(updated with revised video on 7 October 2013) When I first got into Kanban, I really struggled to get my head around why limiting work in progress (WIP) made sense. The ‘experts’ were telling me that, by reducing the amount of work we were doing, we’d also reduce the time… Read More »Why limiting WIP makes sense
“The problem is”, said the exec, “I keep getting told, by the team, that they can’t do what I’m asking because it’s not agile.” Lots of questions started filling my head: what was she asking? What are their processes? Is the team hiding behind agile to fob her off? Then… Read More »The 3-minute agile expert
I’ve secured a place to talk at Agile on the Beach on 5-6 September. This 2-day conference, hosted in Falmouth, comprises 30 UK and International agile speakers and brings together 200 people to explore, evolve and find out what it means to be truly agile and lean in business; from… Read More »Agile on the Beach announces speakers
How do you keep track of your personal task list? Do you use MS Outlook’s standard task manager? Or maybe you use a tablet? A spreadsheet? Or just a good old-fashioned pen and pad? Even at home I’ve been known to roll out the post-it notes for a project (my… Read More »Personal Kanban
I’m convinced that Kanban works very well for service desks and other response-based teams. For these teams, planning two weeks’ work up front just doesn’t make sense. Similarly, I can see why people might think that Scrum works best for projects: iterations give great visibility and regular milestones at which… Read More »Scrum or Kanban?
If I had to keep only one team-wide meeting, it would be the retrospective. As well as being the catalyst for improvement, it is also the team’s opportunity to vent their frustration. In fact, raising issues is encouraged! Sure, the team has to go on to try to find solutions… Read More »Marmite Voting
In 2004 I went to a friend’s house for dinner and she served up what can only be described as “a disgusting mush”. This mush was apparently risotto. From that moment on, I was risotto’s biggest opponent. I fought against it whenever it appeared on menus. It was, in my… Read More »Kanban risotto
What makes a good user story? Is it as simple as just following the format advocated by many Scrum practitioners: As a <who>, I want <what> so that <why> For example: as a user I want to be able to add a product to a wishlist so that I can… Read More »What makes a good user story?
“There is something you should understand about the way I work. When you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me, then I have to go. It’s rather sad, really, but there it is.” ~ Nanny McPhee The… Read More »Self-organising teams: why today’s ScrumMaster is like Nanny McPhee
Until I started focusing on how much our team was working on at any one time (i.e. Work In Progress or “WIP”), as a result of us using Kanban, I didn’t realise just how much of our world is affected by poor flow and how Kanban could help us in… Read More »Why multi-tasking is for losers
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