Lean from the Trenches: Managing Large-Scale Projects with Kanban

Cover......Page 1
Table of Contents......Page 6
Foreword......Page 10
How to Read This Book......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 13
Part 1—How We Work......Page 15
1. About the Project......Page 16
Timeline......Page 18
How We Sliced the Elephant......Page 19
How We Involved the Customer......Page 20
2. Structuring the Teams......Page 22
3. Attending the Daily Cocktail Party......Page 25
First Tier: Feature Team Daily Stand-up......Page 26
Second Tier: Sync Meetings per Specialty......Page 27
Third Tier: Project Sync Meeting......Page 28
4. The Project Board......Page 30
Our Cadences......Page 33
How We Handle Urgent Issues and Impediments......Page 34
5. Scaling the Kanban Boards......Page 38
6. Tracking the High-Level Goal......Page 42
7. Defining Ready and Done......Page 46
Ready for Development......Page 47
Ready for System Test......Page 48
How This Improved Collaboration......Page 49
8. Handling Tech Stories......Page 50
Example 1: System Test Bottleneck......Page 51
Example 2: Day Before the Release......Page 52
Example 3: The 7-Meter Class......Page 53
Continuous System Test......Page 55
Fix the Bugs Immediately!......Page 56
Why We Limit the Number of Bugs in the Bug Tracker......Page 57
Visualizing Bugs......Page 58
Preventing Recurring Bugs......Page 60
10. Continuously Improving the Process......Page 63
Process Improvement Workshops......Page 64
Managing the Rate of Change......Page 72
11. Managing Work in Progress......Page 75
Using WIP Limits......Page 79
Why WIP Limits Apply Only to Features......Page 80
Velocity (Features per Week)......Page 83
Why We Don\'t Use Story Points......Page 85
Cycle Time (Weeks per Feature)......Page 86
Cumulative Flow......Page 91
Process Cycle Efficiency......Page 93
Backlog Grooming......Page 94
Why We Moved Backlog Grooming Out of the Sprint Planning Meeting......Page 95
Planning the Release......Page 96
14. How We Do Version Control......Page 98
No Junk on the Trunk......Page 99
Team Branches......Page 100
System Test Branch......Page 101
15. Why We Use Only Physical Kanban Boards......Page 104
Embrace Failure......Page 108
Involve People......Page 109
Part 2—A Closer Look at the Techniques......Page 110
17. Agile and Lean in a Nutshell......Page 111
Agile in a Nutshell......Page 112
Lean in a Nutshell......Page 114
Scrum in a Nutshell......Page 117
XP in a Nutshell......Page 119
Kanban in a Nutshell......Page 120
What to Do About It......Page 125
Step 1: List Your Test Cases......Page 126
Step 2: Classify Each Test......Page 127
Step 3: Sort the List in Priority Order......Page 128
Step 4: Automate a Few Tests Each Iteration......Page 130
Does This Solve the Problem?......Page 131
Estimating Without Planning Poker......Page 132
Estimating with Planning Poker......Page 134
Special Cards......Page 135
Solve Problems, Not Symptoms......Page 137
The Lean Problem-Solving Approach: A3 Thinking......Page 138
How to Use Cause-Effect Diagrams......Page 139
Example 1: Long Release Cycle......Page 140
Example 2: Defects Released to Production......Page 144
Example 3: Lack of Pair Programming......Page 146
Example 4: Lots of Problems......Page 150
Practical Issues: How to Create and Maintain the Diagrams......Page 151
Pitfalls......Page 152
Why Use Cause-Effect Diagrams?......Page 153
21. Final Words......Page 154
A1. Glossary: How We Avoid Buzzword Bingo......Page 155
Index......Page 156