Next SoCal #Kanban / #Lean Software #meetup on 8/24 @ CityGridMedia: Lean Ancestry & Lean Games http://bit.ly/a9qH7B

My talk at LSSC10 on infoQ: Through The Lean Looking Glass

Summary
Christophe Louvion tells the story of an online advertising company which had to give up using Scrum because it did not create enough business value although the development was delivering working software. They chose to use Kanban instead, applying Lean principles at all levels of the organization, resulting in true self organizing teams, accelerated rate of change, and better financial results.

The first Lean Software and Systems SoCal meetup is organized by Pascal Pinck, on July 13th, at my company, CityGrid Media.

See you there.

When managers don’t understand the work, they tend to reward the appearance of work. (long hours, piles of paper, …)

From @JerryWeinberg

LSSC10 was a great conference.

InfoQ filmed many presentations.

I’m waiting for mine to be released. Meanwhile, check out Mary Poppendieck.

What is this about? Lean of course.

I’ve been pretty silent on this blob the past few weeks. Starting a new job is quite a tow.

After doing Kanban for over a year at my previous gig, and enjoying it, it was quite natural for me to introduce it to my new teams.

The first team that jumped into it (from scrum) decided -on its own- to put a presentation for the other teams after a few weeks.

Unfiltered tidbits:

• Stand ups differ – going story by story, not based on individuals
• Less Rules: No roles prescribed, More Dynamic
• Backlog more Flexible
• Pros: Better Team Focus, Less Meetings More Time to Deliver, More Flexible Work Process
• Cons: Less Structure Could Cause issues with Some People
• How Its Working Out: Feels Good, Increased Our Collaboration, Communication Has Increased, Forces Follow Up to Eliminate Blockers

The team loves the reduced prescription list. This may only be a sign that they like change – this is a proactive team.

Half of my teams have now introduced Kanban changes to their scrum. Some have directly abandoned iterations and everything coming with them, some have simply added limits and changed a few things.

Having David Anderson in the office for a few days was a big catalyst. BTW, Check out his new book on Kanban.

PS: for the picture in the post? I don’t know. Ask my team. They put it in their presentation

Displaying calories on the menu is about to become mandatory for restaurant chains with more than 20 locations.

The idea is simple: showing a 700 calorie burger will get people to eat better, and will decrease obesity.

The reality?

Unfortunately, a  recent study shows calorie display has extremely low to no impact on the consumers. While critical, this information doesn’t curb old habits and bad behaviors.

What’s that to do with agile?

I know most people swear by them. They ensure things happen; they guide the team day after day; they promote decision making.

Really? Is your iteration burn down working that well?

or is it suffering the same problem calories on the menu have?

Scary information, not much action?