rolling rocks downhill @ agile cymru by clarke ching

How to:

Roll Rocks

Downhill

www.Rolls.Rocks @clarkeching

http://www.Rolls.Rocks

How to:

Roll Rocks

Downhill Accelerate Agile with Goldratt’s TOC.



How to:

Roll Rocks

Downhill Accelerate Agile with Goldratt’s TOC.


By Clarke Ching


Before After

Rolling Rocks

Downhill

Before After

Rolling Rocks

Downhill

Big Batch Small Batch

Before After

Rolling Rocks

Downhill

Big Batch Small Batch Limited WIP

Iterative

Incremental

Before After

Rolling Rocks

Downhill

Big Batch Small Batch Limited WIP

Accelerate by improving the Bottleneck

Iterative

Incremental

TOC =

Theory of Constraints

How do you make a CHAIN stronger?


Q: What is your GOAL?



A: STRENGTH (not weight)




Q: What determines the STRENGTH of the chain?





A: The Weakest Link





A: The Weakest Link

Q: What happens if you strengthen the weakest link?





A: The Weakest Link


A: The chain gets stronger





A: The Weakest Link



Q: Or, what else might happen?





A: The Weakest Link




A: If that link is no longer the weakest, the chain just gets heavier





A: The Weakest Link





Q: Generally, what happens if you strengthen any link other than the weakest?





A: The Weakest Link






A: The chain gets heavier, not stronger.





A: The Weakest Link







The “weakest link” is our “Constraint”.





A: The Weakest Link








That’s where we should focus our THINKING.





A: The Weakest Link








That’s where we should focus our THINKING.

Improving anywhere else is either pointless or BAD

UNLESS it improves the performance

of the constraint.

Accelerate?What is your Goal?

1. Deliver more value


1. Deliver more value— profitability


1. Deliver more value— profitability— accelerate the flow of £££££



2. Deliver on time



2. Deliver on time— predictability -> … reputation … credibility




Accelerate?

“Running 10% faster, gifts you 1 months extra “runway” on a 10 month project.

What is your Goal?



Accelerate?


Fixed Date

What is your Goal?



Accelerate?

Dec 1st


Fixed Date

What is your Goal?



Accelerate?

Dec 1st


Guaranteed min scope - variable duration

Fixed Date

What is your Goal?



Accelerate?

Dec 1st



Variable scope

Fixed Date

What is your Goal?



Accelerate?

Dec 1st



Variable scope

Fixed Date

What is your Goal?

Better odds of on-time



Accelerate?

Dec 1st



Variable scope

Fixed Date

What is your Goal?


Maybe more variable scope



Accelerate?

Dec 1st



Variable scope

Fixed Date

What is your Goal?


Maybe more variable scope

Perhaps deliver early

Example 1. Request: Eliminate the 120 top-priority defects, ASAP.

Team of 16 - mixed roles & skill-sets

COBOL, ASP, Oracle



time

# 120

COBOL, ASP, Oracle



Q: Do you have estimates for each defect? A: No, we’ve given up estimating. Q: Why?A: Cos easy looking stuff usually turns out tricky, and so does the hard looking stuff. Q: Is it really that unpredictable?A1: It takes 2-60 days, typically. A2: “We do 10 a month, average”

time

# 120

COBOL, ASP, Oracle




time

#

BEFORE - 10 / M

120

COBOL, ASP, Oracle




time

#

BEFORE - 10 / MAFTER???

120

COBOL, ASP, Oracle

Not Started Analysis Design Program

Not Started Analysis Design Program Test


10/m


20/m

10/m


20/m 25/m

10/m


20/m 15/m25/m

10/m


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

10/m


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Have a told you about the buffalo?

10/m

The Buffalo Story started out as an email joke.

Music: http://www.bensound.com

http://www.bensound.com/

The Buffalo Story started out as an email joke.

An imagined conversation between Norm and Cliff, from “Cheers”, the TV

Show.

Music: http://www.bensound.com

image: wikipedia

http://www.bensound.com/

slowest

fastest

Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this.

slowest

fastest

Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this.A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo.

slowest

fastest

Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this.A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo.The slowest buffalo stays at the back and the faster buffalo runin front, but at the slower speed.Otherwise, the herd would split apart.

slowest

fastest

Like this.

slowest

fastest

Like this.And when they were split apart they were prone toattack by wolves.

slowest

fastest

Like this.And when they were split apart they were prone toattack by wolves.Evolution favoured the herds that didn’t spread apart.

slowest

fastest

slowest

fastest

When these tightly packed herds were hunted, thewolves killed the slowest and weakest buffalo.

slowest

fastest

When these tightly packed herds were hunted, thewolves killed the slowest and weakest buffalo.The guys at the back.

slowest

fastest

When these tightly packed herds were hunted, thewolves killed the slowest and weakest buffalo.The guys at the back.That made the remaining herd stronger and faster.

slowest

fastest

slowest

fastest

Here’s the JOKE Bit.

slowest

fastest

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fastas the slowest brain cells.

slowest

fastest

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fastas the slowest brain cells.[Hmmm … ]

slowest

fastest

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fastas the slowest brain cells.[Hmmm … ]Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells.

slowest

fastest

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fastas the slowest brain cells.[Hmmm … ]Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells.

But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

slowest

fastest

slowest

fastest

In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker

brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficientmachine.

slowest

fastest

In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker

brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficientmachine.And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

slowest

fastest


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Step 1: Identify your bottleneck

TOC’s 5 step recipe


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Q: Where’s your “slowest buffalo?”




20/m 10/m15/m25/m



Step 2: Exploit


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can we speed up the slowest buffalo?



Step 2: Exploit


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can we speed up the slowest buffalo?



Step 2: Exploit

test cleverer & faster simple “time management” stuff


20/m 10/m15/m25/m


TOC’s 5 steprecipe

Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can the “faster buffalo” help?



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can the “faster buffalo” help?



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

SLOW DOWN! Don’t distract the testers

Help them.


20/m 10/m15/m25/m



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

Step 4: Elevate


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Do we need to get/pay for more “slower buffalo”?



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

Step 4: Elevate


20/m 10/m15/m25/m



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

Step 4: Elevate

bottleneck moved?


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Be careful though: your bottleneck may move and you might miss it!

You’ll need to change your exploit & subordinate rules.



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

Step 4: Elevate

bottleneck moved?


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

25-35% improvement in throughput. =

13/m


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

That’s like getting 4+ extra staff for free. Without working any harder.

It was less stressful than normal.


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

It took: 20 minutes to figure out what to do.

1 week to “sell it” 8 months to do it.


20/m 10/m15/m25/m


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

8 months!Not 12.

- Clarke Ching

“The covert enemy of productivity is trying to keep everyone busy.

And yet … that is so counter-intuitive and counter-cultural it scares people.”

- Clarke Ching

“Testing is usually the bottleneck in teams new to Agile.

Usually, we want it to be development”

Example 2. Request: Resuscitate a project which “looks” “Agile” but isn’t producing potentially

shippable code.Team of 80-100

- mixed roles & skill-sets

old ASP, old Oracle,

new .net

slowest herd - testers fastest herd - developers

Same situation:Testing was the bottleneck, but developers were - obliviously - racing ahead writing “code” which wasn’t tested.


Same situation:Testing was the bottleneck, but developers were - obliviously - racing ahead writing “code” which wasn’t tested.

We needed to get them running as 1 herd again.


slowest herd fastest herd


STOP


STOPSPEED-UP


STOPSPEED-UP

HELP


STOPSPEED-UP

HELPWe’d built up too much untested code so we started a test phase.


STOPSPEED-UP

HELPWe’d built up too much untested code so we started a test phase.After that, we restarted development, working in small batches, learning how to deliver potentially shippable working software,

with testing as our bottleneck.

TestingDevelopers

TestingDevelopers

With (1) our bottleneck id’d, we kept (2) exploiting & (3) subordinating & (4) elevating.

TestingDevelopers

With (1) our bottleneck id’d, we kept (2) exploiting & (3) subordinating & (4) elevating.

• Recruited more/better testers • Stopping devs coding stuff that can't be

tested; • More emphasis on dev testing / quality • Devs helped with some of the testing

(automating stuff); • Testers prevented defects (3 amigos, etc); • Testers moved from shotgun to sniper mode; • Protecting dev & test from starvation.

TestingDevelopers

With (1) our bottleneck id’d, we kept (2) exploiting & (3) subordinating & (4) elevating.Then, 18 months later - (5) our bottleneck moved into dev.

• Recruited more/better testers • Stopping devs coding stuff that can't be

tested; • More emphasis on dev testing / quality • Devs helped with some of the testing

(automating stuff); • Testers prevented defects (3 amigos, etc); • Testers moved from shotgun to sniper mode; • Protecting dev & test from starvation.

Protecting the bottleneck - not just test & dev!

Protecting the bottleneck - not just test & dev!

Buffer

Buffer

Big project 8-10 Business Analysts

Slicing & Dicing preparing a “buffer” of fuel.

Protecting the bottleneck

Don’t let the engine run out of fuelDon’t put too much fuel in the tank

Don’t put sugar in the tankBuffer


Don’t let the engine run out of fuel

1. Run at the speed of your bottleneck.

2. Plan according to your bottleneck.

Don’t let the engine run out of fuel

Don’t put too much fuel in the tank

Don’t put sugar in the tank

3. Chose work to get the biggest “bang from your bottleneck’s buck”


Example 3. Problem: What features should we build next?

Same project as before

Business / Operational Bottleneck.

Market demand: (from sales figures or customer’s comments)

“OMG the customers won’t buy this product because the competitor has this, but we don’t”

“The customers HATE This. It’s hard to use / hard to sell.”




Capacity demand: (from analysis or looking around)

“We’re selling so well but we need to Automate processes A, B and C”.

“The cancellation process needs to be self-serve.”

“We are selling so we need more disk space.”

Failure demand:

- “We’re getting loads of problems with BLA … we need to fix BLA.”




Capacity demand: (from analysis or looking around)

“We’re selling so well but we need to Automate processes A, B and C”.

“The cancellation process needs to be self-serve.”

“We are selling so we need more disk space.”

Marketing - bottleneck is lack of sales Servicing - bottleneck internal

Them? - or-

Them?

Business - not IT

Marketing work to sell more?

ORServicing work to process more?

Marketing - bottleneck is lack of sales Servicing - bottleneck internal

Them? - or-

Them?

Business - not IT

We had an internal bottleneck. We couldn’t process everything we could sell. A wonderful problem to have!We ignored ALL marketing features (for many, many months)We 80/20’d all of the capacity related features

Then worked on them according to “bang for buck”.

business processes

Cash-Cow Buffalo

Example 4. Request: Build a new business from scratch.ASAP, of course.

Team of 60mixed roles & skill-

sets

Big clunky Vendor of a big clunky

package!

Internal herd

We ensured Testing was NOT the bottleneck.

Internal herd


Developers - the “strategic” bottleneck

Internal herd



Internal herd

Testers - spare capacity, rapid response



Internal herd


Vendor - “waterfall” elephant in the room


Q: How do you eat an elephant?


Internal herd




Q: How do you eat an elephant?A: One bite at a time.


Internal herd




Q: How do you eat an elephant?A: One bite at a time.Q: So, how should we eat this elephant - without “going all agile on them (which they won’t do)?


Internal herd




Q: How do you eat an elephant?A: One bite at a time.Q: So, how should we eat this elephant - without “going all agile on them (which they won’t do)?Q: One small-ish batch at a time - i.e. 4 “drops” rather than 1


Internal herd




Internal herd



Summary

TOC is about focusing - finding the thing which limits - or “constrains” your system (relative to

its goal).



Step 2: Exploit

Step 3: Subordinate

Step 4: Elevate

bottleneck moved?

Agile is about delivering business improvements

frequently.

Keep the “herd together” by limiting

WIP & building potential shippable

software.

Go faster by following the 5-step

recipe.

Acknowledge scarcity.

Make a “Slam dunk”

START

2

3

FINISH

Deliver. Benefits. Incrementally.

Deliver on-time. Or early.

Slice, Dice and Prioritise.

Limit WIP

Leverage your bottleneck.

Recalibrate, Reprioritise,

Repeat