Lean Kanban Principles

I've spent a decade learning about Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Nexus, Lean etc etc. And honestly, 80 percent of the value of these tools comes from 5 main principles that you can achieve without a framework. 1. Work in small batches Every change and value add should be as small as you can make it. Yes, even when that seems like it's MORE work. This doesn't mean breaking every outcome into infinitely small tasks, it means breaking down the OUTCOME into the smallest parcels of recognizable value that is possible. 2. Focus on Value Things that seem obvious but are missed 90 percent of the time. Goals are more important than work items or elaborate plans. What 'value' means in your context is the first thing you need to pin down, but once you do, focus on it relentlessly, and make sure everything you do is in service to a valuable goal. 3. Pull, Don't Push Teams working on complex products need time to think, analyse and learn. The fastest way to make them unable to deliver value is to constantly push work onto them to fill their capacity. When Principle 2 is respected, principle 3 is easy. Let teams pull work as needed to deliver that value we care about it. 4. Eliminate waste Waste takes many forms, and a lot of them look like productivity. You should always assume that most of what you're doing is wasteful. Identify the most valuable things you're doing, and eject almost everything else. Keep it simple, from the product you're building to the way you build it. 5. Align on goals, not plans Working at scale is tough, and it can be easy to try to solve problems by aligning teams to fixed plans with clear dates so they can have certainty of what is needed, when. Instead, align on goals. Make sure that every team that might have a reason to care what you're doing knows exactly what you're trying to achieve right now. Keep the communication lines open, and make sure that if a goal is at risk, it's made transparent quickly. Detailed plans rarely make a difference so long as you understand *why* we're making the decisions we're making.

One of the most fundamental Kanban change management principles is “Start with what you do now.” To be able to achieve your business goals, you should first and foremost address the challenges that you face in your own context, then use your performance data to make informed decisions about how to make gradual long-term improvements that are here to stay. Every single initiative you want to take, no matter how large or small, should have a measurable goal and a metric tied to it. If you find that the metric isn’t meeting its goal, then you need to stop, rethink, adjust and retest it. Keep repeating this process until you hit your target. This means evaluating your performance trends every day and not only tracking the metrics but also revealing the context underpinning them. Let’s explore how data-driven decision making ultimately improves your business outcomes. #NavigateYourFlow #Kanban #AgileLeadership #AgileManagement #AgileProjectManagement

Process Kanban: The Visual Backbone of Lean Production Continuing posts about "Establish Pull" and Heijunka, let's explore another key pillar of Lean manufacturing: #Kanban. Kanban, which means "signboard" in Japanese, is a system to manage and improve workflow. It limits the amount of work in progress (#WIP), helping teams complete tasks efficiently. The main idea is to control the number of tasks being worked on simultaneously, ensuring a balanced and manageable workflow. This prevents system overload and allows employees to focus on each task effectively. It's like juggling fewer balls at once so you can concentrate better on each one. WIP principle is being implemented using Kanban cards and boards. Each card represents a task and includes details like a description and who is assigned. These cards are placed on a Kanban board, which is divided into columns that show different stages of the process. By setting a limit on the number of cards allowed in each column, we avoid overloading the system. When the limit is reached, the team focuses on finishing current tasks before starting new ones. This approach helps prevent bottlenecks and keeps the workflow smooth. Kanban Boards could be implemented in various areas. Here are several common examples (board divided into columns): 1. Software Development board: (1) Idea -> (2) Design -> (3) Development -> (4) Testing -> (5) Deployment 2. Manufacturing board: Raw Material order -> (2) Work in Progress -> (3) Quality Control -> (4) Finished Good Formulation -> (5) Shipping 3. Social media campaign board: (1) Planning -> (2) Creation -> (3) Promotion -> (4) Analysis 4. Customer Support inquiry board: (1) Received -> (2) Assigned -> (3) In Progress -> (4) Resolved 5. HR recruitment board: (1) Sourcing -> (2) Interviewing -> (3) Offer -> (4) Onboarding Kanban system is also efficiently applied for inventory managing. I will write a follow-up post on that. Process Kanban and #Heijunka tools are interconnected pillars of #Lean production. Heijunka helps to react to actual demand and spread out the tasks evenly through the particular timeframe. Kanban, in turn, helps you to visualize and manage implementation of these tasks. By limiting the number of task that are made at the same time (WIP) Kanban helps to finish them better and faster. Both tools combined allow to ensure stable production flow. #leanproducton #ci #establishpull #wastereduction #operationalexcellence