Kanban ​

The word Kanban is a Japanese word that means a sign board. This concept was practiced in manufacturing companies like Toyota Production in the 1940s, but its actual implementation in the software industry started in the early 2000s. The key reason for leveraging this methodology was the ability to visualize work items that could be in the form of issues or change requests, etc. In comparison to Scrum, Kanban is an ideal fit for day-to-day operational activities including incident resolution, problem detection, service request fulfilment, etc. Since its inception, Kanban has been adopted by multiple organizations and has also evolved with new practices and variations like scrumban (which is a mix of Scrum and Kanban).

Before we jump into the actual implementation of Kanban for operations teams, let’s look at some of the key aspects of this framework.

• Customer ideas are consolidated in a queue or backlog that is continuously churned by the team.
• The framework comprises three key roles that work together to address issues, incidents, change requests, and defects. The request manager interfaces with the customer and prioritizes the backlog items.
• The flow manager works like a Scrum master with extended responsibility to remove hurdles and support the team toward smooth execution and on-time delivery.
• The team is a highly cross-skilled group that pulls work from the backlog and moves it along.
• Each work item entering the system passes through various stages that are depicted as swim lanes on the Kanban board.
• The main goal of using Kanban is to have real-time project visibility that is driven by the team.
• The different stages on the board have limits defined that in turn let the team see the workload and the needed capacity.
• The Kanban framework is good for operational teams that have cross-­ skilled experts in the team.
• The framework also measures teams’ success through a few metrics that are frequently visited, like cycle time, waiting time, throughput, etc.

Kanban Roles ​

Here are the Kanban roles :

• The flow manager (in some teams it is also known as the service delivery manager [SDM]) is a role that focuses on improving workflow efficiencies. A flow manager ensures that the work keeps flowing, and in case there is a road blocker, they work toward removing that blocker. This role may sound similar to a Scrum master, but it is more than that. In fact, the role is expected to not only track work items but also offer help to team members, make policy checks, and ensure targets are met on time with quality. This role has existed in the traditional IT operations environment, so to upscale this role to an agile environment, all that is needed is the right mentoring for implementing Kanban with best practices. To summarize, the role of a flow manager should target the following:

  • Track work flowing in the system
  • Remove blockers or risks
  • Facilitate change and deliver in a timely manner
  • Continuously improve and support the team

• The request manager (in some teams it is also known as the service request manager [SRM]) is a role like the product owner role in the Scrum methodology. This role manages the flow of work within the team and drives discussions between different teams and stakeholders. The key expectation this from role is to improve customer interactions.

  • Ordering work items in the flow
  • Owning policies
  • Ensuring governance
  • Tracking risks

• Team

  • Cross-skilled members
  • Pull work from the workflow
  • Each team limited to 15 members

In the infrastructure world, the roles of SRM and SDM already exist, but they follow a rigid process. With a little mentoring on Kanban, these roles will become flexible and will adopt new ways of working. In fact, the ideal situation is that everyone in the team should become an SDM since the goals are to observe the work flowing in, pick up work, and ensure that it is resolved quickly. This is the end state where the team becomes self-driven and self-organized without the need for governance and flow management.

Kanban Ceremonies ​

Similar to the Scrum method, Kanban teams also practice a few ceremonies that help them to understand the plan, look at their progress, mitigate risks, and prioritize stories as needed.

In addition to these ceremonies, teams that are building infrastructure as code have a ceremony for demonstrating their MVP to stakeholders. If the demo is approved by stakeholders, then the catalog item is moved to the production environment.

Kanban Boards ​

So, the Kanban methodology works on three key principles: visualizing work, limiting work, and iteratively working to improve with self-sustaining teams.

Kanban Metrics ​

Getting Started with Kanban ​

There are various tools that enable teams to practice Kanban. Atlassian JIRA is one such commonly used tool that provides templates for implementing the Kanban methodology. This tool can be installed and used as an on-premises solution or can be used through the cloud offering.

The tool has user-friendly templates to practice Kanban. Each project created in JIRA has the following specifications:

• Workflow
• Name
• Unique key/identifier

Every time a new project is created in JIRA, it prompts for the project template, the workflow to be implemented, and the project name that has a key that is used to identify tickets.