Using Kanban Boards in Agile Project Management
Using Kanban Boards in Agile Project Management
Using Kanban Boards in Agile Project Management
P j t Management
Project M t
By
Tony J Barrett
LCDR USCG (Ret
(Ret.),
) PE
PE, EVP
EVP, PMP,
PMP CSM
CEO of Valued Technology, Inc.
Toyota's
y Six Rules for Kanban
• Do not send defective products to the subsequent process.
• The subsequent process comes to withdraw only what is needed
• Produce only the exact quantity that was withdrawn by the
subsequent process
• Level the production
• Kanban is a means of fine tuning
• Stabilize and rationalize the process
• Work is assigned
g through
g a “pull”
p pprocess where
work is pulled from backlog as bandwidth allows
– the “DO” ppart of a Deming g PDCA cycle
y
• Work in Progress (WIP) is monitored to identify
choke points in the process; mitigate these choke
points; and then replan workflows – the
CHECK , “ACT”,
“CHECK”, ACT , and “PLAN
PLAN parts of a
Deming PDCA cycle
• Kanban is an approach
pp for starting
g to implement
p
Agile in an organization OR for mature
g
organizations movingg beyond
y Scrum
• Define the development steps needed, set up a
Kanban board for the processes
• Run the Kanban board
• Do
D gap analyses
l … i.e.
i find
fi d the
th WIP limits,
li it find
fi d
throughput required, find resources needed for
th throughput
the th h t
Hispanic Owned * Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business (EDWOSB)
www.valuedtechnology.com
More Middle Years (2 of 2)
• Report
p on Kanban WIP times and roadblocks -
start to foster Agile in the organization
• Implement improved Agile Methods (if needed) -
for example if you can support monthly
deliveries then you may want to step up to Scrum
• If you have less than 7 people in your team then
Kanban possesses the rigor you need and don
don’tt
need extra overhead of Scrum or XP methods
Contributing Authors:
- Tony J Barrett
PE, EVP, PMP, CSM
- Keith Corner
MBA EVP
MBA, EVP, PMP
PMP, SCM,
SCM CITP,
CITP PMI-ACP
PMI ACP
- Karla Gonzalez
MBA, ITIL Version 3