1. Emergent Patterns for Kanban
Systems in IT Operations
Dominica DeGrandis
@dominicad
dominica@djaa.com
Lean Systems & Software
Boston, MA May 2012

2. Emergent Patterns for Kanban
Systems in IT Operations
Dominica DeGrandis
@dominicad
dominica@djaa.com
www.djaa.com
kanbanops yahoo group
Kanban Roundup

3. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
1. How do we not get killed by
dependencies?
2. How do we deal with Brent?
3. How can we get important
work done with so many
interruptions?

4. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
Specialization Dependencies
Interrupts

5. Ge3ng
Visibility
on
Dependencies

6. Issue
a4ached
to
change
request
–

7. Electronic Board Dependency tags

8. Dependencies carry some level
of risk.
How much Risk?

9. Levels of risk?
Outside of control:
Team
Department
Company
3rd party vendor in a different time zone

10. Understanding the risk
cost?
history?
criteria?

11. Example 1
A dependency on the data team down the
hall. They have changes that impact our CI
scripts. If we don’t get them by next week,
we’ll need a manual step in the build
process to upgrade the DB.
Strategy?

12. Courtesy David Lutz
Duplicate ticket from other
teams board placed on Ops
board.

13. Data
Team
Kanban
Board
Input
Design
Data
Test
Deliver
work item tagged as
impacting Ops team.

14. If
an
issue
comes
up,
the
card
gets
moved
to
“blocked”
area
for
extra
visibility.

15. Electronic Board Dependency tags

16. Example 2
A dependency on the marketing
department located in a different city. They
want new images deployed to the website,
but image rights have not been cleared yet.
Marketing campaign is tied to next months
press release.
Strategy?

17. Waiting area for items with external dependencies
5 4 4 2
Input Investigate Action Test Complete
Queue
Doing Done Doing Done
Dependency risk
placed in separate
Waiting for (3) “Waiting For” area
for management to
deal with.

18. WaiHng
area
for
external
dependencies
5 4 3 4 2 2 = 20 total
Analysis
Input Ready Implementation Build Release ...
Queue In Prog Done In Prog Done Ready Test Ready
Waiting on
External
Group
Dots denote clock
ticking on SLA Late against SLA

19. Courtesy Ian Carroll
Blocked” area
for
transparency.

20. External
Blocker
Box
medium-term blocked
Cards at the top are
higher priority that
cards at the
bottom.
long-term Blocked
Courtesy Ian Carroll

21. Design for Visibility on SLA status
Time remaining to meet SLA
Input Done
I I I I I I I I I I I I I
Priority

22. Fixed
date

23. Example 3
The CFO promises the owner of the
company that we can deliver a regulatory
requirement by the end of the year and
avoid legal penalties.
The request is dependent on input from
Company C who has a terrible track
record.
Strategy?

24. Short term tactical plan:
Policy set for company C where
dependencies are pulled into the
ready queue after confirmation of
completion on their part.

25. Long term strategic fix:
Contracts modified with vendors
to contain sufficient remedies to
ensure SLAs are met.

26. Consensus
Dependencies
need
visibility
on
risk.
Show the risk

27. Ways to Illustrate Risks for
Dependencies
1. Show cost associated with delay.
2. Show projected delay (history/simulation).
3. Display explicit policies for dependencies.
4. Put risk info on work item

28. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
1. How do we not get killed by
dependencies?
2. How do we deal with Brent?
3. How can we get important
work done with so many
interruptions?

29. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
Interrupts Specialization Dependencies

31. Courtesy Ian Carroll

32. Pattern:
Individually
Named
Swim lanes

33. PaJern
or
anH-­‐paJern?
“… they are willing to take responsibility for
the work
their own work, but not
of the whole team.”

34. PaJern
or
anH-­‐paJern?
“Upper management
wants visibility on individuals work.”

35. Kanban Design for Visibility on Specializations
Operations Board
Investigate Committed Test Delivered
SysAdmin
Jason
Config/Automate
Kris
Network/Monitor
Pat
DBA
Mark
Security
Joe
Visibility on types of demand

36. Highly
specialized
workforces
are
not
very
flexible,
but
it
might
be
the
workforce
that
enables
you
to
win.

37. Skill
Level
Rankings
Example
Master
Journeyman
Practitioner
Novice
Newb

38. Skill
Level
Rankings
Example
10 yrs exp or 10,000 hours of
practice, mentors others.
Master Knows when to break the rules.
Journeyman 6-9 yrs exp, can handle > 80%
of requests, trains others.
Practitioner 3-5 yrs exp, can handle > 50%
of requests.
Novice 1-2 yrs exp, in training
Newb Newbie

39. Tools & skill level of team
Puppet
Apache
Ruby
MySQL
Oracle
Linux

40. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
1. How do we not get killed by
dependencies?
2. How do we deal with Brent?
3. How can we get important
work done with so many
interruptions?

41. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
Interrupts Dependencies
Specialization

42. Making Interrupts visible
Operations
Investigate Implement Buyoff Done
Planned
25%
Unplanned
75%

43. Pattern - The Goalie
Handles small interrupts
Rotates weekly
Expands knowledge base
Gains flexibility in team

44. Help Desk Board
Fire Lane
Input Implement Test Delivered
Priority
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

45. What is the threshold
for creating a ticket?
Transaction cost vs. value

46. PaJerns
for
Task
Size
Policies
Example:
If
<
n
min,
just
do
it
ExcepHons….
1.
Dependency
2.
Only
Brent
knows
how
to
do
it
3.
Visibility
of
small
tasks
in
reporHng

47. Showing impact of Interrupts
Interrupts
Investigate Doing Buy off Done
Small
6
Medium
3
Large
2
S = 1 day, M = 2-3 days, L= 1+week (LT)

48. Caution!
Consider the context
It’s likely different.
Using another design for your situation
can be dangerous.

49. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
What’s the
Dependencies
point?
Specialization
Interrupts

50. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
Dependencies
Questions? What’s the
point?
Specialization
Interrupts

51. What’s the Point?
1. Show the risk
Improving recognition of risks in IT is powerful!

52. What’s the Point?
1. Show the risk
Improving recognition of risks in IT is powerful!
2. Show the types of work
Understanding demand helps to meet it.

53. What’s the Point?
1. Show the risk!
Improving recognition of risks in IT is powerful.
2. Show the types of work
Studying/understanding demand helps to meet it.
3. Track interrupts for visibility
Making invisible work visible reduces unknowns.

54. Things
that
Plague
IT
Ops
teams
Next
(3)
Study
(1)
Validate
Dependencies
Questions?
Specialization
Interrupts
What’s the
point?

55. Emergent Patterns for Kanban Systems
in IT Operations
Delivered
Dominica DeGrandis Dependencies
@dominicad Specialization
dominica@djaa.com
Interrupts
What’s the
point?
Questions?