How can you optimize your process design team's use of Kanban tools?

Es importante adaptar la herramienta al trabajo propio del grupo de trabajo, de manera que se utilicen las funcionalidades que realmente apliquen y sean útiles para registrar y realizar el seguimiento de las tareas dentro del proyecto que se está realizando. El objetivo ha de ser tener información ordenada, clara y actualizada que permita identificar cuellos de botella, errores, puntos de mejora o fluidez en las tareas y el equipo

Understand Kanban Principles: Ensure that your team understands the core principles of Kanban, such as visualizing workflow, and limiting work in progress (WIP). Implement Feedback Loops: Encourage continuous feedback and improvement by regularly reviewing and updating the Kanban board during team meetings or daily stand-ups. Encourage team members to provide feedback on the process and suggest improvements based on their experiences. Regularly Review and Adapt: Regularly review the team's Kanban process to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments. Solicit feedback from team members and stakeholders to ensure that the Kanban process continues to meet the needs of the team and the project.

The Kanban board is a brilliant visual tool that provides an overview of the current status of work and simplifies team communication; helping to optimize and continually improve any business process, increasing productivity, as long as it is the most linear and specific of your process.

The first step is to do a process workflow or value stream mapping session to understand your flow. Then you design the board based on that. Define explicit policies at each state, whether or not you want buffers (IP and done per state) and then worry about the other stuff.

When I first used a Kanban board, it was a bit confusing. But then, I learned to define it properly for my team. We started seeing our tasks, their status, and how they linked together. Our Kanban board showed our project goals, who was doing what, and how complex the work was. We could choose different boards for different needs - one for the whole project, one for just the team, or even one for each service we offered. We also made our board easy to read. We added columns for different steps, areas for who was in charge, labels, and colors. With these, the board was not just clear but also helped us work better. Our Kanban board helped us: - See our goals and how to reach them. - Understand everyone's job on the team.

This is pretty self-explanatory and from experience, not many actually do this. If you don't, your Kanban is pointless. You'll never get the WIP limit right, so make sure that if you change them over time, you see the effect on your lead and cycle time.

I once faced a mountain of tasks with my team and felt overwhelmed. That's when we learned about limiting our work in progress (WIP) with our Kanban board. We set clear limits on how many tasks we could tackle at once. Key changes we made: Focused on the most critical tasks first. Cut down on doing too many things at the same time. This approach brought our stress levels down and our productivity up. It was a game-changer—oops, I mean it made a big positive impact on our work!

Set WIP limits for each stage to prevent bottlenecks and overloading team members. Encourage your team to focus on completing tasks before starting new ones to maintain flow. Ensure that your Kanban board is easily understandable at a glance. Use color-coding, tags, or icons to denote different types of tasks or priorities.

By implementing and enforcing WIP limits, my team achieves a more balanced and predictable workflow, which leads us to improve productivity and better overall performance in delivering work items. I also emphasize regular review and adjust these limits which ensure that they remain effective in supporting our goals.

Limiting work in progress (WIP) is a fundamental principle of Kanban methodology aimed at improving productivity and flow efficiency. It involves setting a maximum limit on the number of tasks or items that can be actively worked on at any given time within a specific stage of the workflow. By imposing WIP limits, teams can prevent overloading themselves with too many tasks, which can lead to inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and decreased productivity. WIP limits help maintain focus, prioritize tasks, and ensure that work moves smoothly through the workflow, promoting a steady and sustainable pace of work.

Simplest thing to do is meet in front of the board once and week and do a quick retro. Is it working? Are our WIP limits correct? Where are we getting bottlenecked? Why did the senior agile coach put team member names as swinlanes and is measuring individual productivity? Ok, that last one is a joke but I've seen it.

Adding feedback loops to our Kanban system was a breakthrough. Regular reviews and retrospective meetings helped us spot issues and improve. We learned from mistakes and celebrated wins. Communicating with stakeholders became smoother, ensuring our process design met their needs. It made all the difference.

Conduct daily stand-up meetings to review progress, address any blockers, and adjust priorities if necessary. Use the Kanban board as a visual aid during these meetings to keep everyone aligned. Measure cycle time (the time it takes to complete a task) and lead time (the time it takes for a task to move from request to completion). Analyzing these metrics can help identify areas for improvement and optimize your process.

Implementing feedback loops is essential for continuous improvement in any process. It involves establishing mechanisms to gather feedback from stakeholders, customers, and team members at various stages of the process. Feedback loops allow for the collection of valuable insights, suggestions, and observations that can be used to identify areas for improvement, address issues, and make informed decisions. By incorporating feedback loops into the process, teams can adapt quickly to changing requirements, refine their approach, and ultimately deliver better outcomes. Feedback loops promote transparency, collaboration, and a culture of learning and improvement within the organization.

Avoid using a complicated tool. You can do this with Airtable. It's easier, faster and you won't get locked into following the tool's prescribed workflow.

Automating our workflows was like adding a superpower to our Kanban system. It saved us time, cut down mistakes, and made our work quality better. We set up triggers to move tasks and linked our Kanban board with our emails and calendar. It was smart and efficient.

Encourage your team to regularly review and refine your Kanban process. Solicit feedback from team members on what's working well and what could be improved. Experiment with different approaches to see what yields the best results.

Automating workflows streamlines processes, reduces manual tasks, and enhances efficiency. It automates task assignments, tracks progress, and manages dependencies, providing real-time insights and supporting customization. For example, for a project work, it enables continuous integration and delivery. While promoting scalability, it's important to balance automation with human judgment. Regular reviews optimize workflows to meet evolving team needs.

Automating workflows involves using technology to streamline repetitive tasks, reducing manual effort, and increasing efficiency. It improves accuracy, speeds up processes, and enables better tracking and monitoring, leading to cost savings and improved operational effectiveness.

Embracing continuous improvement changed our mindset. We did not always used the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. But we tried to zoom out, which kept our process design fresh and our team motivated.

Arg. Mindset. This is the same as the 'implement feedback loops' section. Reflect, tune, and adjust. That is continuous improvement.

Embracing continuous improvement entails fostering a culture where every individual is committed to ongoing refinement and innovation in processes, products, and services. It involves encouraging a mindset of learning and adaptation, where teams continuously seek opportunities for enhancement and growth. By prioritizing continuous improvement, organizations empower their employees to proactively identify inefficiencies, address challenges, and drive innovation, ultimately leading to increased productivity, higher quality, and greater customer satisfaction.

Entender que los procesos no son en sí mismos los “resultados” de impacto en los drivers de negocio (N veces me han respondido mis candidatos que su mayor logro es implementar un proceso) sino aquellos cambios generados a partir del proceso (incrementos en revenue, gross margin o ahorros por ejemplo) nos permite medir el impacto real del proceso y hacer ajustes constantes que se reflejen en la mejora continua.

Continuously review your Kanban process to identify areas for improvement. Be open to making changes and adaptations as your team evolves and your project requirements shift.

Consider using Kanban software tools like Trello, Jira, or Asana to streamline your Kanban process and provide additional features such as automated workflows, reporting, and analytics. Integrate your Kanban board with other collaboration tools your team uses, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to facilitate communication and streamline workflows.

Auch wenn Regeln definiert wurden hilft es, einen Verantwortlichen zu definieren, der koordinierend unterstützt und die Einhaltung der definierten Regeln überprüft. Hinzu kommt die Nutzung der Reportingfunktion, um den Fortschritt auf einen Blick zu erfassen. Neben der Nutzung des Tools braucht es die Einbettung in eine auf das Thema zugeschnittene Meeting- und Kommunikationsstruktur.