1. Achieving Maintenance Stabilisation with Agile, Kanban and Lean
Thinking
by Zsolt Fabók
@ZsoltFabok March 20, 2012

2. Myth #1: “There is no place for Agile in
maintenance!”

3. Myth #2: “Maintenance is not a team
work!”

4. Myth #3: “Maintenance work cannot be
improved!”

5. The proof that these myths are wrong:
Before* After*
# ID description
Defects received in
9 21
a week
Number of days to
fix a defect 11 6
(avg. lead time)
* due to confidentiality reasons the numbers have been altered, but the ratio is still valid

6. Introducing Kanban and visualizing the workflow...

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Collaboration

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Collaboration Optimization

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Collaboration Optimization
Leadership

12. Collaboration Tips and Tricks

13. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories

14. User story Defect
Has an owner Not always Always
Has a deadline Fuzzy, flexible Almost always
Expectations are clear Not always Always
Customer contact Seldom Too often
Will they be delivered Not always Most likely

15. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts

21. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting

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23. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting
#4: Prioritize by cost of delay

25. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting
#4: Prioritize by cost of delay
#5: Design discussion every afternoon

26. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting
#4: Prioritize by cost of delay
#5: Design discussion every afternoon
#6: Write your own bug report

27. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting
#4: Prioritize by cost of delay
#5: Design discussion every afternoon
#6: Write your own bug report
#7: Use collaboration tools for communication

28. Collaboration Tips and Tricks
#1: Defects aren't different from user stories
#2: Automatic data collection scripts
#3: Defect and future oriented daily meeting
#4: Prioritize by cost of delay
#5: Design discussion every afternoon
#6: Write your own bug report
#7: Use collaboration tools for communication
#8: Throw away old defects

29. Optimization Tips and Tricks

30. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment

32. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment
#2: Introduce separate swim lanes for different versions

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version 1.2
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34. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment
#2: Introduce separate swim lanes for different versions
#3: Introduce hot lane for expedite defects

35. 3 2
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36. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment
#2: Introduce separate swim lanes for different versions
#3: Introduce hot lane for expedite defects
#4: After reproduction write a test case

40. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment
#2: Introduce separate swim lanes for different versions
#3: Introduce hot lane for expedite defects
#4: After reproduction write a test case
#5: Never test your own code

41. Optimization Tips and Tricks
#1: Use continuous integration and staging environment
#2: Introduce separate swim lanes for different versions
#3: Introduce hot lane for expedite defects
#4: After reproduction write a test case
#5: Never test your own code
#6: Measure everything, and improve everywhere

42. Leadership Tips and Tricks

43. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large

44. A retrospective comment:
“Zsolt, can we keep the finished defects on the board? I
feel better when I see how much we finished, while the
new ones keep coming and coming and coming...”

45. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large
#2: Discuss problems right on the spot

46. 3 2
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47. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large
#2: Discuss problems right on the spot
#3: Provide feedback to the other teams

48. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large
#2: Discuss problems right on the spot
#3: Provide feedback to the other teams
#4: Rotate people between phases

49. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large
#2: Discuss problems right on the spot
#3: Provide feedback to the other teams
#4: Rotate people between phases
#5: Weekly face-to-face with everybody

50. Leadership Tips and Tricks
#1: Keep the Cloud small and the Live large
#2: Discuss problems right on the spot
#3: Provide feedback to the other teams
#4: Rotate people between phases
#5: Weekly face-to-face with everybody
#6: Turn off notifications - email, issue tracker

51. Thank you very much for your attention!
http://zsoltfabok.com zsolt.fabok@ericsson.com

52. Sources of ussd images:
leaders on the field:
http://carterkellyconsulting.com/lifepoint_leadervisionspirit
factory floor:
http://www.copters.com/trips/rhc2006.html
Miners:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/18/
the_coal_miners_burden?page=ful
hipchat:
http://blogs.atlassian.com/2012/03/meet-hipchat-the-newest-
member-of-the-atlassian-family/
Continuous delivery:
http://www.infoq.com/articles/Continous-Delivery-
Patterns
Cost of delay:
http://agileconsulting.blogspot.com/2011/03/using-cost-
of-delay-functions-to.html