Todd Little shares his accidental involvement in agility, the importance of Kanban in continuous improvement, the significance of metrics in Kanban, challenges of utilization and focusing on customer satisfaction, and understanding incentive programs and cultural biases in organizations.
Kanban is an incremental approach to continuous improvement through small, iterative changes.
Kanban emphasizes the importance of understanding the current state of work, identifying pain points, and taking active leadership to make incremental changes.
Deep dives
The Evolutionary Improvement Approach of Kanban
Kanban is not a transformation, but an incremental approach to evolutionary change. It focuses on continuously improving through small, iterative changes. Visualization is a crucial element of Kanban, but it goes beyond just using sticky notes or a board. Kanban emphasizes metrics, small experimental changes, and dealing with resistance to achieve continuous improvement. Many agile implementations stall because they lack the foundational knowledge and techniques for effective improvement.
Starting with What You Do Now
Kanban emphasizes starting with the current state of work and understanding how things are functioning. Identifying pain points, challenges, and resistance is essential for improvement. By using the formula of identifying stressors, reflecting on them, and taking active leadership to make a difference, Kanban provides a framework for making incremental changes and continuously improving. Leadership is not limited to specific roles, as acts of leadership can come from anyone at any level in the organization.
Combining Scrum and Kanban
Kanban offers a class called 'Scrum Better with Kanban' that acknowledges the existing use of Scrum and helps teams address pain points and improve their Scrum implementation. Kanban's focus on flow, understanding work, and dealing with resistance aligns well with addressing common challenges in Scrum. Metrics like lead time, run charts, and cumulative flow diagrams help teams track progress, identify bottlenecks, and work towards continuous improvement.
In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Todd Little, Chairman of Kanban University, about the principles of Kanban and how they can be used to improve work processes in delivery teams.
Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/47JlyXP
Subscribe to the Software Architects’ Newsletter [monthly]: www.infoq.com/software-architect…mpaign=architectnl
Upcoming Events:
QCon London
qconlondon.com/
April 8-10, 2024
Follow InfoQ:
- Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq
- Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq
- Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8
- Instagram: @infoqdotcom
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/infoq
Write for InfoQ
- Join a community of experts.
- Increase your visibility.
- Grow your career.
www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq/?u…aign=writeforinfoq
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode