David J. Anderson. Kanban & Accelerated Achievement of High Levels of Organizational Maturity.

Transcription

1 Kanban & Accelerated Achievement of High Levels of Organizational Maturity David J. Anderson Lean Software & Systems 2010 Atlanta, April 2010

2 Premise

3 Adoption of kanban systems in technology development organizations is leading to accelerated emergence of high maturity behaviors

4 As a result organizations are managing risk better and delivering improved performance

5 This emergence of high maturity behaviors is occurring significantly faster than documented literature from the past 4 decades

6 It appears that Kanban with its focus on transparency of process, visualization of workflow, use of quantitative management techniques and formal models for recognizing improvement opportunities is driving this phenomenon

7 Introduction to Organizational Maturity

8 What does high maturity mean?

9 High maturity refers to a high level of organizational maturity

10 What does maturity mean in this context?

11 Maturity implies an expected form or type of behavior

12 If we have a 3 year old toddler we might expect certain behaviors. If we had an 18 year old boy, we'd expect another set of behaviors. A 37 year old woman yet another

13 We typically complain when the actual behavior of an individual doesn't match the expectation of behavior. given the actual maturity

14 For example, a 37 year old girlfriend who behaves like a 3 year old toddler is a strong indication that you need to find a new girlfriend

15 Maturity implies an expected set of behaviors but it also implies an expected capability at decision making and ability to assess risk.

16 For this reason 18 year old boys pay more for their car insurance than 55 year old women. At 18 we expect poor judgment, poor ability to assess risk and poor ability to make (good) decisions

17 However, this doesn't automatically assume that higher maturity is always best. There may be times when we prefer the illjudged energy and enthusiasm of an 18 year old boy to the predictable and boring suggestions from a 55 year old woman

18 Organizational maturity implies an organizational capability to make informed decisions, to act with good judgment and to manage risk

19 The SEI defines high maturity as CMMI ML4 & ML5 Continuous Improvement CAR OID Predictability QPM OPP

20 The implication is that an organization that exhibits the behaviors described in levels 4 & 5 of the model will make better decisions, manage risk better and should produce a better economic outcome for its stakeholders

21 Why is organizational maturity desirable?

22 Senior execs tell me

23 David, what we need is to be more predictable! We need to bring projects in within a small variation of plan - perhaps 10% to 15%. Our customers expect us to be predictable but we can t deliver.

24 We need to be faster to market. Our leads times need to be shorter. Our competitors are out-maneuver us with innovations brought to market earlier. We have great vision but we can't execute on our plans.

25 We need to do all this and at the same time we need to get a handle on our costs. Our competitors have a lower cost structure and their margins are wider. Economic times are hard. Finance is hard to get. We simply have to do more with less.

26 Summarizing the business goals Predictability and reliability Better time-to-market Controlled costs

27 Meanwhile, there needs to be much more visibility in to what's going on. Often I can't see the true state of the project and the team hide the detail from me until it's too late.

28 In addition, we need to be a lot more objective about our decision making. More data driven. There simply isn't any reliable data coming out of our software projects. I can't manage if I'm flying blind.

29 Summarizing the management goals Visibility Objectivity

30 Combining Business and Management Goals Predictability and reliability Better time-to-market Controlled costs Visibility Objectivity

31 The goals describe An organization operating at the equivalent of CMMI Level 4 maturity

32 The CMMI model is still relevant

33 The existing CMMI maturity model is broadly correct I've seen teams improve their organizational maturity and generally they follow a pattern that looks similar to the SEI's model.

34 During the early stages of agile adoption in an enterprise CMMI process areas emerge naturally Project Planning Measurement & Analysis Verification (automated) Validation (automated) Project Monitoring & Control Process Definition Requirements Development Requirements Management Configuration Management Product Integration Technical Solution

35 Good agile teams are capable of achieving CMMI level 3 However, some gaps exist for complete coverage. Typically Decision Analysis & Resolution Integrated Project Management Training Program Issue & Risk Management Supplier Agreement Management

36 CMMI has 23 years development behind it and is broadly correct There is no need to reinvent a model for organizational maturity. There is one that is "good enough" that we can look to for guidance.

37 The existing CMMI model defines high maturity and gives an understanding of how to achieve our business and management goals

38 Very few Agile teams (I know of no documented case studies) have shown an ability to mature through levels 2 and 3 and achieve high maturity levels 4 or 5.

39 The only documented cases of Agile + High Maturity are with teams/organizations that started out as highly mature and chose to adopt Agile methods e.g. Accenture India, Systematic Denmark

40 Kanban & Accelerated High Maturity

41 SEI and academic literature generally describes a cycle of several years to achieve high levels of organizational maturity. 2 to 5 years being typical

42 However, teams using Kanban have been observed to develop high maturity behaviors within a few short months: typically 3 to 9 months

43 Adoption of behaviors does not imply these organizations would pass a SCAMPI Appraisal for CMMI ML 4 or 5

44 but it does show that the organization is likely to exhibit better judgment, better risk management and better economic outcomes

45 There are now numerous examples of teams using Kanban that have shown high maturity behavior, namely, Microsoft, Corbis, Phidelis, BBC Worldwide, BNP Parisbas, SEP, Financial Times, others? McKesson?

46 Is this just a correlation or might there be a causation between adoption of Kanban and emergent high maturity behavior?

47 Kanban sets an expectation of High Maturity Root cause analysis on defects stop the line CAR Kaizen events OID CFDs, SLAs, SPC QPM

48 Kanban uses a quantitative, objective operations review to facilitate reflection and stimulate kaizen events

49 Kanban uses a standup meeting focused on impediments (assignable cause variations) and flow to facilitate reflection and stimulate kaizen events

50 Walk the board, right to left, highlighting impediments & defects only

51 Kanban was introduced at Corbis in December By March 2007 spectral analysis of lead time was in use to analyze performance and diagnose possible kaizen opportunities. This is an example of QPM, CAR and OID emerging Lead Time Distribution MARCH # CRs Days 3.5 Lead Time Distribution APRIL CRs & Bugs Majority of CRs range 30 -> 55 Outliers Days

52 Lead time against SLA target and due date performance can be used to facilitate OPP across several teams

53 Quantitative data was used for OPP at Microsoft in 2005 to detect the opportunity to improve throughput Productivity per Resource Change Requests Dev Mar-04 May-04 Jul-04 Sep-04 Nov-04 Jan-05 Mar-05 May-05 Jul-05 Sep-05 Quarters Nov-05 Dev Test

54 balancing the line (heijunka), shifting resources from testing to development smoothed flow and increased throughput PTC Expedite Change Requests PM Kanban 9 cards (4 WIP 5 Queue) Kanban 8 cards Local Mgr User Acceptance Test Product Managers Backlog

55 Spontaneous Quality Circles started forming at Corbis a CMMI ML 5 behavior

56 Kaizen events became commonplace at Corbis MARCH 2007 UAT state added Prompted by test who were experiencing slack time Expanded kanban limit on Build Ready state, added Test Ready state Introduced to smooth flow post release due to environment outage transaction cost

57 APRIL 2007 Dev Ready buffer eliminated Development was not the bottleneck

58 Waste bin & waste report created In response to poor requirements resulting in work blocked and later removed without completion APRIL 2007

59 SEPT 2007 Kaikaku scale change Business analysis merged with systems analysis Job titles and responsibilities merged to one role Upstream process removed 11 days of lead time waste recovered

60 Another significant spontaneous quality circle kaizen event 3 day freeze on test environment was a transaction cost on release that caused a bottleneck at build state. This was reduced to 24 hours after a 3 person quality circle formed to investigate the policies behind the freeze. Result was improved smooth flow resulting in higher throughput and shorter lead time

61 Quantitative data was used at Corbis* Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features Typical S-curve 10-Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete * CFD shown is example from an earlier project at Motorola.

62 and simulation of flow provided QPM on major project initiatives run using Kanban Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features % 60% Slope in middle 3.5x - 5x slope at ends 5x 20% 10-Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

63 Simulated feature completion tracked against actual Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features Track delta between planned and actual each day 10-Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

64 Teams at organizations such as Financial Times, BNP Parisbas and BBC Worldwide have been using quantitative data such as statistical process control charts

65 Some have produced up to 2 years of data showing measurable improvements, improved predictability, improved quality, a focus on causal analysis and resolution, and viral spread of Kanban across the organization demonstrating organizational innovation and deployment

66 BBC Worldwide Bug Rates

67 BBC Worldwide Days Blocked

68 BBC Worldwide Blockers

69 Control Charts supported natively in Silver Catalyst

70 And now also in LeanKit

71 Process ideas were seen to spread virally at Corbis (evidence of OID)

72 First Scrumban project

73 Adopted the use of hierarchical board using swim lanes

74 Another major project with two-tiered kanban requirements

75 observed the benefit of swim lane technique and adopted it oo

76 And the technique spread to a vendor fixing defects in a stabilization phase

77 as quickly adopted the swim lane technique observed as a useful practice with other teams

78 Conclusions

79 These stories show that high maturity behaviors have been appearing with teams adopting Kanban

80 within a few months of starting a process improvement initiative and cultural shift towards kaizen

81 There are too many of these examples for us to dismiss it as random or influenced by any single individual. It's a recognizable trend in the Lean/Kanban community

82 The speed of adoption of these high maturity behaviors suggests that with the right leadership and with a method that provides transparency of process and a broad understanding of the process dynamics

83 It seems that a process framework like Kanban that emphasizes

84 transparency of process, visualization, explicit process policies, use of formal models to recognize and implement improvements, and uses a quantitative, organization level retrospective

85 catalyzes this accelerated emergence of high maturity behaviors

86 More work is now needed to document high maturity behavior in our community and provide more data points and more case studies

87 From this I hope it will be possible to identify the cause and effect that is driving this empirically observed move to high maturity

88 The long term implication is that kanban systems added to existing software development lifecycle and project management methods will improve the performance of technology organizations

89 This improved performance will address the concerns raised by senior leaders, ultimately leading to higher levels of satisfaction with our industry and our profession

90 Thank you!

91 Yahoo! Groups: kanbandev

92 About David Anderson is a thought leader in managing effective software teams. He leads a consulting firm dedicated to improving economic performance of knowledge worker businesses improving agility, reducing cycle times, improving productivity and efficiency in technology development. He has 25+ years experience in the software industry starting with computer games in the early 1980 s. He has led software teams delivering superior productivity and quality using innovative agile methods. He developed MSF for CMMI Process Improvement for Microsoft. He is a co-author of the SEI Technical Note, CMMI and Agile: Why not embrace both! David is the author of 2 books, Agile Management for Software Engineering Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, and Kanban Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business. David is a founder of the Lean Software & Systems Consortium, a not for profit dedicated to promoting greater professionalism and better economic outcomes in our industry. dja@djandersonassociates.com