• I share my notes about kanban as an agile software development methodology. They belong to a course I have recently prepared and taught. I hope you find it useful.

Kanban 101 Fundamentals

Basic concepts and tools

Kanban 101 Fundamentals. Basic concepts and tools by Marcelo Horacio Fortino. Version 2.0.2. July 2023.

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Version	Author/s	Date	Comments
1.0	Marcelo Horacio Fortino	2020/June	Agile methodology
1.1	Marcelo Horacio Fortino	2021/August	Converted to markdown - ipynb
2.0	Marcelo Horacio Fortino	2023/July	Updated to Kanban

This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, including the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The author assumes no responsibility for any misuse by the reader.

Suggestions and comments to info@fortinux.com/en.

These teaching notes are based on:

• Lean Enterprise Institute articles https://www.lean.org/,
• The bibliography and references presented in this document, and
• My own documentation collected over the years from various sources.

Bibliography

• Scrum.org (2021). The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams.

• Skarin, M. (2015). Real-world Kanban: Do less, accomplish more with lean thinking.

• For lean management and six sigma tools you can consult the following bibliography:

• Pascal Dennis, Lean production simplified (New York: Productivity Press, 2007).

• John Bicheno and Matthias Holweg, The Lean toolbox, 4th rev. ed. (Johannesburg, South Africa: Picsie Books, 2008).

• Chet Marchwinski and John Shook, Lean lexicon (Cambridge, MA: Lean Enterprise Institute, 2008).

• Thomas Pyzdek and Paul Keller, The Six Sigma handbook, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009).

Agenda

• Introduction to Kanban, Lean, New paradigm, Value Definition, JIT, Kaizen, PDCA, Residual Definition, Value Stream Mapping, The 5s, Fishbone Diagram, DMAIC, Theory of Constraints, Metrics or KPIs.
• The Kanban Method.
• APPENDIX A: Other methodologies. Summary: Lean startup, Agile methodologies, Scrum, Scrumban.

Introduction to kanban

• This first part is about the history and methodological principles that have been distilled to obtain the framework popularly known as kanban.

Lean

• Lean is a way of thinking about creating the necessary value with fewer resources and less waste. It is a practice of continuous experimentation to achieve perfect value with zero waste. Lean thinking and practice happen together.

Source: https://www.lean.org/explore-lean/what-is-lean/.

• It comes from the ToyotaProduction System ( TPS) developed by Taiichi Ohno.
• JP Womack with his book "The machine that changed the world" (1992), where the term lean manufacturing appears for the first time, made it popular worldwide.

Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing.

• I share values with agile methodologies and kanban as:

  • generating value to the customer,
  • respect for people,
  • minimising waste,
  • transparency,
  • adaptation to change, and
  • continuous improvement.

• The five Lean principles are:

  • identifying customer value,
  • mapping the value stream,
  • ensure theflow,
  • establish pull processes, and
  • searching for perfection.

• To describe waste Lean uses the concepts:

  • Muda: Waste disposal.
  • Muri: Eliminating overhead.
  • Mura: Elimination of unbalanced workloads.

Source: https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/muda-mura-muri/.

• Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a diagram of each step involved in the material and information flows needed to take a product from order to delivery.
• It is a fundamental tool used in continuous improvement to identify and eliminate waste.
• Generally it starts with a team creating a current state map capturing the actual condition of the material flow and information of a value stream.
• Then the team draws a future state map, which is a picture with the goal of how materials and information should flow through the value stream.

Source: https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/value-stream-mapping/.

Lean IT: New paradigm

• The cultural paradigm shift in organisations that use Lean is manifested in:

• Traditional Method: Managers have all the answers.

  • Lean IT: Managers must ask the right questions, employees must have the answers (as a team).

• Traditional Method: Managers think, workers do.

  • Lean IT: Managers support employees to add value.

• Traditional Method: Activities are done, because they are asked to be done.

  • Lean IT: Activities are performed only if they add value.

• Traditional Method: A certain rate of defects is inevitable.

  • Lean IT: Defects can be eliminated.

• As main elements of Lean can be considered:

  • Client.
  • Activities that add value to the customer.
  • Pull Flow.
  • Search for perfection.
  • Smooth flow without interruptions.

• Source: Bell, S. C., & Orzen, M. A. (2010). Lean IT: Enabling and sustaining your lean transformation. Productivity Press.

Definition of value

• The customer as the centre of value: concepts.

• Value stream: Evaluate if all activities in the process of adding value are visible to the customer.

• Flow: Create a continuous flow of production, focused onJust-in-time and the reduction of the ups and downs in the work.

• Pull: Demand triggers the process, in order to reduce stock and eliminate downtime.

• Perfection: In principle, it focuses on the prevention of quality defects.

• Value characteristics:

  • The value is linked to the price.
  • The value of a product or service to someone else: The customer.
  • Value is linked to perception.
  • Each customer determines what is value, and what is not.

• Difference between output and outcome.

• https://www.bmc.com/blogs/outcomes-vs-outputs/.

Just-In-Time (JIT)

• Thejust-in-time (JIT) method is a system for organising production in factories born in the Japanese company Toyota.

• It is based on The flexibility of resources, through the use of versatile workers and multipurpose machines, which adapt to customer demand.

• It consists of getting the inputs to the factory "just in time", that is, shortly before they are used and only in the necessary quantities.

• This allows to reduce costs, especially of raw material inventory, parts for assembly, and final products.

• This practice also reduces response times to customers.

• Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9todo_justo_a_tiempo.

Kaizen

• Kaizen in Japanese meanscontinuous improvement.

• Its objective is to make small incremental improvements in processes and systems, which leads to significant benefits in the long run.

• Source: https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/kaizen/.

PDCA

• The Deming Cycle or PDCA is a continuous improvement cycle applicable in all areas of life.
• The cycle consists of four stages: PLAN, DO, CHECK and ACT.
• These stages allow to solve problems in a rigorous and methodical way.

Image: Figure 1: PDCA diagram. Author: Karn G. Bulsuk(http://www.bulsuk.com)

Definition of waste

• All work components can be categorised asvalue-added (VA),non-value-added (NVA), ornecessary but non-value-added (NNVA).

• Wasteful practices can be divided into three categories known as the 3 M's: mura, muri, and muda.

  • Mura: imbalance.
  • Muri: overload.
  • Muda: waste.

• Source: https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/muda-mura-muri/.

• According to Taichi Ohno, creator of the Toyota Production System, the 7 types of waste or mudas identified are:

  • Overproduction.
  • Inventory.
  • Waiting for you.
  • Unnecessary movements.
  • Transport.
  • Not quality.
  • Overprocessing.

• Waste: In Japanese: Muda(waste).

• Waste is everything that is done that does not add value from the customer's perspective.

• The activity performed by the supplier is residual if the customer is not willing to pay for that activity.

• It may be required by law to perform the activity, but it does not add value.

• The customer decides what is waste.

• Residue, Variability and Inflexibility must be reduced.

• Variability:

  • Variability in the volume or complexity of customer demand.
  • Deviations of process results.

• Inflexibility:

  • The ability of the team to scale up or down, depending on demand.
  • Fixed service timeframes and release schedules.
  • Operating model of predetermined batch and queue.
  • Resources specialised in a limited number of tasks.

Value stream Mapping

• The value chain map allows us to apply Lean principles to the value chain:

• It shows the input, the steps and the output as a flow that generates value. It helps to understand the value chain.

• It calculates the capacity and performance of each step. It allows to identify the ups and downs in the capacity of the process(flow).

• It allows a fast response, low effort and low waste.

• Only produce what the customer asks for, without the need to keep a stock(pull).

• Identify waste in the process(continuous improvement).

• Differences between pull and push:

  • Pull: You choose a product configuration, place the order and pay for it. From there, the construction of the product begins.
  • Push: A configured product is chosen and the supplier sends it from stock.

Image: Figure 2: Differences between PUSH and PULL. Author: Marcelo H. Fortino(http://www.fortinux.com/en)

• Steps for the creation of the value chain map:
  • Define the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and the analysis process.
  • Identify the steps in the process with a SIPOC diagram.
  • Identify the workflow in the process.
  • Collect current workload data.
  • Create a Value Chain Map (VSM) by process.
  • Start with the most important process.
  • Collect data on processing time, volumes, duration, etc.
  • Identify waste and problems.
  • Complete the VSM with all inputs.
  • Validate the VSM with the team and experts.