Limiting WIP without WIP Limits

Agile Bites

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On the Season 2 debut of Lost Cultures: Living Legacies , we travel to Bermuda, an Atlantic island whose history spans centuries and continents. Once uninhabited, Bermuda became a vital stop in transatlantic trade, a maritime stronghold, and a cultural crossroads shaped by African, European, Caribbean, and Native American influences. Guests Dr. Kristy Warren and Dr. Edward Harris trace its transformation from an uninhabited island to a strategic outpost shaped by shipwrecks, colonization, the transatlantic slave trade, and the rise and fall of empires. Plus, former Director of Tourism Gary Phillips shares the story of the Gombey tradition, a vibrant performance art rooted in resistance, migration, and cultural fusion. Together, they reveal how Bermuda’s layered past continues to shape its people, culture, and identity today. You can also find us online at ⁠travelandleisure.com/lostcultures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…

2 years ago 17:49

MP3•Episode home

We all know keeping our WIP limited is a good thing—Scrum does it with a Goal and timebox, and Kanban does it with a stated limit.

But are you paying attention to your arrival rate and departure rate? In other words, are you starting new items at the same frequency that you’re finishing them?

In this episode learn why you should care about and control how often we start new things—because it has a whole lot to do with how often you finish things.

93 episodes

Limiting WIP without WIP Limits

Agile Bites

published 2 years ago

MP3•Episode home

We all know keeping our WIP limited is a good thing—Scrum does it with a Goal and timebox, and Kanban does it with a stated limit.

But are you paying attention to your arrival rate and departure rate? In other words, are you starting new items at the same frequency that you’re finishing them?

In this episode learn why you should care about and control how often we start new things—because it has a whole lot to do with how often you finish things.

93 episodes

#Tech #Integrity Inspired Solutions

All episodes

Agile Bites

1
Limiting Your WIP 25:57

48 weeks ago25:57

25:57

In our previous episode, we talked about the importance of visualizing your current work-in-progress to uncover bottlenecks, enhance decision-making, and provide clarity on your team's workload. Now, let's tackle what often comes next: realizing you have too much work in progress. Why does this happen so often to development teams, and what can we do about it? In this episode, we're diving into strategies to manage and prevent this overload. We’ll cover setting WIP limits, staying responsive, and juggling organizational demands effectively. Tune in to hear how to avoid overcommitting, the perks of prioritizing and finishing tasks before jumping into new ones, and how to use Lean principles to keep your workflow sustainable.…

Agile Bites

1
Visualizing Your WIP 23:32

49 weeks ago23:32

23:32

When the kind of work we do is invisible (like software development), it can be a challenge to keep track of what work is going on at any given time. That's where visualization can be a great tool for understanding your team's work in progress. Building on last episode's discussion on creating workflow visualizations, in this episode, host Phil Ledgerwood explores the importance of visualizing work in progress to uncover current projects in flight and find hidden bottlenecks and inefficiencies. I discuss the pros and cons of common WIP visualizations (lists, Kanban boards, etc.) so that you can decide on a visualization that fits your unique workflow, even if it means thinking outside the box.…

Agile Bites

1
Agile Team Management and Visualization (It's Not What You Think) 17:42

50 weeks ago17:42

17:42

A lot of what we do in software development is invisible. If someone is typing furiously on their keyboard, you don't know if they're about to finish that new feature or if they're complaining to their state representative. One of the things that tends to be invisible is the actual process of getting something from “request” to “deliverable.” Everybody kind of knows what that process is, but they typically only know their piece of it, and they probably haven't thought critically about it in years. Creating a visualization of this process can: Spotlight potential weak points Improve communication Reveal the complexities of your team's workflow Uncover hidden opportunities for optimization In this episode I'm sharing practical tips for mapping out your processes, understanding team dynamics, and setting the stage for continuous improvement.…

Agile Bites

1
Day One of Managing Agile Teams 25:36

51 weeks ago25:36

25:36

When managing a new team, it's tempting to come in guns blazing with new ideas and changes. Not only can this cause resistance, however, but you might be heading the wrong direction to begin with. Start with Fact-Finding and Reason-Finding before Recommendation-Making. In other words, one of your first moves should be to ask a lot of questions—"why" being one of the most prominent of them. This sets you up for success with your team because: You may discover there are good reasons for their current practices that are not immediately apparent to you It lays the foundation for future discussions, focusing on the reasons behind the practices rather than the practices themselves—making the conversation ego-agnostic. In this episode, learn how to create a safe environment to gear up your operations for change and set you and your team up for future success.…

Agile Bites

1
How To Manage Software Teams - Fundamentals 20:34

1 year ago20:34

20:34

Many of us who were thrown into management positions over development teams had to learn on the job. And when that happens, it can be easy to fall into the role of what you THINK a manager should do—be the rule enforcer and hold the team accountable. But as a dev team manager, your primary role should be to enable your team to deliver value effectively and efficiently. In other words, get out of your team's way and empower them to do their best work. How does this actually play out, though? In this episode, I'm sharing the lessons I've learned and things I wish I had understood when I first started managing dev teams. Whether you're a new manager or a seasoned veteran, this episode provides practical tips for keeping you and your team on the same side working towards a common goal.…

Agile Bites

1
Secret Management Hacks to Faster Delivery 25:04

1 year ago25:04

25:04

If you're a CTO, manager, or team lead looking to develop software faster, this episode is for you! If someone has told you that you shouldn't -want- to shorten time to delivery, this episode is also for you. Because they're wrong. Wanting speed isn't a bad thing—assuming you are building the right thing (which is the main problem Agile addresses). As teams do grow in their agility, they do tend to become faster for all kinds of reasons—but it's not directly because of Agile. Speed isn't the goal of Agile. Making sure the right software comes out the door is. But there are definitely process improvements you can make that can also increase your speed of delivery, and you should want that. In our most click-baity titled episode yet, I talk about the actual things that are influencing your rate of delivery and how to deal with them.…

Agile Bites

1
Why Are You Doing This? 20:40

1 year ago20:40

20:40

Have you stopped and asked yourself and your organization, “Why are we doing this?” You may or may not be surprised to find out that a lot of organizations make decisions, choose frameworks, and prioritize projects simply because of inertia and not because there's a real reason behind it. Why would you put time and resources into maintaining structures whose reasons have been lost to antiquity or never existed in the first place? It seems like common sense to individuals, but that often doesn't translate on the organizational level. This episode delves into the importance of understanding the reasons behind technical decisions and the pitfalls of following practices or working on projects without understanding their original purpose or questioning their current relevance. Defining the ‘why’ helps ensure that actions are not only based on historical momentum but are relevant, justified, and beneficial in their current context.…

Agile Bites

1
Hey Managers - Is Agile a Scam? 22:26

1 year ago22:26

22:26

Hey managers, let's talk straight: Is Agile a scam? In your context, it just might be. Agile has become the default for teams, but do you truly understand WHY you're using it or if you even need it? In this episode, we're stripping away the Agile buzzwords, getting back to basics, and exploring the essence of Agile from a manager's perspective. Forget sprints and user stories—Agile is all about responsiveness to change. By starting with this fundamental principle, you can avoid getting tangled in specific practices or frameworks that don't fit your organization.…

Agile Bites

1
Slicing Stories Vertically vs. Horizontally 18:23

1 year ago18:23

18:23

Should we be slicing stories vertically or horizontally? Does it even matter? Should we organize the requirements in our user stories by architectural layers or by small units of functionality? Both approaches divide the work up into smaller batches, but what good are pieces of software if they're not actually usable? That's what happens when we slice stories horizontally (e.g. a user story to build a non-functional screen). Horizontal slicing brings on risks to the organization, like: Prematurely prescribing an implementation Lengthening the feedback loop Delaying value delivery Misaligning user story delivery metrics Vertical slicing, however, allows our teams to be agile by ensuring the delivery of functional, valuable capabilities driven by user needs and feedback…

Agile Bites

1
Scaling Agile - Is Less More? 20:20

1 year ago20:20

20:20

Wondering what scaled Agile framework is right for your organization? If this is your question, this episode is not going to answer it for you because we don't think that's going to bring you the most value. Instead, we're going to challenge you to take a step back and ask why you need to scale and why you're Agile in the first place. Just because your organization is “big" and your current framework is causing friction, that does not mean finding the right scaled Agile framework is the answer (in fact, it's usually not). And implementing a scaled framework might actually cause more pain than not. In this episode, we explore the underlying reasons and common misconceptions behind scaling, from the classic scenario of numerous teams to the allure of frameworks like SAFe. Discover how you can navigate dependencies, optimize team structures, rethink release cadences, and look at your team's framework from a different perspective to get to the Agility you're looking for.…

Agile Bites

1
Business Analysts in an Agile World 25:35

1 year ago25:35

25:35

Traditionally confined to creating hefty upfront requirements documents, BAs find themselves at a crossroads in the Agile world. However, we believe BAs hold the key to promoting agility and delivering maximum value to organizations. In this episode, we challenge the notion that BAs are mere translators of requirements into user stories. Instead, we highlight the rich business knowledge and questioning skills that BAs possess. By delving deep into business processes and understanding the "why" behind them, BAs can unearth genuine value in user stories. BAs also have the unique opportunity to uncover hidden needs and facilitate cross-functional dialogues that drive process improvements. By fostering collaboration and aligning business objectives with software development, BAs can contribute to the creation of software that not only meets user needs but also enhances overall organizational efficiency.…

Agile Bites

1
What's Next For Agile Bites? 18:34

1 year ago18:34

18:34

In the year and a half that the Agile Bites podcast has been around, we've covered a lot of topics—from story points to stand-ups to MVPs and a whole lot more. And we hope it's been a helpful resource in our listeners' Agile journeys. Now, we're taking a look at the future and asking ourselves, "What's next?" Listen to this episode to hear from Host Phil Ledgerwood about the new direction of Agile Bites, and we'd love for you to be a part of it by leaving your feedback! Leave a comment on this platform or email Phil at phil@integrityinspired.com.…

Agile Bites

1
What Was Rally Thinking? 22:20

1 year ago22:20

22:20

If we had a dollar for every piece of “authoritative Agile advice” out there, let's just say that we'd have a lot of money. Sharing the successes, failures, and lessons learned is so valuable to all of us on an Agile journey. But it's important to keep your filter up for not only false information, but also true information that doesn't fit your situation. In this episode, Host Phil Ledgerwood dissects some “authoritative” facts and figures about so-called “full Scrum” vs. “lightweight Scrum” to demonstrate how easy it can be to fall into the trap of misleading Agile guidance. The lesson here? Don’t blindly accept what anyone says, no matter the source (even this podcast!). Always investigate, weigh it carefully, and experiment for yourself.…

Agile Bites

1
QA in an Agile World 22:58

1 year ago22:58

22:58

Traditionally, QA has been synonymous with manual testing and has been established as its own post-development phase. But in an agile landscape, that setup can lead to bottlenecks and silos. That's why we advocate for making QA a strategic player throughout the entire development journey—not just at the end of development. Tune in to gain insights on reshaping QA practices and maximizing its impact on the entire value stream of software development.…

Agile Bites

1
Can User Stories Be Too Small? 20:06

1 year ago20:06