To win the contest, I need you to vote for me. So if you consider me a friend, or you find this blog useful, or you simple need something from me (wink, wink), please vote for us before 2010, June 14th (the Monday after the elections here – hope you are not bored of voting by then).

Here’s how to do it:

• If you don’t already have one: make a YouTube account: www.youtube.com. Wait for the confirmation email, then activate your account.
• Log in and surf to the PMI Agile Group: www.youtube.com/group/pmiagile. Make yourself a member of this group. Wait a few moments and refresh with F5. Don’t continue until you see you’re a member of this group.
• Click on the video Agile @ SD Worx and watch it (if you’re into agile, it’s fun and you’ll probably learn something)
• Click “I love it” and refresh. If you did not see the counter increase, vote again.

Thanks!

je krijgt meer dan 2 GB gratis webruimte die zich in de achtergrond synchroniseert met de computers waarop je werkt.

De voordelen zijn niet moeilijk te raden maar wel vérstrekkend:

• Je hoeft geen mails meer naar jezelf te sturen om een bestand op meerdere computers te hebben. Bovendien werk je altijd met de juiste versie
• Je kan heel gemakkelijk folders delen met anderen. Handig als je in groep aan iets werkt.
• Je kan ook individuele bestanden delen.
• Er is een foto-modus: gewoon wat foto’s naar de map kopiëren en de link doorsturen.
• Je hebt als het ware een gratis backup, want alle bestanden worden gesynchroniseerd op meerdere computers.
• Zolang je netwerktoegang hebt, heb je geen USB-sticks meer nodig.
• Stel: je bent op reis. Dan kan je bv in een internetcafé foto’s opladen en je geheugenkaart vrijmaken. Of bestanden raadplegen die je in je dropbox hebt gestopt.
• Best van al: dropbox gedraagt zich als een gewone map op je computer. Je moet dus niet inloggen en dergelijke om van de service gebruik te maken, dat gebeurt allemaal in de achtergrond.
• Je kan ook kiezen om Dropbox niet op je computer te zetten, maar om enkel van de webdienst gebruik te maken.
• Je moet geen persoonlijke informatie prijsgeven. Gewoon een username en paswoord volstaan.

Dropbox is snel, functioneel, gratis en rechttoe-rechtaan. Zoals ik het graag heb.

→ Intekenen kan op https://www.dropbox.com

This is indeed the basics for any succesful Kanban. But why are these two principles the driving force behind Kanban? And how can we teach people these basics in a way that they understand the principles, not only know them by heart?

A two hour game

That is what the Kanban Game accomplishes.In a relatively simple game that takes two hours, participants are stimulated to discuss and understand the underpinnings of Kanban, helping them to become more agile and ultimately more succesful in their business.

The game takes place in five rounds, each focusing on a specific topic:

Keeping the team scores during the kanban game

• Round 1: solving bottlenecks to obtain smooth flow. Work-in-progress limits to help solve bottlenecks.
• Round 2: market variability and agility and the value of stock.
• Round 3: the effect of training: deeper expertise for optimal flow. Broader expertise to limit dependency on disturbances.
• Round 4: process disturbances and how to obtain smooth flow even in unstable environments
• Round 5: kanban, the big picture. How to transfer what we have learned to the real world.

Apart from these five specific topics, following topics will be brought up during the discussions more than once:

• Visualising workflow: why it is important and why it is equally important to keep the visualisation in synch with reality
• Importance of communication and island work versus team work
• Expertise in the head and hands of a limited number of people
• FTE: are people just “resources”? is “adding people” a way to achieve higher production?

Besides that, participants will gain an in-depth knowledge about origami frogs

Free download

The Frog Factory – a Kanban game can be downloaded and used for free. However,

• when you want to share the game with others, please only link to this website. Regularly, new versions will be published so don’t copy the files.
• When you use the game, please give me feedback (agile is all about quick feedback, remember?) so that I can improve the game. Also, ideas for extensions and the like are welcome. Do use the comment button below this page.
• The software and material is provided as is, without any warranty. Use it at your own risk. For example, if playing this game changes your beliefs about how to run complex business processes, don’t blame me.
• Also, honor my copyright. Constructing and improving this game has been lots of work and I provide it for free, so please at least refer to this website when using the game. Posts about the game on other websites are encouraged!

Practicalities

• the game can be played by 6 to 20 people, divided in two equal teams. If the number of participants is odd, a correction applies (automatically calculated by the spreadsheet) apart from the teams, there is one instructor and if possible, an assistant.
• you need a suitable room with a whiteboard, if possible two computers and a beamer, per participant about 12 square origami papers in three colors and four bins per team (any recipient is okay as long as you can put some paper frogs in it)
• room setup: project the spreadsheet with the results and use the other computer for the counter. Put it in the middle so that teams can see the progress of the rounds. There is also a sound signal so constant visual contact with the timer is not needed. 

 → Download the FrogFactory (zip file, 1 MB, no installation necessary – just download, extract and access the files via Explorer)

What’s in the zip file

Visualising workflow

Basically, almost everything you need is provided:

• the instructor’s manual, of which you need one copy.
• the frog construction manual, which you need to copy once per team
• the experience sheet, for which you need one copy per participant
• the frog counter application that keeps the timing of the rounds
• the spreadsheet to keep the points
• a template for a big six sided die (of course you can also use a normal die if you don’t want to make a die with cardboard and glue)

Note
Thanks to Sven, Serge, Peter, Christophe, Kurt, Bart, Annemie, Gunther, Griet and Nadine for volunteering to test the first version of the game.

As a coach, your role is probably a “chicken” role (remember? Pigs and chickens can attend, but only pigs can talk?) So you have to be silent, but that does not mean you’re not active. In fact, this is your best opportunity to listen actively. That is, to try to understand the true meaning of what is being discussed so that you can coach the scrum master and the team so that they become even more effective and efficiënt.

Team Interaction Picture

One little tool I have found useful when coaching a team is something I call the Team Interaction Picture (TIP). It’s easy to draw, yet you can learn a lot from it.

Here’s an example. (it’s fictitious but representative of the actual TIPs I make when observing a daily standup meeting–and every single element is based on real TIPs).

The Team Interaction Picture: an agile coaching instrument

Rainy day

It’s 2009 November 23d (a gray Monday morning) and the team has gathered around the task board in the corner of the landscape office. The place is not ideal: somewhat too small, and there is a pole and a chair which hinder access to the board and invite team members to sit down/hang around. Luckily, the team has discussed this before and nobody will use the chair.

TIP technique: draw the task board as a narrow rectangle, the team members as circles (indicate their name and if needed, their role). For absent team members, draw a striped line outside the team. Also draw any other large objects (like the pole and the chair) present.

Usually, the meeting starts at 9h30 but now they’re six minutes late because Sandy is not there yet (you know she has to bring her daughter to school).

Sandy arrives

Finally, Sandy arrives. She has had a phone call from Nancy, who is ill and won’t return before Wednesday. Sandy joins the team (they’ve already gathered around the board!) and starts with giving an update on the impediment list.

TIP technique: write date and hour of start next to the TIP diagram. Indicate the order of events with numbers and indicate the end of the standup meeting under the event list. Use the same number to indicate in what order each attendee takes the word.

Eight constructive minutes

When Sandy tells the team an old and important impediment will be solved today, Dave interrupts and says that he hopes this will be the case, since he remembers Sandy promised this the week before, and the week before that… Then there is a short discussion between Sandy and Dave, which they conclude not to continue here.

TIP technique: when person A adresses person B, draw an arrow from A to B. If B responds, draw the arrowhead next to person A. For each next discussion between A and B, draw a small perpendicular line on the arrow from A to B.

The meeting continues in a constructive way and after eight minutes, everyone is up-to-date and knows what to do for today.

Coaching the scrum master

After the meeting, I’ll have a brief word with Sandy. I ask her opinion and we compare. Here’s how I use the TIP:

• General conclusion: a constructive meeting that respected the 15 minutes timebox (even if it started late, no problem here because even then the meeting ended before 9h45).
• Is it possible to remove the chair so that there is more space and better access to the board? Maybe, but Sandy will talk about the idea in tomorrows standup.
• Starting with the update on the impediment list (especially if there is good news) is a good practice. It helps to prove to the team that the scrum master is there to help them, not to command&control.
• Team dynamics are determined for a large part by the interaction of Dave and Sandy. Sarah occasionally tries to interrupt, but Sandy does not answer.
• Jeff, a junior team member, never takes the word unless he gets the talking stick. Even then he does not really talk, he just indicates on the task board what user story he will work on and that’s it.

Especially the last two topics might be sensitive, since they can indicate there’s an underlying problem. It’s dangerous to draw conclusions from one eight-minute meeting, so I would compare my TIP with the TIPs of two or three other meetings.

But in any case, I have a good graphical representation of what happened during this standup meeting. The team might even be able to use my TIPs during the evaluation meeting so that they can see how they interact.

For readers who use this TIP: please share your experiences by replying to this post. Thanks!

The USB rocket launcher may be just what you need: connect it to the build machine, and every time a developer finishes a user story, the launcher is fired.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/8a0f/

In cases like these, Scotch Up! comes in handy. It looks like any other glue stick, but the glue is repositionable. So you can make a post-it note out of every piece of regular paper. No surprise: it’s a 3M product, the company that also invented post-its and lots of other useful office supplies.

Best thing is, it actually works. The paper becomes restickable; I’ve tried it and ten times of repositioning later, the paper stuck as well as the first time. Handy!