Kanban Archive

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Coke Freestyle VMS

By
Derek Huether
– March 18, 2012Posted in: Agile, Kanban, Misc

My family and I went into a California Tortilla the other night to grab a quick dinner. Off to the side I notice a long line of people waiting to fill their soda cups.  It used to be, when you went out for fast food, the people behind the counter would ask you what you wanted and they would hand it to you.  Now, at this location, it appeared it could take as long to get our drinks (in a separate line) as it would to get our food.  Though I appreciate this California Tortilla location wanting to empower the consumer by giving us 100+ choices of our favorite mixture of soda-pop, most people in line appeared paralyzed by the amount of combinations and permutations.  When I went into a different California Tortilla, I noticed an old-school fountain machine.  There was no line and I saw two people filling their soda cups at the same time.  It made me question the value the additional choices offered, especially when all I want is water.

So, I guess my question is, should there be fewer options or a better feedback tool for consumers to respond to?  When doing a little research on this post, I found a poster of a freestyle “menu” at Taco Mac.  I believe the use of this VMS (Visual Management System) could keep the lines short at the California Tortilla location.  But, I don’t know.  Are there shorter (or no) lines at the Atlanta Taco Macs?  To shorten the lines at California Tortilla, I would propose they get the menus and hang a poster near the machine.  I think people would be more apt to decide what they wanted before they stand in front of this machine with 100+ choice presented to them.  I think it would cut down on people browsing the menu, while there is a line behind them.  My goal?  I want the cut down lead time and cycle time as much as possible.  Not sure what those are?  I found a great definition by Corey Ladas.

Lead time clock starts when the request is made and ends at delivery. Cycle time clock starts when work begins on the request and ends when the item is ready for delivery. Cycle time is a more mechanical measure of process capability. Lead time is what the customer sees.

Lead time depends on cycle time, but also depends on your willingness to keep a backlog, the customer’s patience, and the customer’s readiness for delivery.

Another way to think about it is: cycle time measures the completion rate, lead time measures the arrival rate. A producer has limited strategies to influence lead time. One is pricing (managing the arrival rate), another is managing cycle time (completing work faster/slower than the arrival rate).

I know you usually don’t think of Agile or Lean when talking about fish tacos, burritos and soda-pop, but I had to get this off my chest.

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My Personal Kanban Birthday gift

By
Derek Huether
– December 11, 2011Posted in: Agile, Kanban

I would like to publicly thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes.  Gotta love Facebook, Google+ and all of the other places that broadcast your birthday to the world.  It’s actually pretty cool to hear from people I haven’t talked to in a while.  Rather than go into details about how I ate durian fruit or how I was convinced my wife hired a belly dancer for our dinner date with friends, I’ll focus on the good stuff.

Not only did I score several containers of coffee, but I also got a physical copy of Personal Kanban from my parents. I have Jim and Tonianne’s Kindle version of Personal Kanban but sometimes when you really like something, you just have to have a physical copy.  I honestly didn’t think I was that sentimental.

My son and I also got matching white boards to help us navigate our lives.  So, if you’re thinking of a stocking stuffer this year, get that special person a copy of Personal Kanban and some post-its.  They’ll be glad you did.

Oh, and if you look in the background of the photo, you’ll see my wife has LeanKit Kanban up on her screen.  Ya, we’re a weird family.

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LeanKit Kanban

By
Derek Huether
– August 10, 2011Posted in: Agile, Kanban, Project Management

LeanKit KanbanWhen the Agile Manifesto for Agile Software Development was written 10 years ago, it stated “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.”

The very first of four values listed within the Manifesto was “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”

The Manifesto goes on to state “…while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Well, I am compelled to write about one of the items on the right.  I still believe the tool should be good enough that it helps you reach your goals.  But after that, it should not become a big process onto itself.  What I want to do is finish tasks and get some actual closure on them.

I recently read in the book Personal Kanban by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry, a phenomenon known as the “Zeigarnik Effect”.  It states that 90% of people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.  Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnic found that the human brain becomes preoccupied with things that are not closed.

Though I have leveraged Kanban with teams, it took me a while to realize that Visual Control Systems could be used to visualize and manage both personal and professional work.  I then found myself using a physical board at the office and an electronic version (web-based tool) at home.

What is visual control, exactly?

A visual control is a technique employed in many places where information is communicated by using visual signals instead of texts or other written instructions. The design is deliberate in allowing quick recognition of the information being communicated, in order to increase efficiency and clarity.

The real question is, can a process tool take the place of individuals and interactions?  Perhaps we need to stop and think about the reality of our world.  Is everyone in your company physically located in the same office space or are you geographically dispersed?  If you’re not all sitting there together in an open workspace, you need to find a tool that will bridge that physical gap and then stay out of the way. Bandit Software’s  LeanKit Kanban does that.  Let me tell you what puts LeanKit in the lead of the Kanban tool race.  It’s called mobile computing.

I seem to carry my iPad with me everywhere. (I’ll be getting an iPhone as soon as my contract is up).  Though the LeanKit iPhone/iPod interface could use a little work, the iPad interface is completely awesome.  The image above is actually a screen print from my iPad.  The design is simple; it’s lightweight; it’s functional.  It helps me visualize my work and it helps control my work in process.  Merge LeanKit Kanban and an iPad and you will have an amazing user experience, as it allows individuals to interact wherever they see fit.  I’m happy because I can access half a dozen different boards with tap of my finger and my wife is happy because I didn’t cover the walls of my home office with whiteboards and sticky notes.

If you’re thinking about using a web-based Kanban tool for yourself, your team, or your organization, all of the vendors out there have relatively similar features.  See which one fits your budget.  If you or your teams are using mobile devices like iPhones, iPods, or iPads (in addition to desktops or laptops), you need to go to iTunes and download this app.  Though you need to have an existing LeanKit account to make the Apple App versions work, you can get a personal account for free!

After you see how well it works for your personal life, I don’t doubt you’ll be using it in the office in the not-too-distant future.

 

HT: Wikipedia
HT: LeanKit
HT: Personal Kanban

 

 

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Getting PMI Agile PDUs Early

By
Derek Huether
– April 7, 2011Posted in: Agile, Kanban, Project Management

Let’s say you’re interested in the upcoming Agile Project Professional (APP) certification from PMI.  You look to see the eligibility requirements and notice you’ll need 21 hours of Agile Project Management Training.  If you’re determined to get the PMI APP and looking to do this on the cheap, start watching webinars now. I can guarantee there will be a lot of training opportunities in the near future.  Check out a future location to find upcoming Agile PDUs. Once it is fully rolled out, it should be an excellent resource to find PDUs to meet your PMI needs.

PMI Agile PDUSo back to the intent of getting the training.  After I read (and recently reread) Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, it made me stop and question why people wanted to get the PMP or APP.  Are we trying to discover better ways to deliver value to customers or just trying to get a piece of paper and a few extra letters after our names?  Dan breaks it down to pursuing the mastery of performance-based objectives versus learning-based objectives (ie. getting a passing score on a certification exam versus learning new approaches to deliver value to customers).

Regardless, information is information and I want to do what I can to help people discover it.

One of the approaches I really enjoy using is Kanban.  Today I stumbled upon a free Kanban webinar.  Though you do have to enter some contact information, it’s free.  You have the option of downloading it or viewing a playback.  So, regardless if you’re looking to bank those PMI Agile PDUs or not, enjoy 1 free hour of training.  By the way, I am in no way affiliated with the provider.   I just like free webinars.

HT: ASPE Events
HT: Agile PDUs

Link to Drive is an Amazon affiliate link
Drawing by Pictofigo

 

 

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Reading about Process Improvement

By
Derek Huether
– March 14, 2011Posted in: Agile, Kanban, Project Management

Reading Books Over the weekend, I found myself trying to read a physical book about systems analysis while listening to a book on operational process improvement.  I’m not going to go into the physical book because I am so impressed with the audio book.  I guess it wouldn’t matter if it was physical, digital, or audio.  It’s just a really really good book!

It’s titled: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (yes, if someone clicks on that link and buys a book, I would get credit)

Though the story reads like fiction, in its introduction of characters and story, it does an amazing job of introducing concepts to the reader.  The main character manages a production plant, where everything is always behind schedule and things are looking pretty bad. (Sound like any projects you know?)  The production plant is doing so poorly, the company has given the main character an ultimatum.   With a threat of closure, the plant has three months to turn operations from being unprofitable and chronically late on deliveries to being profitable and successful.  In the book, we are introduced to the Socratic method. Throughout the book, a character poses questions to another or a member of a team, which in turn causes them to talk amongst themselves to come up with a solution to their problem.

Because the book revolves around manufacturing and not application development or project management, there are a few dotted lines that need to be drawn.  But, overall, it really got my wheels spinning.  It doesn’t matter if you’re using Kanban or if you’re in any type of management position, I would recommend this book.

One quote really stuck with me

Intuitive conclusions (common sense) are commonly masked by common practice

Process Improvement

The following lists some of the ways that processes can be improved.

  • Reduce work-in-process (WIP) inventory to reduce lead time
  • Add additional resources to increase capacity of the bottleneck
  • Improve the efficiency of the bottleneck activity to increase process capacity
  • Move work away from bottleneck resources where possible to increase process capacity
  • Increase availability of bottleneck resources to increase process capacity
  • Minimize non-value adding activities to decrease cost and reduce lead time

Like the drawing? Get it free from Pictofigo

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