Developing and Delivering Products Professionally [P3]: Optimizing Flow - Kanban guide from scrum teams

Question 1

What is the purpose of the Kanban guide for scrum teams?

Answer 1

• flow-based perspective of Kanban can enhance and complement the Scrum framework and its implementation
• scrum teams can add complementary kanban practices

Question 2

What is the relation the Kanban guide has the Scrum guide?

Answer 2

enhance and expand the practices of Scrum from the Scrum Guide

Question 3

Give the definition of Kanban

Answer 3

strategy for optimizing the flow of value through a process that uses a visual, working-progress limited pull system

Question 4

Kanban with scrum theory - explain flow and empiricism

Answer 4

• flow in kanban - movement of value throughout the product development system
• Kanban optimizes flow by improving the overall efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability of a process.
• flow in scrum - Key to empirical process control is the frequency of the transparency, inspection, and adaptation cycle - which we can also describe as the Cycle Time through the feedback loop.
• kanban applied to scrum → provide a focus on improving the flow through the feedback loop; optimizing transparency and the frequency of inspection and adaptation for both the product and the process

Question 5

Kanban with scrum theory - Basic Metrics of Flow - WIP

Answer 5

• Work in Progress (WIP)
  
  • number of work items started but not finished
  • transparency about their progress towards reducing their WIP and improving their flow
  • there is a difference between the WIP metric and the policies a Scrum Team uses to limit WIP

Question 6

Kanban with scrum theory - Basic Metrics of Flow - Cycle Time

Answer 6

amount of elapsed time between when a work item starts and when a work item finishes

Question 7

Kanban with scrum theory - Basic Metrics of Flow - Work Item Age

Answer 7

• amount of time between when a work item started and the current
  time.
• only to items that are still in progress

Question 8

Kanban with scrum theory - Basic Metrics of Flow - Throughput

Answer 8

number of work items finished per unit of time

Question 9

Explain Little’s Law

Answer 9

• The Key to Governing Flow
  
  • Guideline

avg cycle time = avg WIP / avg throughput

• for a given process with a given throughput, the more things that you work on at any given time (on average), the longer it is going to take to finish those things (on average)

Question 10

If cycle times are too long, the first action Scrum Teams should consider is what?

Answer 10

lowering WIP

Question 11

Kanban Practices - Scrum Teams can achieve flow optimization by …?

Answer 11

• Visualization of the Workflow
• Limiting Work in Progress (WIP)
• Active management of work items in progress
• Inspecting and adapting the team’s Definition of Workflow

Question 12

Kanban Practices - Definition of Workflow

Answer 12

• Defined by the team
• represents the Scrum Team members’ explicit understanding of what their policies are for following the Kanban practices.
• improves transparency and enables self-management.
• scope can encompass flow inside and/or outside of the Sprint
• Creating and adapting the Definition of Workflow is the accountability of the relevant roles on the Scrum Team

Question 13

Kanban Practices - Visualization of the Workflow – the Kanban Board

Answer 13

• Workflow transparent
• Include
  
  • Defined points at which the Scrum Team considers work to have started and to have finished.
  • A definition of the work items - the individual units of value (stakeholder value, knowledge value, process improvement value) that are flowing through the Scrum Team’s system (most likely Product Backlog items (PBIs)).
  • A definition of the workflow states that the work items flow through from start to finish (of which there must be at least one active state).
  • Explicit policies about how work flows through each state (which may include items from a Scrum Team’s Definition of Done and pull policies between stages).
  • Policies for limiting Work in Progress (WIP)

Question 14

Kanban Practices - Limiting Work in Progress (WIP)

Answer 14

• explicitly limit WIP however they see fit but should stick to that limit once established
• helps flow and improves the Scrum Team’s self-management, focus, commitment, and collaboration
• primary effect of limiting WIP is that it creates a pull system
  
  • team starts work (i.e. pulls) on an item only when it is clear that it has the capacity to do so
  • When the WIP drops below the defined limit, that is the signal to start new work
• different from a push system, which demands that work starts on an item whenever it is requested

Question 15

Kanban Practices - Active Management of Work Items in Progress - what forms can it take?

Answer 15

• Making sure that work items are only pulled into the Workflow at about the same rate that they leave the Workflow.
• Ensuring work items aren’t left to age unnecessarily
• Responding quickly to blocked or queued work items as well those that are exceeding the team’s expected Cycle Time levels (See Service Level Expectation - SLE)

Question 16

Kanban Practices - Active Management of Work Items in Progress - explain Service Level Expectation (SLE)

Answer 16

• forecasts how long it should take a given item to flow from start
  to finish within the Scrum Team’s Workflow
• use to find active flow issues and to inspect and adapt in cases of falling below those expectations
• Two parts
  
  1. range of elapsed days
  2. probability associated with that period
     (e.g., 85% of work items should be finished in eight days or less)
• based on the Scrum Team’s historical Cycle Time (if it has one), else best guess and inspect and adapt once there is enough data

Question 17

Kanban Practices - Inspect and Adapt the Definition of Workflow

Answer 17

• use the existing Scrum events to inspect and adapt its Definition of Workflow
• aspects of the Definition of Workflow the Scrum Team might adopt
  
  • Visualization policies - for example, Workflow states - either changing the actual Workflow or bringing more transparency to an area in which the team wants to inspect and adapt.
  • How-we-work policies - these can directly address an impediment. For example, adjusting WIP limits and SLEs or changing the batch size (how often items are pulled between states) can have a dramatic impact.

Question 18

Does Kanban in a Scrum context require any additional events?

Answer 18

No, does not

Question 19

using a flow-based perspective and metrics in Scrum’s events strengthens what?

Answer 19

Scrum’s empirical approach.

Question 20

Explain “The Sprint” event when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 20

• they must deliver value at least once per Sprint (NOT only once)
• Scrum with Kanban → use the Sprint and its events as a feedback improvement loop by collaboratively inspecting and adapting their Definition of Workflow and flow metrics

Question 21

Explain “Sprint Planning” event when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 21

Scrum with Kanban → uses flow metrics as an aid for developing the Sprint Backlog. Reviewing historical throughput can help a Scrum Team understand their capacity for the next Sprint.

Question 22

Explain “Daily Scrum” event when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 22

• Scrum with Kanban
  
  • focuses the Developers on doing everything they can to maintain
    consistent flow - what’s lacking and how to get it back
  • goal of Daily Scrum remains the same as outlined in The Scrum
    Guide
  • takes place around the Kanban board
• things to consider during a flow-based Daily Scrum include
  
  • What work items are blocked and what can be done to get them unblocked?
  • What work is flowing slower than expected? What is the Work Item Age of each item in progress? What work items have violated or are about to violate their SLE and what can the Scrum Team do to get that work completed?
  • Are there any factors not represented on the board that may impact our ability to complete work today?
  • Have we learned anything new that might change what the Scrum Team has planned to work on next?
  • Have we broken our WIP limit? And what can we do to ensure we can complete the work
    in progress?

Question 23

Explain “Sprint Review” event when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 23

• Inspecting Kanban flow metrics as part of the review can create opportunities for new conversations about monitoring progress towards the Product Goal.
• Reviewing Throughput can provide additional information when the Product Owner discusses likely delivery dates.

Question 24

Explain “Sprint Retrospective” event when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 24

• flow-based Sprint Retrospective → adds the inspection of flow metrics and analytics to help determine what improvements the Scrum Team can make to its processes.
• inspects and adapts the Definition of Workflow to optimize the flow in the next Sprint.
• cumulative flow diagram to visualize a Scrum Team’s WIP, approximate average Cycle Time and average Throughput.
• In addition to the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team should consider taking advantage of process inspection and adaptation opportunities as they emerge throughout the Sprint.
• Adapt Definition of Workflow at any time - preferably at the retro →

reduce complexity and improve focus, commitment and transparency (since have a material impact on how the team performs during the sprint)

Question 25

Explain an Increment when Kanban is used with Scrum

Answer 25

Kanban helps manage the flow of these feedback loops more explicitly and allows the Scrum Team to identify bottlenecks, constraints, and impediments to enable this faster, more continuous delivery of value.

Question 26

The flow optimization practices of Kanban provide Scrum Teams with additional opportunities to …?

Answer 26

inspect the right thing, at the right time, and then based on that inspection, adapt as needed

Question 27

Kanban’s hyperfocus on __, __ and ___ maximizes ___, __, and ultimately ___.

Answer 27

Kanban’s hyperfocus on transparency, visualization, and flow maximizes feedback, empiricism, and ultimately the delivery of value.