1. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Insights from coaching
70+ Kanban Teams
Observations and Insight that are the backbone of the
Kanban Kick-start model
Christophe Achouiantz
Lean/Agile Coach
@ChrisAch
christophe@betterify.se
2. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
About Christophe
• French
• Living & working in Sweden
• Lean/Agile Coach since 2007
• Applied Kanban since 2009
• Coached 70+ teams using Kanban
• Author of ”The Kanban Kick-start Field
Guide”
• Brickell Key Award 2016
3. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
My Kanban Training
Story
• 2010-2014 Introducing Kanban to Sandvik IT
• Training 70+ teams
• Many teams, little time with few coachs
• The model: The Kanban Kick-start, specified in
“The Kanban Kick-start Field Guide”
• Sandvik IT’s story on InfoQ:
• https://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-1
• https://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-2
• Presentation at Lean Kanban Central Europe 2011:
• https://www.lean-kanban-conference.de/what-
happened-2011/igniting-change/
5. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Typical Teams Behavior after Training
Time
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”Too much work to update the board” Path (10%)
The Good-enough Path (70%)
As seen at Sandvik IT.
https://infoq.com/articles/kanban-Sandvik-IT-2
Greatness
is up there
6. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
All Kanban implementations will
degenerate into ”stickies on a
wall” and die…
What the second law of thermodynamics mean to Kanban
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
7. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
The “High Performing” Forces
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• Great Team
• Clarity of Purpose
• Customer Facing
• End-to-end service
• Management support
• Servant Leadership
• Sense of urgency
• Culture of experimentation and learning
• Curiosity / Inspiration
High Performing
8. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
The Dream Scenario for Kanban Training
• A cross-functional (business & IT) end-to-end service team that
is customer facing with good management support, a clear
purpose, and clear sense of urgency can quickly reach “High
Performing”.
• Be prepared that for anything else, it will be a struggle…
10. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Developing a Kanban system
is like developing a product
You have least information at the beginning, when the context is still fuzzy.
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
11. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
A Kanban system must
provide learnings to improve
itself
Kanban is a catalyst for continuous improvements.
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
14. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Initial training should not
have the ambition to put
everything in place.
“Start where you are” means low maturity to start with.
A Kanban system needs time to develop until fully realized.
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
15. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Some Teams start with Large Debts…
It takes time for them to catch up
Time
IncreaseinCapabilities
“Team Training” - basic Team-building skills
• Learn to act as a Team
• Follow standards
• Listen & talk to each-others
• Understand the common goal
Kanban Training
16. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Key Kanban mechanics are counter-
intuitive. They can only be maintained
when you understand the need for them
in context.
Pull, WIP limits, Swarming, Flow, etc.
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
17. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
New policies should be introduced
Just-in-time, to match the Team’s
maturity.
Too early and it doesn’t work well, means the team will be reluctant to try
again. Eventually the Team may suffer from change fatigue (“Whatever…”).
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
18. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Kanban is dynamic: it grows
in complexity to match the
teams maturity!
Contrary to Scrum that is more static, Kanban starts dead-simple and
can end up with a complex set of policies to fit its context.
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
19. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
You accelerate the process if you are
actively coaching the team
Coach Embedded with the Team
Coach shared between Teams (up to 5)
Coach for many teams
Training with Kick-start and Boosts
Classic one-off training
Time to maturity
20. LKFR17
Christophe Achouiantz @ChrisAch
Beware of the Policy-Debt Trap
• Keep policies updated to match reality
• Wishful policies to ”drive” improvement do not work!
• The bigger differences between policies and realities, the less
relevant your Kanban system becomes. The quicker it dies.
• Read more: The policy-debt trap
Based on my experience! Not Cannon!
Key words: CONSISTENTLY, VALUE
These are MY insights
My way to look at the Kanban method
Insights TO BETTER UNDERSTAND the training approach I advocate.
As if it was not hard enough, you have to constantly fight against nature to get to a mature kanban system.
These are MY insights
My way to look at the Kanban method
Insights TO BETTER UNDERSTAND the training approach I advocate.
We have some idea at the beginning but the details are not there yet!
Are we producing VALUE?
WORK, WORK TYPE, SERVICE(S), EXPECTATIONS, CAPABILITIES, CUSTOMER(S), SEGMENTS?, WOW (how we COLLABORATE, DECISIONS making), PROCESS
No perfect kanban system at the start! You need more information do get there.
Mindset to have when training Kanban: ”Start where you are!”
Eventually it is about ”better flow”, ”more value”, ”customer focus”.
LENS, OBSERVE, CONTEXT – Customers, Expectations (how we deliver to expectatiosn), Delivery capabilities, Impediments
Once you understand the whole & correct picture, THEN you can:
Shape the process, wow, flow of work, even DEMAND, even CUSTOMERS…
The order you need to Train!
No perfect kanban system at the start! You need more information do get there.
Mindset to have when training Kanban: ”Start where you are!”
Eventually it is about ”better flow”, ”more value”, ”customer focus”.
LENS, OBSERVE, CONTEXT – Customers, Expectations (how we deliver to expectatiosn), Delivery capabilities, Impediments
Once you understand the whole & correct picture, THEN you can:
Shape the process, wow, flow of work, even DEMAND, even CUSTOMERS…
The order you need to Train!
So, it’s OK to take it easy at the start!
Good to know… It may not be that simple (it takes time)
MOREOVER…
It won’t STICK
Because: 1) context / needs are unclear, 2) counter-intuitive
After 1 week, 1 month, 6 moths Follow the team’s maturity
Requires constant care, especially at the beginning
From ToDo/Doing/Done multi-tiered board, demand shaping, CoS, etc.
Kanban: SET of POLICIES grow/change (or get more complex) over time
Scrum: set of policies is SET from the start.
Canned food vs. Whole Food
Based on my experience! Not Cannon!
Key words: CONSISTENTLY, VALUE