Oliver Finker presented on using Wardley Mapping to analyze the applicability of the Kanban Maturity Model. Through a series of Wardley Maps showing the evolution of value chains and perceptions of various stakeholders, it was determined that resistance to Kanban implementation was due to misalignment with organizational needs and a lack of transparency potentially threatening those in charge. By focusing first on less threatening practices that were already accepted, such as implicit work-in-progress limits, the introduction of Kanban saw more acceptance without resistance.

1. Lean Kanban Central Europe 2019
Wardley Mapping
meets the
Kanban Maturity Model
Wednesday, 06 November, 2019, 14:10-14:40
Oliver Finker (Xing, LinkedIn)
@ofinker (Twitter)
Mapping technique, Doctrine, Climactic Patterns & Cheat Sheet are from Simon
Wardley, CC BY-SA 4.0

2. Olga/ Олька - And How Mismatched Are You? 3 (CC BY-ND 2.0)

4. Okay Yaramanoglu – Graduation Day (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

5. Translation:
„It is especially worth mentioning that Mr. Finker played a
significant role in the introduction of the Kanban Method in the
Digital Media unit and that the project could be completed with
such a big success.“

6. Immediate Response
• What do you mean by „project“?
• What do you mean by „completed“?
• What do you mean by „a big success“?

7. Banalities – Mind the Gap (CC BY 2.0)

8. Perception Gap
My perception Organizational perception
Pull
There‘s still work being
pushed into the
system
We pull everything!
Flow Could be improved Everything is flowing!
WIP
Limits
Fewer exceptions
would be good…
Why would we limit how much
we achieve? We are
overachievers!
Scope
This should change the
way we align ourselves
to the market
It is just one side project and not
as important as making money!
Progress We‘ve only just begun We are clearly done here!
Improve Continously… Stop when it hurts.

10. I see, yet another
maturity model.
Hernán Piñera – Odio / Hate (CC BY-SA 2.0)

12. KMM suggests two failure modes
1. A too advanced Kanban
implementation may lead to
organization choking on it.
Everything was better before. Go
away.
2. We‘ve done Kanban, things are doing
fine, thank you, now we‘re off to the
next thing. A possible sign of a too
simple approach.

13. David J. Anderson & Teodora Bozheva - www.leankanban.com

14. Scott Beale – Culture (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

15. STRATEGY
Heidi Uusitorppa – Continental Breakfast at Water Rats (CC BY-NC 2.0)

16. Scientific
Method
Marco Hazard – Female Scientist (CC BY-SA 2.0)

17. The experiment
1. Formulate a question ➔ Is the KMM
applicable here?
2. Hypothesis ➔The mismatch is caused
by at least one cultural factor
3. Prediction ➔ A series of Wardley Maps
will lead us to the reason for inertia
4. Testing ➔ If we introduce a new
practice in a „safe“ area, it should not
meet resistance
5. Analysis ➔ Talk about it at a conference

18. In Detail…
• If Kanban is an evolutionary approach…
• …and a Wardley Map shows evolution of
components…
• …and the speed of evolution is negatively
impacted by inertia…
• …I should be able to identify both the
component and the inertia on the map…
• …and the answer should be associated
with „culture“

19. Roderick Eime – Deep Ocean Expeditions – CC BY-ND 2.0

20. ValueChain
Evolution
MorevisibleLessvisible
Genesis Custom Built
Product
(+ Rental)
Commodity
(+ Utility)
IndustrializedUncharted
CUSTOMER
TECH NEWS
ARTICLE
JOURNALISTIC
CONTENT
WEBSITEAPP
WHATSAPP
CMS
BACKEND
POWER
HOSTING

21. ValueChain
Evolution
MorevisibleLessvisible
Genesis Custom Built
Product
(+ Rental)
Commodity
(+ Utility)
IndustrializedUncharted
Development1
CUSTOMER
TECH NEWS
ARTICLE
JOURNALISTIC
CONTENT
WEBSITEAPP
WHATSAPP
CMS
BACKEND
HOSTING
POWER

22. ValueChain
Evolution
MorevisibleLessvisible
Genesis Custom Built
Product
(+ Rental)
Commodity
(+ Utility)
IndustrializedUncharted
Development1
CUSTOMER
FREE
TECH NEWS
ARTICLE
JOURNALISTIC
CONTENT
WEBSITEAPP
WHATSAPP
CMS
BACKEND
POWER
ADS
Sales
Opportunities2
HOSTING

23. Learning 1
• What we are mainly doing has
basically nothing to do with what the
customer wants.
• And lots of what we do is really far
down the value chain. Why are we
even doing that?
• Be honest with yourself and map the
real value chain!

24. ValueChain
Evolution
MorevisibleLessvisible
Genesis Custom Built
Product
(+ Rental)
Commodity
(+ Utility)
IndustrializedUncharted
Development1
COMPANY
MAKE REVENUE
JOURNALISTIC
CONTENT
WEBSITEAPP
WHATSAPP
CMS
BACKEND
HOSTING
POWER
ADS
DIFFERENT
CHANNELS
Make Money2
What is the
Purpose of Kanban
here?
USERS

25. Learning 2
• The introduction of the Kanban
method seems to be partially
misaligned with what we‘re doing.
• But what is its real purpose then?
• Be honest with yourself and map the
real value chain – using social capital!

26. ValueChain
Evolution
MorevisibleLessvisible
Genesis Custom Built
Product
(+ Rental)
Commodity
(+ Utility)
IndustrializedUncharted

27. ValueChain
User Perception
MorevisibleLessvisible
Different / Confusing /
Exciting / Surprising
Leading edge /
Emerging
Common / Disappointed
if not used or available
Standard /
Expected
IndustrializedUncharted
UPPER TIER MANAGEMENT
DELIVER ON
CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
ORGANIZATIONAL
AGILITY
SURVIVABILITY
PREDICTABLE
ECONOMIC
OUTCOME
FINANCIAL
ROBUSTNESS
RELIEF FROM
OVERBURDENING
PLANNING
RESSOURCES
(MOSTLY HUMAN)
REPORTING
COST
CUTTING
Needs most
visible to
upper tier
management
What others
have to
deliver
SURVIVAL
RISK
RUNNING
DEFICIT
HIGH
UNCERTAINTY
Give me Kanban!!
This is a bit weird.?

28. Learning 3
• Let the map reflect what we care about
• Kanban implementation clearly not
what was bargained for
• Difference between expectations and
communication
• Don‘t stop now and investigate further
where the source of weirdness is

29. ValueChain
Rigidity
(Low Stress)
MorevisibleLessvisible
Questioning the
Status Quo
Inconvenient
Needs Improvement
Expected
Satisfactory
Exemplary
Aura of Success
IndustrializedUncharted
PERSON IN CHARGE
PERCEIVED
SUCCESS
DELIVER ON
EXPECTATIONS
ON BUDGET
ON TIME
COST
CUTTING
CAN DO ATTITUDE
ADAPTIBILITY
DIPLOMACY
PRESTIGE
AUTHORITY
CONTROL BEING
RIGHT
TRANSPARENCY
ACCEPTING
NEW WORK
CO-OPS
PRIORITY
CHANGE
EMPLOYEE
RETENTION
TRAINING
NEW
TECH
+ board
+ meetings
+ visualization
+ metrics
+ urgent
+ service
classes
+ priority
queue
+ relief from
overburdening
+ forecasting
+ agility
+ Kanban
+ improve
+ clarity
- flow
efficiency
- blockers
- wip limits
- poor metrics
- policies
- reviews
- fail culture
- self
organization
- commitment
- awakening - saying no
- stressor
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

30. We need to address needs
• Transparency can be threatening in the
wrong hands
• Limiting WIP must not endanger the person
in charge
• Commitments can have serious
consequences for people
• Handling external blockers can be seen as
interfering

31. • Dealing with politics is annoying but a reality
• Strict policies can take away the flexibility
needed for bargaining and diplomacy
• Making failure visible with open feedback
loops is a big stressor
• Start with what you are doing now means:
include the dysfunctions present in the
system

32. KMM Maturity Level 2 – „Defined“
“There may not be a full understanding of who the customer is or why they have
requested the work. This is most often true for shared and internal services that
lack visibility to the end customer and the motivation or purpose behind a work
request or the risks associated with that work or its delivery.”
“As a consequence, there may be an observable lack of alignment among teams
and interdependent service workflows. This affects the consistency of service
delivery as seen by the customer.”
“A basic understanding and definition of the workflow is developed. Nevertheless,
work tends to be pushed into the process because policies are not strong enough
or sufficiently internalized as to prevent it.”
“There is little observable capability to prioritize work. Priority, if it exists, may be
superstitious, political, or simplistic, such as first-in-first-out.”
“The process, system, or value stream tends to be overburdened. There is a
tendency to say “yes” to everything or too many things and an inability to balance
demand against capability.”

33. A B C
6 5 4
Puts blame on people (responsible for the rules)

34. A B C
Aquarium Aviary
Rodents Predators
Puts blame on the system, not the people

35. Acceptance
• We surmised that introducing a
practice that is less threatening would
not be met by resistance
• The implicit WIP Limit is still in place
and even seen as a key feature
• It‘s even used to select (or postpone)
matching options further upstream

36. Verdict
• We found the problem by digging
deeper into the landscape
• The results match what the KMM
suggested
• First, we encountered resistance and
pushback caused by overreaching
• Afterwards, we coped with that, pulled
back, got acceptance but topped out
early

37. Melanie Shaw – Honesty (CC BY-ND 2.0)