value of flow
DESCRIPTION
Flow is a very Lean idea. The first two Lean principles are “Specify Value” and “Make Value Flow”. Most agile methods have the concept of flow baked in. A key lever to promote flow is limiting work in progress, something many organizations find very challenging. This talk and demonstration will help project managers “see” how value flows in an agile software development project and why it is important.TRANSCRIPT
Flow of Value
Vision Document
Analyze Design
Deliver Ready for Release
Feature
Feature
Analyze Queue
Analyze Design Queue
Design
Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature
Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature
Airplane Game
Paper Airplane Game
• Team of 5 makes 20 airplanes
• 1st Run: Fast as you can
– WIP piles up
• 2nd Run: Flow
– Batch size of one
• Consistently better results
– Lead Time: 3X improvement
– Throughput: 10-20% better
– Lower stress
– Easier to manage
Improves Customer Lead Time
Makes Customers
Happy
The Value of Flow
Make Value FlowLittle’s Law
Lead Time = WIP / Throughput(time) = (items) / (items/time)
Where:
Lead Time: Time from start to finish
WIP: Work in Progress
Throughput: Average completion rate
Reduce WIP to improve Lead Time
Improves Throughput
Makes Business Happy
The Value of Flow
Avoid Traffic Jams
Requires Continuous Improvement
But, reducing WIP exposes hidden problems due to
– Complexity
– Delay
– Variability
Reduce WIP AND solve problems to
– Establish and improve predictable throughput
– Promote quality
Enables Focus
• Faster customer feedback
• Stop starting, start finishing
• Less overhead
Enables Quality
• Reducing rework from defects
• Getting faster quality feedback
Enables Fast Feedback
• Fast feedback reduces loss from bad outcomes
– Stop working on the wrong thing
• Fast feedback enables exploitation of good outcomes
– Avoid delays when you are doing the right thing
– Learn and innovate
• Fast feedback and progressive elaboration enable an iterative approach
Improves Work Environment
Makes Employees
Happy
The Value of Flow
Respect People
• Make value clear with Stories
• Self organizing teams
• “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.”
Flow in Practice
The Value of Flow
Flow in Scrum
• Limit WIP? Stories in a sprint
• Improve Throughput? Retrospectives and improve velocity
• Respect for People? “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.”
Kanban BoardSimple 2-Tier
Kanban BoardLeanKit Kanban with Swimlanes
Feature BoardVersionOne Epic Board
Questions & Comments?