Kanban actions when encountering a bottleneck.

What kind of actions should be considered to take care of a bottleneck?

- Are the people on the immediate upstream doing things right or rushing them?

- Do we need to add a buffer?

- Is this something temporary so doing nothing is the right thing to do?

- Is the root cause somewhere farther upstream?

- Do we change WIP?

- Do we reallocate human resources?

Note: this list is not exhaustive. 

In the need of scientific proof

I was reviewing the feedback sheets from a course I finished two days ago and one of them called my attention. There was a comment indicating I should've given scientific evidence to explain why lean and Kanban work. I understand how compelling it is to count with scientific proof; however, no having scientific proof of something is not sufficient to say something didn't work.

Most things that work are followed by a scientific explanation and not the other way around. Even when no scientific proof is available, should we stop doing something that works?

Lean and Kanban work because they tackle projects from a systems perspective and because they also pay attention to the human factor. That is, they go beyond just the project to find opportunities for improvement and do root-cause analysis. They see projects and people as complex adaptive systems better than other approaches.

The longer professionals demand solutions that are heavily rooted on scientific proof the longer it will take them to realize the huge potential they are missing and will continue to struggle with projects more than is necessary.

Btw, that same person gave me a low score on "being on time" even though I was there 30 minutes before start time every day of the course and kept the lunch break times as agreed. Oh!... wait, maybe my score would've been higher if I had allowed more time for lunch.

Lean-Agile Project Management Certification and Kanban training in Panama

I spent between May 26 and June 7 (with a break in between to go to Peru to give Kanban training) to give a Lean-Agile Project Management Certification course and a Kanban course in Panama to a small group from the telecom industry.

All participants loved the topics and the training. They also arranged for me to give a presentation at Telefónica in Panama and then a remote presentation at Telefónica Guatemala.

Look forward to the outcome...

Bringing Lean and Kanban to Peru

I spent June 1~3 bringing Lean and Kanban to Peru.

June 1 was a presentation on Lean and Kanban at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias and June 2~3 was to give Kanban training to a group of highly motivated people from Agile Peru, Academia and industry.

Both activities were quite successful and I look forward to being back to Lima both for training and to do business.

3rd PMI Panama Project Management Congress

May 25-26 was of high-activity at the El Panama hotel, where the 3^rd PMI Panama Project Management Congress took place. Panama City is a very active place with a blooming economy. New business buildings are under construction and there are more jobs than people to take them. The boost in the economy is mainly due to the ongoing Panama Canal traffic plus its current expansion and the banking industry.

The congress had around 300 participants attending the congress days and then there was a workshops day on May 27.  There were 4 keynotes: on management by Jeff Hodgkinson; on the future of management in Panama by Eduardo Jaén; on the subway project for Panama by Roberto Roy; and on the project management effort to recue the 33 miners trapped in Chile by Hugo Constanzo. All keynotes were worthwhile but I want to give special mention to Constanzo’s for its incredible success regardless the high stakes and low odds it confronted—and Constanzo’s high humanity and humility which shows his quality as a great manager and an exceptional human being.

There were a total of 24 sessions on diverse topics from the very practical to the conceptual, techniques, experiences, government projects, and other. My presentation was on agile and lean as a means to better handle project cycles and implement an evolutionary approach to management.

The three workshops offered where on Authentic leadership for breakthrough results by Hawk Carpenter; A sixth sense for project management by Tres Roeder; and Practical lean-agile and innovation for managers by yours truly.  All workshops were successful and I was flattered by the fact that my workshop got the highest attendance and ranking of all.  I hope to get the opportunity to give this same workshop at the SFBAC soon.

LSSC11 Report

The Lean Software and Systems Consortium 2011 Conference took place last May 3-6 in Long Beach, California. This third conference was very impressive in more than one way. The conference grew 6 times since the 1^st conference for a total of over 800 attendees from all over the world, literally; it lasted 5 days (day one was for workshops and a day long Technical Advisory Board meeting);  21 sessions/panels per day; daily keynotes; topic-games room; Open Space; Intoductory talks; and tools showcase. Even more important were the countless conversations and discussions on aisles and halls. The event was organized by NetObjectives, led by Allan Shalloway, and by David J Anderson & Associates.

The Brickel Key awards banquet was quite an event, with six world-class candidates. In alphabetical order Siddharta Govindaraj (India) for his toolsForAgile software, Russell Healy (New Zealand) for his GetKanban game, Chris Hefley (USA) for his LeanKitKanban tool, Richard Hensley (USA) for his work on Kanban with CMMI, Mattias Skarin (Iceland) for his work and publications promoting Lean and Kanban, and Yuval Yeret (Israel) for his contribution bringing Lean and Kanban to Israel. The awards went to Russell Healy and Richard Hensley. The diversity of origin from the candidates is proof of the worldwide impact of Lan and Kanban.

Presentations covered familiar topics such as adoption and improvements as well as new topics such as lessons from the military, psychology, chaos, innovation, and risk. I myself had the opportunity to present Lean Value Innovation. All sessions were recorded and will be made available by mid June at http://www.leanssc.org/membership/ were some content will be available for the general public on a rotating basis and all content will be available to members.

To many attendees this was the best conference ever, and I agree with that opinion.

Lean Kanbann Jazz and Origami

Proposal session sent to Lean Kanban Central Europe 2011 conference.
http://www.lean-kanban-conference.de/


Abstract:


What do Lean, Kanban, Jazz and Origami have in common... and where do they differ? In this presentation I will talk about important aspects of Lean and Kanban that I consider to be key to their success and to be what sets them apart form other approaches and methodologies such as Agile and Scrum, yet could be easily ignored. This is very important because ignoring them as Lean and Kanban gain popularity will result in failed adoption at organizations. I use Jazz and Origami as metaphors because they greatly facilitate the understanding of those key aspects. I will also be introducing the term Understanding Worker and the phrase Think Outside The Kanban Board .