The Beer Game

Tom Looy

Using the Five Focusing Steps of the Theory of Constraints

for Incremental and Radical System Changes

DemingGoldratt

Truth in Advertising

We know this…but we still keep doing it.

Larman's Laws of Organizational Behavior

1. Organizations are implicitly optimized to avoid changing the status quo middle- and first-level manager and “specialist” positions & power structures.

2. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be reduced to redefining or overloading the new terminology to mean basically the same as status quo.

3. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be derided as “purist”, “theoretical”, “revolutionary”, "religion", and “needing pragmatic customization for local concerns” -- which deflects from addressing weaknesses and manager/specialist status quo.

“The Beer Game”

S Y S T E MS Y S T E M

S Y S T E M

An Appreciation For The

“A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something.”

(Thinking in Systems, Donella H Meadows)

Input Output

S Y S T E M

S Y S T E M

Focus here

Interconnected Set of Elements in a

“A system is a product of the interaction of its parts and never the sum of its parts.”

Dr. Russell Ackoff

S Y S T E M

Vision Dev QA Ops

Systems Thinking In a Software Delivery

Product Owners on the team

QA on the team DevOps (The Phoenix Project)

“Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.”

Principles Behind the Agile ManifestoThe most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto“…a collaborative working relationship between Development and IT Operations…”

11 Things to Know About DevOps, Gene Kim

RequirementsDocuments

Test Plans Release Notes

1. Identify

2. Exploit

3. Subordinate

4. Elevate

5. Repeat

The Five Focusing Steps of The Theory of Constraints

S Y S T E M

Why worry about Constraints?

TSThe Constraint in the system determines the throughput

of the system.

Optimizing anywhere other than the constraint will not increase the

throughput of the system.

S Y S E M

Step 1 – Identify the Constraint

TS

1. Identify

2. Exploit

3. Subordinate

4. Elevate

5. Repeat

The Five Focusing Steps of The Theory of Constraints

What does it mean to “Exploit the Constraint”?

• Exploit its time– Don’t let the constraint in your system be idle. – The Constraint is the only thing in the system where we want to have

100% utilization.

• Exploit its capability – Only have the constraint do what only the constraint can do.

• Design your system for the ‘Flow of Work’ through your constraint

1. Identify

2. Exploit

3. Subordinate

4. Elevate

5. Repeat

The Five Focusing Steps of The Theory of Constraints

The Constraint 100% utilized

Everything else < 100% utilized

1.Inventory (work queues)

2.Unplanned Work

3. Invisible Work

4. Variance in Work

Four problems when you don’t subordinate to the Constraint:

Our Means:An inside - out view of a project

1) An overview of Agile, Lean and Theory of Constraints

2)

3)

1. Run the animated Agile Story Card Wall

2. Examine ‘what if’ scenarios using Excel

Release small batch sizes into the system

Keep WIP (Work In Progress) down

Short cycle time of stories

Lean Principles on the Agile Wall

The Drum is the constraint – it sets the pace for work all work done in the system.

The Buffer protects the Drum from being starved for work.

The Rope controls the release of work into the system by tying it to the constraint.

ToC’s “Drum-Buffer-Rope”

Other Things of Interest on This Agile Wall

Velocity is based on Story Cards, not Story Points.

Iteration 9 is included inthe plan as a contingency.

Each team’s capacity (and size)was determined through severalprevious Iterations of adapting.

“The Beer Game”

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Original Plan

DevWeb DevQADone

Cumulative Flow Diagram

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Beer Game Scenario

DevWeb DevQADone

Cumulative Flow Diagram

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Apply the ToC 'Rope' (Limit the Work Released to the New Contraint)

DevWeb DevQADone

Where Would You Elevate?

Cumulative Flow Diagram

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Elevate the Constraint - QA

DevWeb DevQADone

Explain Brooks’s Law using the Five Focusing Steps.

What Makes Constraint Management Complicated in Scrum?

• We don’t work on like units• The constraint moves almost daily• What should we do about it?

– Visualize your work– Orient your standup around constraint management – Swarm on the constraint– Have full time Scrum Masters on your team – Train Scrum Masters to be system thinkers

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