Tag Archives: kanban

Magnetic White-Board Kanban Card Options

Posted on September 2, 2014 by John Hunter

Just some quick ideas for Kanban whiteboard magnetic card options from a question I answered on Reddit. Here is the best lean solution: Trying Out My Agile Kanban Board from Jon Miller. Why, well mainly I am kidding about it being the best, but if you don’t read his Gemba Panta Rei blog you should! Go add it to your RSS feed reader, before you continue with this post. Ok, welcome back. In addition to thinking his blog is great … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Avoiding Tragedy of the Commons for Software Development

Posted on June 15, 2011 by John Hunter

Kanban and Tragedy of the Commons The “Tragedy of the Commons” archetype often manifests itself through “Shared Services”, when a small number of people with specific skills, work across different teams. Each team in isolation gets benefit from the Shared Service, but when demand for the service exceeds its capacity, then nobody benefits. At a smaller scale, a team with a low “bus factor”, or a hero, can also suffer from a tragedy of the commons, when too much work … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Assigning Story Points to Bug Fixes

Posted on January 27, 2011 by John Hunter

Agile software development has teams estimate the effort to deliver requests from the product owner. The estimates are done in points (in order to abstract away from hours – as estimates have plenty of variation in how long they will really take). Then the teams capacity (velocity) is determined based on looking at how many points they complete in a “sprint” (a set length, often 2 weeks). Then the product owner can prioritize all of the requests with an understanding … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Quality tools, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Annual Management Blog Review: Software, Manufacturing and Leadership

Posted on January 9, 2011 by John Hunter

In my contribution to the 3rd annual management blog roundup I will take a look at 3 blogs: Dennis Stevens, How to implement “Lean Thinking” in a Business and the Three Star Leadership Blog. This year 14 management bloggers contributed to highlight over 40 blogs, be sure to check out all the posts. Dennis Stevens writes a blog of the same name focused on agile software development principles with a strong focus on Dr. Deming’s ideas and lean thinking. What’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Software Development, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

No True Lean Thinking or Agile Software Development

Posted on November 22, 2010 by John Hunter

“There is no true value of any characteristic, state, or condition that is defined in terms of measurement or observation.” – Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The value depends on your operational definition. Once you operationalize management ideas in a real organization it necessarily should have differences from how it is operationalized elsewhere. As Deming said there are no effective simple recipes for management. It is one of the frustrations people have with Dr. Deming: that there is no cookbook telling … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kanban In Software Engineering

Posted on March 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Kanban in Action [the broken link was removed]: The kanban system allows us to deliver on my 3 elements of my recipe for success: reduce work-in-progress (in fact it limits it completely); balance capacity against demand (as new CRs [change requests] can only be introduced when a kanban card frees up after a release); and prioritize. We hold a business prioritization meeting once per week with vice presidents from around the company. They get to pick new CRs from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged

Single Piece Flow

Posted on February 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Single Piece Flow [the broken link was removed] by Rich Weissman: The transition from batch and queue to lean manufacturing involves converting to single piece flow… In traditional manufacturing, specific operations were done in batches by departments that specialized in individual manufacturing tasks like machining, welding, assembly, and test. Through the integration of lean induced cellular manufacturing processes, cross-trained employees produce just the amount of completed products that are required by other internal operations or the end customer. By eliminating … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Quality tools | Tagged

Leading Lean: Right Tool, Right Problem, Right Thinking

Posted on January 11, 2006 by John Hunter

Leading Lean: Right Tool, Right Problem, Right Thinking [the broken link was removed] One look at the kanban card in light of lean thinking helps those using it understand how and why it works, because they see it and understand it as a request, not a card. It is a method to connect a customer to a supplier. But most companies implementing kanban systems are not successful at getting the users to understand how and why the tool works. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged

Types of Pull Systems

Posted on October 24, 2005 by John Hunter

Pull Systems Must Fit Your Production Needs [the broken link was removed]: Mixed Supermarket and Sequential Pull System The supermarket and sequential pull systems may be used together in a mixed system, also known as a C-type pull system. A mixed system may be appropriate when the 80/20 rule applies, with a small percentage of part numbers (perhaps 20%) accounting for the majority (perhaps 80%) of daily production volume. Often an analysis is performed to segment part numbers by volume … Continue reading →

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