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3 best ways to wreck Kanban. Use vanity metrics.

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Avoiding Common Mistakes in Your Kanban Strategy

Introduction

One of the primary ways to fail in implementing your Kanban strategy and not achieve the value you expect is by not looking at the right data. Many teams think they are doing Kanban simply because they have a board with columns. However, without proper metrics and active management, this approach falls short.


The Importance of Proper Data Analysis

To truly benefit from Kanban, you need to go beyond having a simple board. You must leverage the right metrics and actively use the data to drive improvements. Here’s how to avoid common pitfalls:

  1. Ditch Vanity Metrics:
  • Metrics like story points, velocity, and burn down charts do not provide actionable insights for improving your workflow.

  • These metrics often serve more as “vanity metrics” that give a false sense of progress without driving real value.

  1. Focus on Key Kanban Metrics:
  • Work in Progress (WIP): Measure how many items are currently in progress. This helps to manage the flow and ensure that work does not pile up at any stage.

  • Cycle Time: Track the time it takes for an item to move through the system from start to finish. This provides insight into efficiency and potential bottlenecks.

  • Throughput: Measure the number of items completed in a given time period. This helps in understanding the capacity of the team.

  • Work Item Age: Monitor how long items have been in progress. This helps to identify items that may be stuck or delayed.


Collecting and Using the Right Data

Most digital tools like JIRA, Azure DevOps, and Trello automatically collect the necessary data. You only need two pieces of information for each work item: the start date/time and the end date/time. Here’s how to use this data effectively:

  1. Work in Progress (WIP):
  • If an item has started but not finished, it’s part of your WIP. Track this to ensure your team is not overburdened.
  1. Cycle Time:
  • Calculate the time taken from start to finish for each work item. This helps identify areas for improvement.
  1. Throughput:
  • Count the number of completed items over a set period. This shows your team’s capacity and helps with forecasting.
  1. Work Item Age:
  • Monitor how long each item has been in progress. This helps identify items that are at risk of becoming bottlenecks.

Taking Action Based on Data

The true power of Kanban comes from using the data to make informed decisions and drive continuous improvement:

  • Address Blockages:

  • Identify why items are getting stuck and take steps to remove these blockages.

  • Optimize Flow:

  • Use the data to adjust work in progress limits and ensure a smooth flow of work through the system.

  • Improve Predictability:

  • Analyze cycle time and throughput to make better forecasts and meet delivery commitments.


Conclusion

Avoiding common mistakes in Kanban involves focusing on the right metrics and actively using the data to drive improvements. By ditching vanity metrics and leveraging key Kanban metrics like WIP, cycle time, throughput, and work item age, you can create a transparent, efficient, and predictable workflow.

If you’re struggling to implement a Kanban strategy, we can help or connect you with someone who can. Click the link below to get in touch and start optimizing your workflow today.

One of the main ways to mess up the implementation of your cand strategy and not get the value that you’re expecting, i.e. we’re doing better than we were before, is to not look at the data. I see this in team after team. They say they’re doing caman, but all they have is a board with some columns. They don’t have any whip limit, and that’s it. They just have a board with some columns and they call it caman. I’m sorry to say, but that is definitely not enough to be a Canan strategy. It’s just not enough.

One of the key things that they miss out is not looking at the data or using vanity metrics. Oh my goodness me, the vanity metrics coming up my ears! Story points, velocity, burndowns—get rid of all that crap! It’s terrible. It’s not going to help you maximize the flow of value for your customers. It’s not going to help you see what’s going on enough to be able to ask more interesting questions that allow you to change your process in order to optimize it. Those metrics are absolutely not good enough.

In that story, there are four key metrics in cat that you should be looking at. They’re all fairly straightforward, easy to collect. Most of us are using digital tools today, so you effectively only need one piece of data—well, technically two pieces of data—for each piece of work that flows through your system: the date and time when it started and the date and time when it finished. That’s it! Those two pieces of data. If you’re using Jira, if you’re using Azure DevOps, if you’re using Trello, all of that data is collected for you. It’s in there, and you just need to render it in a way that makes sense.

So if it’s started but not finished, it’s part of your working process, right? That’s your whip. If it’s started but not finished, you can also see how old it is—how long it’s been sitting there. That’s work item age. If it’s finished, if it’s crossed that finish line, you know how many items you’ve delivered per unit of time. Right? So over each 30-day period, how many items do we deliver? There you go, we’ve got that number just by virtue of that end date. And if you have the start date and the end date, you also have the cycle time—how long it actually took to deliver each of those items.

Then you can do a bunch of math, which is pretty standardized. You can go or look at a bunch of pieces of information in that, but without that data, you can’t see what’s going on. Right? Transparency, inspection, and adaption—where’s the transparency if you don’t have the data or you decide to look at vanity metrics or metrics that don’t actually provide you with anything actionable? That’s the key. It is the data. What are you doing with the data you’re looking at? How are you changing the way you work based on the outcome of that data?

If you’re not, you’re either not doing it or you’re not looking at the right data because the data is not telling you something that helps you. Stop looking at back data as part of your cband strategy. Stop looking at vanity metrics and improve your process. If you’re struggling to implement a cband strategy, we can help or help you find somebody who can. Click on the link below and get in touch.

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