The document discusses various strategies for reducing delays in systems. It identifies three types of delays: upstream delays which occur before work begins, in-process delays which happen during the work, and downstream delays after the work is completed. For each delay type, it lists specific strategies that can be used to reduce them, such as conducting strategy reviews and setting replenishment points for upstream delays, measuring and predicting blockers and cross-training for in-process delays, and deploying often and using DevOps for downstream delays. The document emphasizes that when traditional improvements are not effective, leadership is needed to drive major changes to address factors like high volatility and long lead times.
6. WHEN DOINGTHE SAME
THING BETTER WON’T HELP
• Fat-tail lead time distributions
• Long average lead time relative to deadlines
• High volatility in staff liquidity
Because all of these things mean your system is exposed to extreme
random events which invalidate your attempts to forecast.
In these cases, the solution requires an act of leadership.
I learned this from Alexei Zheglov
16. Conduct Strategy Reviews
Align strategy and capability
Set replenishment points
Define acceptance criteria
Visualize failure demand
Demand shaping policies
UPSTREAM DELAYS
CONDUCT STRATEGY REVIEWS
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17. IN PROCESS DELAYS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
More frequent replenishment
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
18. IN PROCESS DELAYS
MEASURE AND PREDICT BLOCKERS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
19. IN PROCESS DELAYS
MEASURE AND PREDICT BLOCKERS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
20. IN PROCESS DELAYS
RAISE PLACEHOLDER TICKETS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
21. IN PROCESS DELAYS
CROSS-TRAIN
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
22. IN PROCESS DELAYS
MAKE FRIENDS AND BUILD A VIRTUAL TEAM
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
23. IN PROCESS DELAYS
REQUEST SLAS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
24. IN PROCESS DELAYS
WIP LIMIT ON PARKING LOT
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
25. IN PROCESS DELAYS
LIMIT UPSTREAM WORK
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
26. IN PROCESS DELAYS
CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
27. IN PROCESS DELAYS
MORE FREQUENT REPLENISHMENT
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
Thanks to Michał Parkowła for the metaphore
28. IN PROCESS DELAYS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
Customer-centric metrics
29. IN PROCESS DELAYS
FLOATING TALENT POOL
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
30. IN PROCESS DELAYS
SHARED SERVICES ENABLEMENT
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics
31. IN PROCESS DELAYS
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC METRICS
Measure and predict blockers
Raise placeholder tickets
Cross-train
Make friends - a virtual team
Request SLAs
WIP limit on parking lot
Limit upstream work
Customer acceptance criteria
Floating talent pool
Shared services enablement
Co-locate
Embed
More frequent replenishment
Customer-centric metrics