
SYSTEM
• team members: 7 people
• ticket throughput: ?

29. DATA DRIVEN DECISIONS
BUILD
MEASURELEARN

30. MANAGING FLOW
• Open Prio Meeting
• no backlog!
• Cumulative Flow Diagram
http://brodzinski.com/2013/07/cumulative-flow-diagram.html

31. CUMULATIVE FLOW DIAGRAM

32. MAKE POLICIES
EXPLICIT
CORE PRACTICES

33. POLICIES
• write them down and repeat them often!
• examples:
– orders are delivered the next business day
– bugs have higher priority than features
• Open Prio Meetings
http://www.lkce13.com/app/download/8243817195/Jimdo_Booklet_English.pdf

34. IMPROVE
COLLABORATIVELY,
EVOLVE
EXPERIMENTALLY
CORE PRACTICES

35. “Not every change is an improvement,
but every improvement is necessarily
a change”
Eliezer Yudkowsky

36. IMPROVE
• small continuous, incremental and
evolutionary changes that stick
• shared understanding of theories about
work, workflow, process, and risk
• feedback loops

37. KAIZEN: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
• Open Prio Meetings
http://www.lkce13.com/app/download/8243817195/Jimdo_Booklet_English.pdf
• regular team retrospectives
• small incremental improvements
• some ideas may result in bigger projects

38. CORE VALUES
STRATEGY, ALIGNMENT AND CULTURE
• The Boy Scout Rule
• Zero Waste
• Consistency
• Explicitness over Implicitness
• YAGNI, You Ain't Gonna Need It
• DRY, Don’t Repeat Yourself

39. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

40. !
Kundenname, Präsentationstitel
Nine Internet Solutions AG
Albisriederstr. 243a
CH-8047 Zürich
Tel +41 44 637 40 00
Fax +41 44 637 40 01
info@nine.ch
QUESTIONS?