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Kanban Reports

This blog post is an update to the original post from November 2013 Don’t get me wrong, I prefer story points and velocity to masses of up-front analysis and estimation. But I feel that Kanban goes one step further and employs maths as a basis for its estimates. Unlike financial… Read More »Kanban Reports

Cynefin

Cynefin this. Cynefin that. Everywhere I turned, someone seemed to be referring to this thing called Cynefin. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it, let alone what it was. So last month, at Lean Kanban UK 2013, I decided to go along to Liz Keogh‘s session entitled ‘Cynefin in… Read More »Cynefin

Too much change

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  • 2 min read

The role of agile coach is a funny one: even when you’re doing a good job, you can’t put your finger on a deliverable and say “I did that”. This lack of externally visible, tangible deliverables sometimes makes coaches (and ScrumMasters) feel they need to have an outward show of… Read More »Too much change

Kanban Terminology

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When I first started looking into Kanban, I thought I understood what Lead Time, WIP and Throughput Rate meant. I discussed how to calculate them, use them and even produced a video explaining why limiting WIP makes sense referring to them. Then I got told by a bunch of experts… Read More »Kanban Terminology

Are we like chefs?

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  • 3 min read

I remember an episode of Saturday Kitchen, featuring Raymond Blanc, where he refused to be drawn into the ridiculous “omelette challenge” – his sentiment was, if you don’t have  a few extra minutes to cook an omelette properly, then it’s not worth making. Blanc’s belief mirrors the menu from Restaurant… Read More »Are we like chefs?

Upcoming events

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October seems to be the time of year for agile and lean events in London. Unfortunately, the two most interesting clash with one another! Lean Kanban UK is shaping up to be a cracking event. Speakers include David J. Anderson, Zsolt Fabok, Mike Burrows, Andy Carmichael, Jim Benson, Håkan Forss, Liz… Read More »Upcoming events

More than the 5 whys?

Sakichi Toyoda (of Toyota fame) developed a problem-solving method that will sound familiar to parents: repeatedly asking “why?”. However, unlike most kids, Toyoda believed that asking ‘why?’ five times led to an understanding of the problem and a solution. People often try to solve problems by addressing causes presented to… Read More »More than the 5 whys?

What is an agile coach?

How different is an agile coach from a ScrumMaster? Are they interchangeable? Is a ScrumMaster always a coach, and a coach always a ScrumMaster (assuming you’re using Scrum)? These were just a few of the questions that were raised at this week’s LADG when we met to discuss “how to… Read More »What is an agile coach?

Agile on the Beach

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“Agile AND a beach party? Sounds like my kind of thing” was my response when a colleague asked me if I was interested in going to Agile on the Beach 2013. And it didn’t disappoint.   Nearly 200 people converged on the university at Falmouth, UK, for 2 days of… Read More »Agile on the Beach

Slicing stories vertically

Most people agree that splitting stories into manageable sizes makes sense: stories should be small enough to be achievable within an iteration, but big enough to deliver something valuable in their own right. (For more on the content of user stories, see this previous post). But HOW should you split… Read More »Slicing stories vertically