How to limit WIP when you cannot block arriving work requests?

A concern that comes up frequently when you start talking about applying a WIP limit is: “So, what I understand from you is that at some point you will block incoming work requests if the WIP limit is reached, yes? Well, we cannot do that. We cannot tell people we will not work on their …

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How to replace the timebox-based motivation when using Kanban/ScrumBan

I recently pointed a customer to a discussion around motivation when using Kanban compared to Scrum and other timebox-driven approaches. This blog post is a slightly edited version of my comments on that discussion, since I find myself getting into similar discussions quite frequently. The question/context originally posed by Victor on kanbandev was: “We kind of …

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Do Craig Larman’s Laws of Organizational Behavior really mean we always need to start with a structural change? What do they say about starting with Kanban?

I’ve been following Craig Larman’s work for a while now. I find the books he wrote with Bas Vodde on scaling agile to be very insightful and actionable. I recently discovered Craig’s “Laws of Organizational Behavior”: 1. Organizations are implicitly optimized to avoid changing the status quo middle- and first-level manager and “specialist” positions & …

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Lean Startup Blues

Yesterday I had an interesting session with a company who’s been a big believer in Lean Startup and the MVP concept but have lately reduced the amount of MVP-driven product development dramatically. Not because there is less uncertainty to iterate through but due to something we can call the “Lean Startup Blues” – the lack …

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Looking forward to Lean Kanban Central Europe 2012

October is Lean Kanban conferences season in Europe. I chose to return to speak at Lean Kanban Central Europe (#LKCE12) taking place this year in lovely Vienna. If you are not aware of the conference or still contemplating whether to come, here are the things I’m especially looking forward to: Chance to hear the latest …

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