A Stronger IT/Business Relationship

Transcription

1 A Stronger IT/Business Relationship Through transparency and an objective metrics-driven culture David J. Anderson President,, Modus Co-operandi operandi Inc., Performance Through Collaboration Chief Process Scientist Valtech,, Inc.

2 Today s IT/Business Relationship exhibits a Lack of Trust IT is opaque, has a history of being unreliable and typically delivers poor quality Lack of Understanding the business doesn t understand how IT works IT doesn t understand what the business truly needs or why it needs it

3 How do we build a stronger relationship between IT and business?

4 Create a culture of trust and transparency

5 Properly align work with strategic goals and marketing objectives

6 Deliver value in a timely and optimal fashion

7 Expose the mechanism

8 And let people see how the work is processed and what work is in-progress at all times Pull Flow from Engineering Ready to Release Ready

9 Manage quantitatively and objectively using only a few simple metrics Quality WIP (work-in-progress) Lead time Waste / Efficiency Throughput Across those five: Trend Variation

10 And get there as quickly as possible using my Recipe for Success Focus on Quality Reduce (or limit) Work-in-Progress Balance Demand against Throughput Prioritize

11 Map the value stream and start measuring throughput of valued work Idea Analysis Design Code Error Error Error Working Code Acceptance Test System Test Unit Test

12 Track work on a whiteboard with sticky notes

13 or track it electronically Results of Query 610 Dev Shows work items currently in software development plus any defects associated with work-inprogress. Defects are not counted against kanban limit Queries and Reports for specific projects in this case sustaining engineering - can be run from within MS Outlook with a single click

14 or create an application that looks like a whiteboard but provides the archival advantage of an electronic system

15 Get some data on the rate of value delivery Sep-04 Dec-04 Mar-05 Jun-05 Sep-05 Dec-05

16 Plot the flow of value Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

17 Provide transparency! Make the information available to anyone who wants to see it Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

18 Hold a monthly meeting and present all the data, invite anyone who wants to come

19 Track WIP WIP is directly related to Lead Time and Quality Device Management Ike II Cumulative Flow Features Lead Time WIP 10-Feb 17-Feb 24-Feb 2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

20 Too much WIP, 3 month lead time led to a 30x reduction in quality compared to 1 week lead time Project B Cumulative Flow Features Lead Time Oct 23-Oct 6-Nov 20-Nov 4-Dec 18-Dec 1-Jan 15-Jan 29-Jan 12-Feb 26-Feb 11-Mar Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete

21 Track WIP to identify bottlenecks as they appear The constraint is related to the requirements (a) ambiguity (b) availability of SMEs

22 A bottleneck in design may indicate problems with system architecture or the internal quality of the code base The constraint is related to the architecture, the tools (incl. languages and API s), or the internal quality of existing code

23 Learn to recognize patterns in WIP Tracking such as just-in-time feature identification Problematic for project 300 stakeholders 250 and Features 200 managers no 150 project promise Device Management Ike IR3 Cumulative Flow 29-Mar 5-Apr 12-Apr 19-Apr 26-Apr 3-May 10-May Time Inventory Started Designed Coded Complete 17-May Reflected a bottleneck in personnel for and ambiguity domain in analysis the requirements and architecture for an essentially new product category

24 Unplanned Work Report Three types of unplanned work: Bugs (Defects), Dark Matter Change Requests

25 Unplanned Work Report Scope Creep Dark Matter

26 Iteration 1 Burndown

27 Iteration 1 Cumulative Flow

28 Burndown versus Cumulative Flow Comparison

29 Iteration 2 Burndown

30 Iteration 2 Cumulative Flow

31 Burndown versus Cumulative Flow Comparison

32 Cumulative Flow in a kanban (pull) system CR Only Business encouraged to re-triage backlog CR, Bugs and PDUs WIP growth due to additional resource allocation (good) and some sloppy management of kanban limits (bad)

33 Issue Management Cumulative Flow

34 Revisiting Cumulative Flow CR Only Lead Times are lengthening again due to environment rebuild and business requested delay waiting for expedite request 73 Days 53 Days 35 Days 43 Days 38 Days

35 Executive Dashboard

36 Due Date Performance Detail Lead Time Distribution MARCH Days Lead Time Distribution APRIL Majority of CRs range 30 -> 55 Outliers Days CRs &Bugs # CRs

37 Report rejected or cancelled work items (waste or muda)

38 More and more reports were demanded to facilitate management decisions. In this case, new reports to facilitate weekly prioritization

39 Parking Lot Chart

40 Throughput and Cost Zero Backlog achieved Some idle time Lowers metrics $7500 Highest Productivity per person $2900 $ Sep-04 Dec-04 Lowest cost Mar-05 Jun-05 Sep-05 Dec-05 Shortest lead time Highest customer satisfaction

41 Productivity (per resource) Productivity per Resource Zero Backlog achieved Some idle time Lowers metrics Change Requests Dev Mar-04 May-04 Jul-04 Sep-04 Nov-04 Jan-05 Mar-05 May-05 Jul-05 Sep-05 Nov-05 Quarters Dev Test

42 Why Lead Time is the best metric XIT-SE TTR From 5 Months To 3 Weeks in 5 Quarters New Manager No More ROMs New Prioritization Process Flow Management Other Sev TTR Sev 1 Zero Backlog Calendar Days Lowest cost Highest Productivity per person FY04 Q4 FY05 Q1 FY05 Q2 FY05 Q3 FY05 Q4 FY06 Q1 FY06 Q2 Quarter Changed dev : test ratio from 3:3 to 4:2 Shortest lead time Highest customer satisfaction Increased dev : test from 4:2 to 5:3

43 Thank you!

44 About David Anderson is a thought leader in managing effective software teams. He is the President of Modus Cooperandi, a consulting firm dedicated to improving leadership in the IT and software development sectors, and Chief Process Scientist, at Valtech Inc. He has 25 years experience in the software development business. As a pioneer in the agile software movement David has managed teams at Sprint, Motorola and Corbis delivering superior productivity and quality. At Microsoft he developed the MSF for CMMI Process Improvement methodology. David s book, Agile Management for Software Engineering Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, introduced many ideas from Lean and Theory of Constraints in to software engineering. David was a founder and is a current board member of the APLN, a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting better standards of leadership and management in knowledge worker industries. He can be contacted at dja@moduscooperandi.com