XP 2015
Presenter-Nirnaya Tripathi Date 27.05.2015
Scaling Kanban for software
development in a multisite
organization: Challenges and
Potential Solution
Presentation Outline
•
INTRODUCTION
•
LARGE SCALE SCRUM & KANBAN
•
RESEARCH QUESTION
•
RESEARCH METHOD
•
RESULTS
Introduction
Visual Board
Helsinki Railway station [1]
Helsinki international Airport [2]
1 - http://kuvat.vaunut.org/4bee01ceb549ca79c45141276e851bdc.jpg (photo search credit: Pertti Sepanen)
Introduction
Visual Board
Helsinki Railway station [1]
Helsinki international Airport [2]
Benefits of Visual Board:
Visibility
Signaling
Scrum & Large-scale Scrum
3 - http://www.bestoutcome.com/assets/images/Agile/SCRUM-overview-resize.png
Large-scale Scrum
Large-scale Scrum framework for many teams [4]
4 - Larman, Craig, and Bas Vodde. Practices for scaling lean & agile development: large, multisite, and offshore product development with large-scale
Large-scale Scrum
Large-scale Scrum framework for many teams [4]
4 - Larman, Craig, and Bas Vodde. Practices for scaling lean & agile development: large, multisite, and offshore product development with large-scale
Scrum. Pearson Education, 2010.
Kanban
What is Kanban?
Kanban is a change management method arriving from Lean thinking focusing on the following practices [5].
Practice Description
Visualize
Work Visualize every step in value chain from unclear concept to releasable software.
Limit Work-In-Progress (WIP)
Define limits on the amount of work allowed in each stage.
Make Policies
Explicit Make the process policies explicit. Measure and
Manage Flow Measure and Manage Flow to make informed decisions and visualize consequence.
Enable continuous Improvement
Create a Kaizen culture where continuous improvement is everyone’s job.
5 - Boeg, Jesper. Priming kanban: a 10 step guide to optimizing flow in your software delivery system. Trifork, 2011.
Scaling Kanban
Kniberg illustrates the application of Kanban at the organizational level with three development teams in a co-located environment [6]. However, empirical study on scaling Kanban to an organizational level with operations in a multisite environment is very limited. Hence our study goal is to empirically explore in this context.
Scaling Kanban [6]
N4S – Deep Customer Insight
Case Elektrobit
Project Plan (Draft)
Research Question
To reach our research goal, we define the following two exploratory
descriptive research questions (RQ):
•
RQ1: What are the challenges in scaling Kanban in a multisite
organization for software development?
•
RQ2: What are the possible solutions for those challenges
when scaling Kanban in a multisite organization for software
development?
Research Method
Case Study
•
Embedded, single-case study
•
Case company: Offer product and services in Telecommunication sector. Company
have many development organization across the globe.
Case Unit Unit of Analysis 1 Unit of Analysis 2
Location Site “A,” located in
Northern Europe. Site “B” in Northern Europe. Development Team 5 6
Multisite context Coordinating with team in western Europe
Coordinating with Team in India Personnel 50-60 50-60
Data Collection & Analysis
Data Analysis
• We used the constant comparison method to analyze the qualitative data. • The constant comparison method was performed with the software tool
NVivo 10.
• To code the data, we used an integrated method where we employed deductive and inductive approaches.
N4S – Deep Customer Insight
Case Elektrobit
Project Plan (Draft)
Scaling Kanban in a multisite organization
Organization B description
• Organization workflow visualized in seven columns on an
electronic board
• An electronic board is used because it helps teams located at different sites to collaborate on one product efficiently. • WIP limit is set for each area
product backlog & development column.
Challenges & Possible Solution
Challenges Possible solutions
1 Distributed teams: Product area
teams located in different sites Electronic Kanban board with team specific swim lanes can be useful in this case. 2 Feature division: distribution of
features across development teams Product owner team decides the allocation of prioritized features. Those prioritized features can be displayed on the Kanban board for the teams to pull work items. 3 Defining WIP limits: the setting of
WIP limits for development teams Estimate by common agreement between development teams must be provided during the initial phase of defining WIP limits.
4 Product management pushes too many features to the team. If there is a WIP limit based on their
perspective, they might force more work
Limit the number of features coming into the product backlog. This limit should be set by the product owners and development team
Conclusion
•
Various challenges were identified along with possible
solutions when scaling Kanban within an organization.
•
For a multisite environment, an electronic Kanban board
appears to be a necessary for an organization.
•
WIP limits could be set for area product owners and
development teams by mutual agreement.
•
Average lead time would be an appropriate metric for
THANK YOU!
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