Lean-Kanban software development: a new breakthrough approach to deliver quality software on time

Many organizations are looking for alternatives to traditional software development methodologies that they find too cumbersome, bureaucratic, and inflexible.

Agile and lean methods address this problem. They are designed to help software projects effectively collaborate with customers, notice needed changes early, initiate action promptly, create feasible and effective alternative plans quickly, and reorient work and resources promptly and effectively. Since their first introduction in the late '90s, Agile methods have been adopted by more and more organizations, and have now become mainstream in software engineering.

Nowadays, the fastest growing agile/lean management process is the application to software development of a limited “Work In Process” (WIP) approach, based on the Kanban board. Kanban focuses on making small, iterative changes that help business processes by developing more efficient and manageable work streams while avoiding the risks associated with massive, monolithic change. Used effectively, Kanban will help you and your organization evolve into a more efficient project delivery machine!

Besides being agile, and thus specifically designed to accommodate change, Kanban is also proving a key enabler in the development of a continuous improvement culture. Moreover, it has the ability to create high maturity behaviors (CMMI model level 4 & 5) whilst remaining faithful to Agile and Lean values. Using Kanban, it is natural to use metrics, to practice quantitative management and to continuously improve the project management process.

This master class provides an introduction to the Lean-Kanban WIP-limited approach, and the consequent pipeline-based approach to software development, as opposed to the typical time box-based approaches used by more traditional Agile methods. The presentation will cover what a Kanban system is, how it works, how it can highlight bottlenecks, constraints and other areas for improvement, minimizing waste, in the absence of traditional iterations and iteration planning.

Cycle Time, Throughput, Cumulative Flow Diagrams, and the use of process simulation will be introduced to explain how rolling wave planning can be achieved with minimal investment and inventory.

The goal of the master-class is to give the participants enough understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of Lean-Kanban WIP-limited approach , that they can make a decision on whether to adopt them fully, partly, or not at all in specific software projects and organizations.

• Agile and lean software development: prerequisites, motivations, principles, commonalities and differences. 
• Feature-based requirements (User Stories, Minimum Marketable Features) as the basis of Agile and Kanban approaches. The Corey Lada's axioms. 
• Lean-Kanban tools: the board, putting the current process on the board, pull systems, Work in Progress minimization. Laboratory work using learning games. 
• Kanban Metrics: usage of Cumulative Flow Diagrams and other metrics used for tracking and measuring progress. 
• When to use Kanban versus Scrum, or a combination of both? 
• Lean-Kanban in depth: feature cards and tasks, use of avatars and colors, lanes, high-priority features, blocks, problem management, different types of boards. 
• Case studies of Lean-Kanban adoption. 
• Laboratory exercises for a deeper understanding of how lean-kanban works. 
• Advanced topics: risk management in a Kanban environment; Lean-Kanban software process simulation; new trends in Lean-Kanban software development.

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