The Scrumban [R]Evolution: Getting the Most Out of Agile, Scrum, and Lean Kanban

The Scrumban [R]Evolution: Getting the Most Out of Agile, Scrum, and Lean Kanban

by Ajay Reddy
Released July 2015
Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780134077543

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Book description

Create Thriving, High-Performing Teams and Organizations with Scrumban

Scrumban allows you to use Kanban as a catalyst for increasingly valuable changes to your existing software development processes, amplifying and expanding upon Scrum’s benefits. Now, there’s a definitive guide to Scrumban that explains what it is (and isn’t), how and why it works, and how to use it to improve both team and organizational performance.

Comprehensive, coherent, and practical, The Scrumban [R]Evolution will help you incrementally apply proven Lean/Agile principles to get what matters most: pragmatic, bottom-line results. Pioneering Scrumban coach Ajay Reddy clarifies Scrumban’s core concepts and principles, and illuminates their application through real-life examples. He takes you from the absolute basics through sustainable adoption, and from choosing metrics to advanced forecasting and adaptive management.

Whatever your role in the organization, this essential guide liberates you to tailor Kanban systems based on your unique challenges–and to solve delivery problems and improvement stagnation you haven’t been able to solve with Scrum alone.

  • Discover how Scrumban can help you reignite stalled Agile initiatives

  • Clarify crucial relationships between purpose, values, and performance

  • Quickly develop shared understanding in and across teams

  • Use Scrumban to better manage Product Owner/Customer expectations

  • Improve the rollout of Scrum in any team using Scrumban

  • Use Scrumban and let real improvements spread with least resistance

  • Use the right metrics to gain insight, track progress, and improve forecasting

  • Take advantage of Scrumban’s advanced capabilities as you gain experience

  • Develop leaders to successfully guide your Agile initiatives

  • Integrate modeling to reliably refine your forecasting and decision-making

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    Table of contents

    1. About This eBook
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright Page
    4. Dedication Page
    5. Contents
    6. Foreword by David J. Anderson
    7. Foreword by Jim Benson
    8. Preface
      1. How to Use This Book
      2. How This Book Is Organized
      3. Conventions
    9. Acknowledgments
    10. About the Author
    11. Part I: Introduction
      1. Chapter 1. Manifestations: Scrumban Demystified
        1. A Helpful Perspective
        2. A Framework for [R]Evolution
        3. Stop Drinking the Kool-Aid
        4. Let’s Get Started
    12. Part II: Foundations—Starting with the End in Mind
      1. Chapter 2. The Matrix and the Mess: Where It All Begins
        1. Part 1: The Matrix (Scrumban’s Origins)
          1. What Scrumban Is and What It Is Not
          2. Managing Knowledge Work
          3. Start the Journey with Systems Thinking
          4. Scrumban Can Incorporate Other Models and Frameworks
          5. Why Systems Thinking Is Relevant
          6. Systems in Our Work Environments
          7. Scrumban’s Approach to Understanding Systems
        2. Part 2: The Mess (Reasons Scrumban Is Needed)
          1. Why We Want to Be “Agile”
          2. Why Agile Adoptions Stall or Fail
        3. Tying It All Together
      2. Chapter 3. The Mission: Clarifying the Relationship between Purpose, Values, and Performance
        1. Why We’re Paid to Work
        2. The Importance of Shared Purpose
        3. The Importance of Adaptive Capabilities
          1. Communication and Application of Core Values to Decision Making
          2. Being Disciplined about the Right Metrics
          3. Using Disciplined Approaches to Identify and Address the Most Important Problems
        4. Tying It All Together
      3. Chapter 4. Motivations: Why Scrumban Works
        1. Where It All Began
        2. Layering the Kanban Method
          1. Attending to the Psychological Agenda
          2. The Kanban Method’s Agendas
          3. The Kanban Method’s Core Principles and Practices
          4. The Kanban Lens
          5. Kanban Kata and Related Practices
        3. The Significance of Complementary Values
          1. Scrum
          2. Kanban
          3. Scrumban
        4. Scrumban’s Relationship to Agile Thinking
        5. Other Frameworks and Models
          1. A3 Thinking
          2. The Cynefin Framework
          3. Real Options
        6. Some Final Thoughts on Systems Thinking
        7. Tying It All Together
    13. Part III: Execution—Putting Scrumban into Practice
      1. Chapter 5. Mobilize: Rolling Out Scrumban
        1. Your Starting Condition
          1. When You’re New to Scrum
        2. The Kickstart Process
          1. Preparation
          2. Initial Considerations
          3. How You Choose to Organize Makes a Difference
          4. Contextual Responsibilities
        3. The Kickstart Event
          1. Introductory Remarks
          2. Current Concerns
          3. Defining Purpose and Success Criteria
          4. Identifying How Work Is Done
          5. Focusing on Work Types
          6. Basic Management
          7. Common Language (Optional)
          8. Visualization Policies
          9. Frequency of Synchronization
          10. Create a Working Board
          11. Way of Working Policies
          12. Limiting WIP
          13. Planning and Feedback Loops
          14. Individual Flow (Optional)
          15. Wrapping Up
        4. Some Final Thoughts
        5. Tying It All Together
      2. Chapter 6. Method: Working under the Hood
        1. Managing Uncertainty and Risk
          1. Types of Uncertainty and Risk
        2. How Scrumban Improves Management of Risk
          1. Improved Flow through WIP Limits and Buffers
          2. Visualizing Risk
          3. Quantifying Cost or Value
          4. Employing Cost of Delay
          5. Using Classes of Service
          6. Continuing to Emphasize Proper Work Breakdown
          7. Facilitating Transitions with Evolving Roles
        3. Releases and Sprints
          1. Thinking Differently about Commitment
          2. Continuous Flow versus Time-Boxed Iterations
          3. Additional Dimensions for Managing Releases and Sprints
          4. Improved Planning and Forecasting
          5. Early Planning
          6. Randomized Batch Sampling
          7. Planning with Little’s Law
          8. Project/Release Planning Example
          9. Wait a Minute: Accounting for Inherent Uncertainty
          10. The Project Buffer as a Management Tool
          11. Adaptive Buffer Management
          12. A More Disciplined Approach to Sprint Planning
        4. Feedback Loops
          1. Feedback Mechanisms: Scrum versus Kanban versus Scrumban
          2. Potential Hazards of Feedback Loops
        5. Design Thinking
        6. Ticket Design
        7. Board Design
        8. Tying It All Together
      3. Chapter 7. Measurements: Gaining Insights and Tracking Progress
        1. Why Measure?
          1. A Few Words about Measuring the Wrong Things
          2. Hallmarks of Good Metrics
        2. How to Measure
        3. Constructing Histograms
        4. Scrumban Measurements
        5. Productivity Metrics
          1. Cumulative Flow Diagram
          2. CFD/Burn-up Overlay
          3. Lead Time
          4. Throughput
          5. Aging of WIP
          6. Flow Efficiency
          7. Takt Time
        6. Quality Metrics
          1. Failure Demand
          2. Blockers’ Impact
          3. Due Date Performance
          4. Arrival Rate Distribution and Service Rate Distribution
        7. Risk Metrics
          1. Enhanced Burn-down Chart
          2. Risk Burn-down Chart
          3. Risk Index Chart
          4. Improving Risk Metrics
        8. Extending Scrumban beyond IT: The Balanced Scorecard
          1. Finding the Right Measures
          2. Measuring What Matters
          3. Cascading Strategic Objectives
        9. Tying It All Together
    14. Part IV: Improving—Advanced Topics and Practices
      1. Chapter 8. Management: Management Is Doing Things Right—Leadership Is Doing the Right Things
        1. Convictional Leadership
        2. Servant Leadership
        3. Good Leaders Recognize Knowledge Work Is Different
          1. Fighting Entropy
          2. Nurturing and Protecting Core Values
          3. Establishing the Proper Use of Metrics
          4. Enhancing Leadership through Better Communication
          5. Putting It All Together
        4. Reinforcing Leadership through Management
          1. Encouraging Thinking Systems and Push versus Pull
          2. Encouraging Servant Leadership
          3. Adaptive Risk Management and Local Decision Making
        5. Facilitating Evolving Roles
          1. Product Manager
          2. Business Analyst
          3. Project Manager/Scrum Master
          4. Quality Assurance
        6. Tying It All Together
      2. Chapter 9. Maturing: Like a Fine Wine, Scrumban Can Get Better with Age
        1. Prioritizing and Managing Change
          1. Managing Maturity
          2. Flight Levels
          3. Measuring the Depth of Capabilities
          4. Another Approach
        2. Evolving Your Core Capabilities
          1. Manage Flow
          2. Limit WIP
          3. Manage Bottlenecks and Improve Flow
          4. Avoid Patterns of Unsafe Change
          5. Create a Disciplined Approach to Improvement
          6. Katas and the Importance of Habit
        3. Further Evolving the Understanding and Management of Risk
          1. Risk-Handling Strategies
          2. Examples of Maturing Practices
          3. Expanding Your Risk Management Horizons
        4. Scaling beyond IT
          1. Beyond Budgeting (Agile Budgeting)
          2. Agile Contracting
          3. The Long Tail of Profitability
        5. Tying It All Together
      3. Chapter 10. Modeling: To Boldly Go Where Few Have Gone Before
        1. Why Model?
        2. Starting with Metrics and Distribution Patterns
          1. Why Patterns Are Relevant
        3. What Is Modeling?
          1. Reminder about the “Flaw of Averages”
          2. Initial Considerations
          3. Monte Carlo Simulations
          4. Building on What You Already Do
          5. It’s Still Not Perfect
          6. Consideration of Major Risk Factors
          7. A Different Approach
          8. Input Parameters: Weibull’s Wobble But They Don’t Fall Down
          9. How to Create a Robust Model
        4. A Sample “What If” Experiment
        5. Bootstrapping
        6. Some Final Words
    15. Appendix. More: For the Stout of Heart
      1. Scrum in a Nutshell
        1. The Scrum Work Process
        2. Scrum Roles
        3. Planning Poker
      2. Scrum and Scrumban: Some Quick Comparisons
      3. Scrumban Roadmap: A Quick Reference for Getting Started
        1. Step 1: Visualize Your System
        2. Step 2: Start Measuring Performance
        3. Step 3: Stabilize Your System and Improve Focus with WIP Limits
        4. Step 4: Improve Your Understanding and Management of Risk
        5. Step 5: Continuously Improve
      4. Using Scrumban to Introduce Scrum
        1. Step 1: Provide Context
        2. Step 2: Introduce Scrum Elements in Response to Team Discoveries
        3. Step 3: Maturing
      5. Scrumban and SAFe
      6. Scrumban Stories: The Full Case Studies
        1. Scrumban Story 1: Mammoth Bank (Part 1)
        2. Scrumban Story 2: Mammoth Bank (Part 2)
        3. Scrumban Story 3: Siemens Health Care
        4. Scrumban Story 4: Objective Solutions
      7. Supplemental Information and Resources
        1. Facilitating Difficult Conversations
        2. Some Additional Perspective on Effective Product Management
        3. Cynefin Framework
        4. Real Options
        5. The GetScrumban Game
        6. Scrumban Tools: Examples of Key Features and Capabilities
        7. Board Examples
    16. Index

    Product information

    • Title: The Scrumban [R]Evolution: Getting the Most Out of Agile, Scrum, and Lean Kanban
    • Author(s): Ajay Reddy
    • Release date: July 2015
    • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
    • ISBN: 9780134077543