Learning is the new currency. Practices and processes will come and go; only the
wise survive. If you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, Kanban nor
Lean, nor any other cool new thing will deliver the maximum benefit. And if you’re
not learning, you’ll never know what you’re missing.
When I talk to teams struggling with Kanban and Lean implementations, I find many
similarities. Some typical responses I hear:
Hear any common themes? These teams don’t have a clear outcome or purpose for
adopting Kanban. It looked cool, something previous wasn’t working, or someone
told them to do it – all extremely effective ways to NOT get the maximum value out
of Kanban.
In each of these cases, when I refocused the team on learning, perspectives changed.
Asking the following question changed their focus.
How are you using Kanban to learn about: The product you’re building? The project?
The technology? The domain? The users? The market? The delivery? Your team?
And Improvement?
During this talk we will explore (or re-explore) why you are using the tools and
processes you are using. Did you make a wise choice or just pick the latest flavor
of the month? Brace yourself for a high-impact, interactive, and introspective
rediscovering of your first love: No, not Kanban… your brain.
