kanban

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 …

Read more

Kanban FAQ: Should I FINISH what I’m working on or help the team READY new work items?

Once people start to get “Stop Starting Start Finishing” thinking (Kanban) or the “Focus on the current sprint” thinking (Scrum) a frequent question that comes up is how to deal with people who are required for different activities throughout the work life cycle. Some example scenarios: “I’m a tester who both participates in ATDD spec. …

Read more

Lean Kanban North America is coming to San Francisco but when will I have time to enjoy the city?

Lean Kanban North America a.k.a Modern Management Methods conference for 2014 is coming up. This year it will take place in beautiful San Francisco.  I love San Francisco and the conference hotel is smack in the area I love most – the waterfront… But I’m not sure how much time I will have to wander …

Read more

Sensing and increasing manager engagement during an agile change initiative – guest post by Yaki Koren

Earlier this week I published a guest post about how managers need to change if they want agile to succeed by Yaki Koren. Some blog/twitter followers asked for elaboration and Yaki was gracious enough to comply. I suspect the fact that this is a really hot topic for him this week helped. Without further a …

Read more

Bootstrapping Agile (by yourself) using Kanban – My Agile Israel 2013 talk

Agile Israel 2013 took place yesterday. This year was they year of “Hands on”. Around 600 attendees came to get practical hands on advice on multiple aspects of the agile world. My talk was about running your agile journey on your own. This talk was aimed at people looking into agile or exploring ways to …

Read more

Recent Reading Lists

(UPDATE: This post is quite deprecated now. For up-2-date reading lists go to the AgileSparks Per-Topic Reading Lists) I’ve recently gone into Seal/Whale mode and didn’t have too much time to blog.  Sorry for that… To make the wait for new content easier, I’m sharing a couple of reading lists that I curated recently for use in …

Read more

May the WIP Games begin…

Preface The day has come for FLOWer to bloom (maybe we should call it “Hatzav” (maritime squeel) after the flower that brings the autumn here in israel… btw we are in the middle of october and it feels like July, can’t wait for the Vienna weather next week in Lean Kanban Central Europe 2012 – …

Read more

Using card types and filters as “Virtual Horizontal Swimming Lanes” on a Kanban Board

After a serious break from Kanban Mechanics posts, here is one for you Kanban System Designers/Practitioners out there… I’ve recently become a fan of the “Virtual Horizontal Swimming Lanes” style of Electronic Kanban Boards. These Boards don’t use physical horizontal lanes but instead use dynamic and easy filtering to show virtual lanes. Specifically I helped …

Read more

Experiencing Kanban System Design

As a Kanban Trainer I often introduce people to the Kanban Method for evolutionary change and the aspects of evolving system design and how they drive improvement. I’ve been looking for ways to make this introduction and exploration of the Kanban Method a more interactive experience. I love Russel Healy’s Kanban Game both in physical …

Read more

Why Agile Testing

Background I recently had a couple of weeks with a few activities related to “Agile Testing”. “Agile Testing” for those not familiar with it is the name we give to the set of thinking guidelines, principles and practices that help run the testing aspects of product development/maintenance in a more effective way under an Agile …

Read more