So the cool thing about Kanban when applied to software development (let's say, an already Scrum enabled team) is that it is truly a ground up optimization technique which eliminates the need for sprints.
Let's take the classic example of Kanban; a door worker on the Toyota assembly line. He picks up the 5th door from a pile of 10 and a Kanban card instructs him to place an order at workstation 'C' for 10 more doors. At this point he has an opportunity, one might argue an obligation, to report any inefficiencies in this process to his superiors. This is a central concept of Kanban.
Lets say that every time he went to fetch 10 doors, he realized he really only needed 7, or maybe he says it is far closer to station 'B' than to station 'C'. Well here is an opportunity for optimization. The issue isn't so much whether we can optimize a process, but rather where the input for that optimization comes from.
Now what is happening at each station like the one described above is a pull system;a fungible resource has been asked to review the work in waiting Q and decide whether he or she can act upon it. In our example, 'Here is an order for 10 doors'. The next available resource (person) will either move the Kanban card into the work in process state and start doing the work, or they will leave it in place. While this could result in a blockage of lanes, the assumption is that a eventually a swarm will develop and resolve the potential bottleneck later.
Why Do I say potential bottleneck? Because central to the concept of Kanban is the regulation of the monetary currency (Kanban) so we limit how many Kanban cards may be in circulation at any given point in time. Cards represent work in progress (WIP) and a limitation on the amount of currency allowed in the system is also central to Kanban. We can not over tax the workers nor may we schedule more work than we have resources to allocate to it.
Think back to when you were a young programmer. Perhaps you were strong enough to do the work of two but we should not attempt to schedule around your ability to do the work of three so we must limit our WIP currency to match our available resources. Some prefer .75, some 1.5. It doesn't really matter as reality will ultimately provide this value. Your job as a project manager is to attempt to influence it and get better at managing it.
Kanban does not eradicate the need for project management, it just changes where the PM goes to get their input from. The worker is the best source of input for constant process improvement.
For example, lets say we have 10 Kanban cards. They represent 2 projects assigned to any given programmer (fungible asset) at any given point in time. Now we have these 10 Kanban cards for our 5 engineers and we may now schedule work for the the immediate future with the assumption being that we know what we are trying to accomplish in the near term so we have had made a most efficient utilization of the 10 Kanban units for the next 2-3 months.
Two weeks into production we get feedback from the PM via the station worker that he is waiting on doors. This is what is slowing his production. Well at this point the Kanban approach has done its job. Its pretty easy to see what needs to change. This is one of the benefits of the Kanban approach.
If we can next organize teams like this (fungible assets) and we can spend the necessary time to process worker feedback, then we can begin to realize the benefits of ScrumBan - Scrum without the sprints; constant product production (or in the case of software; integration), synchronized customer and worker feedback; True Engineering Nirvana.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
On the Potential for North Korean Nuclear Arms
So one of the things I think I am most proud of as an American (besides Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) is the fact that many years ago we as a world leader decided to put aside our petty grievances with the Soviet Union (among others) and sit down and seriously discuss the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in an effort to save our planet.
Many societies before us have fallen prey to the gluttony of power, the imposition of their will upon the masses, the pillaging of conquered territories. I have not really seen that in my country. I mean yes the war in Iraq is a bit puzzling; if we conquered a country rich in oil reserves than why does my gas cost more?, etc. but perhaps I am naive enough to believe in the good old American set of values; that we just mean to show them the superiority of our ways and they will naturally convert.
The fact that we as a species were capable of sitting down and bridging the significant gaps between participating countries to address the belief that we had advanced technologically to the point that our continued misbehavior could lead to total destruction of the planet (more probably of life as we know it). The fact that we put the greater good of our planet above all else, well that totally blew my cynical mind and made me a big believer that our species may have a future on this planet after all.
I mean I agree we have the ability to do damage on a global scale when we only think locally, and I buy into the belief that we need to be constantly vigilant on the impact we have on our surrounding eco-system (think about the concept of an extinct species), but the fact that we can bind together at a country level to concern ourselves on a global scale is simply mind blowing.
This is why the North Korean issue so perplexes me. I mean at the end of the day it boils down to this in my mind; the big fish have decided to behave so as not to damage their shared environment. Some young pip-squeek wants to get away with intransigence afforded by the politeness of the big fish swimming in this sea. I say its time for the big fish to bare their teeth and be less polite. Its really as simple as that.
Many societies before us have fallen prey to the gluttony of power, the imposition of their will upon the masses, the pillaging of conquered territories. I have not really seen that in my country. I mean yes the war in Iraq is a bit puzzling; if we conquered a country rich in oil reserves than why does my gas cost more?, etc. but perhaps I am naive enough to believe in the good old American set of values; that we just mean to show them the superiority of our ways and they will naturally convert.
The fact that we as a species were capable of sitting down and bridging the significant gaps between participating countries to address the belief that we had advanced technologically to the point that our continued misbehavior could lead to total destruction of the planet (more probably of life as we know it). The fact that we put the greater good of our planet above all else, well that totally blew my cynical mind and made me a big believer that our species may have a future on this planet after all.
I mean I agree we have the ability to do damage on a global scale when we only think locally, and I buy into the belief that we need to be constantly vigilant on the impact we have on our surrounding eco-system (think about the concept of an extinct species), but the fact that we can bind together at a country level to concern ourselves on a global scale is simply mind blowing.
This is why the North Korean issue so perplexes me. I mean at the end of the day it boils down to this in my mind; the big fish have decided to behave so as not to damage their shared environment. Some young pip-squeek wants to get away with intransigence afforded by the politeness of the big fish swimming in this sea. I say its time for the big fish to bare their teeth and be less polite. Its really as simple as that.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Proud of Myself
So I have been staying in San Bruno for like the last 3 weeks, primarily because it has a casino (Artichoke Joes) within walking distance from the hotel. Over the past 3 weeks I am up close to 2k which is why I returned tonight even though my apartment in San Francisco is now ready. Two hours into this session I grab a smoke and come back looking at a $8 blind since I missed my turn at the small and big blind, so I pony up the $8 (I'm playing 6/12 limit) and draw a 8-J off from under the gun which I decide I should play only because everyone else calls around to me. Right when I go to call, this bozo sitting across from me decides he doesn't like his hand and tosses his cards across the table and they land on top of mine. I push his aside and call, but the dealer calls a dead hand and has the pit boss come over.
The pit boss asks what happened and decides my hand is dead so they take my cards and continue to play the hand. I'm like, wtf? The pit boss says 'oh, you need to protect your hand' so I ask 'what does that mean'? He says if you would have had something on top of your cards like a chip or token then it would not have been a problem but since you did not protect your hand, your hand is dead. I complain, "you mean because that clown tossed his cards on top of mine I get punished"? He says, basically yes. Turns out next hand I am the big blind so another $6 goes into the pot. $14 gone and I haven't even had a chance to play a hand. I don't think I like that very much.
I start moping and pissing and moaning (even though my aggressive behavior wins me the next two pots) and playing angry and about four hands later the pit boss returns and gives me back my $8 and tells me he is sorry but in the future I will need to protect my hand. I thought that was pretty classy. Eventually about 5 hours later I bust out (lost $200 but still up over the last 3 weeks like $1500) and right before I leave I hunt down the pit boss. I hand him a $50 and tell him "sometimes it has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with how a man is treated". He tells me thank you and I leave. I'm pretty proud of myself tonight which is why I took the time out to jot this down. I hope I can remain this classy throughout the remainder of my poker playing days :-)
The pit boss asks what happened and decides my hand is dead so they take my cards and continue to play the hand. I'm like, wtf? The pit boss says 'oh, you need to protect your hand' so I ask 'what does that mean'? He says if you would have had something on top of your cards like a chip or token then it would not have been a problem but since you did not protect your hand, your hand is dead. I complain, "you mean because that clown tossed his cards on top of mine I get punished"? He says, basically yes. Turns out next hand I am the big blind so another $6 goes into the pot. $14 gone and I haven't even had a chance to play a hand. I don't think I like that very much.
I start moping and pissing and moaning (even though my aggressive behavior wins me the next two pots) and playing angry and about four hands later the pit boss returns and gives me back my $8 and tells me he is sorry but in the future I will need to protect my hand. I thought that was pretty classy. Eventually about 5 hours later I bust out (lost $200 but still up over the last 3 weeks like $1500) and right before I leave I hunt down the pit boss. I hand him a $50 and tell him "sometimes it has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with how a man is treated". He tells me thank you and I leave. I'm pretty proud of myself tonight which is why I took the time out to jot this down. I hope I can remain this classy throughout the remainder of my poker playing days :-)
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