Kanban Adoption at SEP. How Kanban has impacted SEP

Transcription

1 Kanban Adoption at SEP How Kanban has impacted SEP 1

2 Agenda Context An overview of SEP Maturation of a Kanban team A success story: How Kanban saved EHMS Lessons learned

3 Custom software development company 20 Years in business Located in Carmel, IN 76 Employees

4 We work in a variety of industries SEP Market Breakdown AeroSpace Automotive 40% 39% Other Dept. of Defense 5% 9% 3% 5% Healthcare Medical

5 Projects at SEP average 4 6 people, last an average of 4 6 months, and are transitional in nature

6 Prior to Kanban

7 2004 Experimentation began with Feature Driven Development (FDD) on a few teams

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9 As a company, SEP was Agile friendly, but wasn t able to get buy in from everyone

10 Any widespread institutionalization of Agile practices was met with resistance and ultimately failed to gain traction

11 Over time, experience with Agile practices and Lean principles grew but only in limited pockets

12 Nothing changed until Kanban

13 After its initial implementation in 2007, it quickly became apparent that Kanban would be different

14 Since 2007, I ve worked with teams to implement a dozen Kanbans across a wide variety of projects and surveyed over 30 employees using Kanban

15 While coaching these projects, a pattern began to emerge

16 In an effort to describe and understand this pattern, I began to look at existing learning models

17 Today, we are going to look at the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition and how it can help us.

18 Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition Stage 1 - Novice Stage 2 - Advanced Beginner Stage 3 - Competent Stage 4 - Proficient Stage 5 - Expert

19 It defines different stages The model does two important things: of learning It explains how people move from one stage to the next

20 As leaders, this is important to us because it gives us guidance how to best train and coach teams.

21 As we walk through each stage, I will: Define each stage Share what I saw at SEP Demonstrate how a Kanban team matures in a way consistent with the Dreyfus model

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23 Stage 1 - Novice Definition Little or no previous experience All about following rules context free rules Little situational perception No discretionary judgment Want to accomplish a goal, not learn

24 Stage 1 - Novice What I observed Teams viewed the board as a task tracking system with a simple set of rules such as: When a work item is completed, move it to the next section Use a yellow sticky for scenarios, blue for bugs Prioritize the work to be started in the ER queue Little or no regard for WIP limits

25 Stage 1 - Novice Teams told my they experienced an enhanced understanding of the project clear priority of work items, what to work on next, easier to see progress, etc.

26 Teams experienced a culture change through the introduction of Kanban boards and standup meetings (This was a significant change!)

27 We never implemented WIP limits. What Kanban DID accomplish though, was illustrate the development process to a team that had never thought about it much before. It basically exposed them to their selves. - Ryan

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29 Stage 2 Advanced Beginner Definition Still rules based, but start to understand situational conditions No holistic understanding they don t want it and likely see it as not relevant Principles, based on experience, start to be formulated

30 Stage 2 Advanced Beginner What I observed... WIP limits were being followed and, for the first time, teams began to realize how too much work in progress really negatively impacted things. Teams started to understand the impact of blocked work items and rework

31 Stage 2 Advanced Beginner Team members began to collaborate with each other Teams began to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement

32 WIP limits seem to be the worstunderstood part of the Kanban. When used properly, it exposes bottlenecks and reduces lead time for individual work items. Used improperly, it can starve developers for work or result in too many people working on the same work items. - Keith

33 The Dreyfus model says taking responsibility is often the critical point for people when learning a new skill. Without accepting responsibility most people never move to Stage 3 Competent

34 Deming tells us that fear is a barrier to improvement so we should strive to drive fear out of the organization.

35 As long as fear exists in the organization, it is unlikely that people will choose to take responsibility.

36 Kanban provides an way to successfully manage organizational changes.

37 Managing changes effectively encourages people to take responsibility. Thus, Kanban works to drive out fear

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39 Stage 3 - Competence Definition Start to recognize patterns and principles Rule sets become more rules of thumb Start to establish guidelines Seeking out and solving problems - begin troubleshooting issues Sees actions in terms of long-term plans and goals

40 Stage 3 - Competence What I observed The whole team participated in making process changes. They felt a sense of ownership

41 Stage 3 - Competence The team started pulling in alternate practices to optimize the process However, unlike previous attempts, practices are being introduced to solve specific problems

42 Stage 3 - Competence The team experienced a real sense of gratification as they witnessed the effect of those changes.

43 Stage 3 - Competence Interestingly, teams began to become Lean. They discovered the principles themselves cause and effect of flow, value, quality, and waste

44 It was like switching on a light, no joke. Suddenly, everyone was able to offer ideas on how to improve our processes. It really motivated everyone. - Julie

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46 Stage 4 - Proficient Definition Seek out and want to understand the big picture sees situations holistically Perceive a complete system instead of a set of individual parts Can correct previous poor task performance Can learn from the experience of others and take full advantage of reflection and feedback

47 Stage 4 - Proficient What I observed Teams made throughput and reducing cycle time its primary focus

48 Stage 4 - Proficient Teams began to focus on optimizing the whole and reducing the cost of delay

49 Stage 4 - Proficient Teams began actively trying to reduce their WIP limits

50 Stage 4 - Proficient Kaizen moments became more commonplace

51 The entire picture allows me to work with full knowledge of our progress in relation to our goals. The limits in each section forces me to work in the areas that most need help in order for the board to keep flowing. - Matt

52 What began as a few minor changes

53 resulted in a team that is continuously changing and improving their process all in 6 months time.

54 What I saw led me to believe that the maturation of a Kanban team causes people to learn and understand Lean principles

55 So, when teaching a new skill, should we start with the principles or practices?

56 Practices!

57 It s ok to talk about principles. However, teaching principles does not equate to acquiring a new skill.

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59 Stage 5 - Expert An expert has experience that is so vast that normally each specific situation immediately dictates an intuitively appropriate action.

60 Stage 5 - Expert The expert can distinguish between very important details and those considered irrelevant. They know which details to focus on and which can be safely ignored.

61 Stage 5 - Expert What I observed

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63 Before EHMS there was a long standing, small, successful team - well versed in how they did things, and rarely worked in a deadline environment

64 At the start of EHMS the team sized ballooned (>2X), the technology platform changed, and there was a high pressure, politically charged deadline and we didn t change the way we worked.

65 A couple months in the project was not proceeding well. The lead did not have a feel for what people were working on or how the project was progressing.

66 Discontent and frustration was felt throughout the team. There was negative emotion and no one stepping up to fix the bigger problems - only heroes dealing with symptoms.

67 Kanban is introduced Some minor confusion at first but the team quickly aligned. It immediately revealed WIP problems without even having added limits yet. People started to have a little hope.

68 A short time later the team hit the first delivery date, but sacrificed quality to do it. After delivery, Kanban limits were enforced. The limits prompted some immediate changes.

69 The team took the pain and fixed the bugs along with process issues. People who were normally quiet were now pointing out issues and coming up with different solutions.

70 Today The team enforces good behavior in their day to day activities. The board has changed several times and fits the situation well.

71 There is a sense of progress, which leads to constructive attitudes. The team is a bunch of true believers now. They are starting to really look at data and see what they can learn from it.

72 I wish we'd started Kanban six months earlier. - EHMS Project Lead

73 Let s look at some data

74 Work-In-Progress /1/2008 8/9/2008 8/17/2008 8/25/2008 9/2/2008 9/10/2008 9/18/2008 9/26/ /4/ /12/ /20/ /28/ /5/ /13/ /21/ /29/ /7/ /15/ /23/ /31/2008 1/8/2009 1/16/2009 1/24/2009 2/1/2009 2/9/2009 2/17/2009 2/25/2009 3/5/2009 3/13/2009 3/21/2009 3/29/2009 4/6/2009 4/14/2009 4/22/2009 4/30/2009 5/8/2009 5/16/2009 5/24/2009 6/1/2009 6/9/2009 6/17/2009 6/25/2009 7/3/2009 7/11/2009 7/19/2009 7/27/2009 8/4/2009 Tasks Bugs

75 Bugs Found Series

76 Lead Time (4 wk rolling avg.) Act. Avg

77 Lessons Learned I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas Edison

78 Lesson 1 Start by teaching practices, not principles

79 Lesson 2 Don t set WIP limits too low for a new team

80 Lesson 3 Keep rules about moving tokens/cards simple

81 Lesson 4 WIP is strongly correlated to product quality

82 Conclusions Kanban teams mature in a way consistent with the Dreyfus model Kanban is an effective tool for teaching Lean principles and managing change in an organization There are multiple levels of maturity; in each level, certain behaviors should guide your focus (as the trainer)

83 THANK YOU Software Engineering Professionals (SEP) is a project based developer of software systems and products for business, data and safety critical applications. Over the past 21 years, SEP has grown into one of the largest and most well respected engineering companies in central Indiana. Chris Shinkle has been with SEP for over 12 years. He has used Agile and Lean methods to lead large complex projects, most notably, a military aircraft engine monitoring and maintenance system and an FDA regulated remote patient monitoring system. He introduced FDD to SEP in 2004, and then continued to evolve the internal processes and approaches over the following years. In 2007, SEP began to adopt Kanban processes under Chris' guidance, as he trained and mentored engineers across the company. Chris is a graduate of Purdue University and resides in Indianapolis with his wife and two sons. sep.com