#166 - The Kanban Guide You Should Know About - Colleen Johnson

Tech Lead Journal

“Kanban is a strategy for optimizing the flow of value to your customers by focusing on three main goals: efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability."

Colleen Johnson is the CEO of ProKanban, and in this episode, we delve into the fundamentals of Kanban and how you can use it to optimize your workflow. We start by defining Kanban and exploring its core principles. You’ll learn why work item age is the single most important aspect you should track in Kanban. Colleen then explains the concept of Service Level Expectation (SLE) and how it can improve predictability and client satisfaction. We also discuss the importance of smaller batch sizes, defining workflow policies, handling blockers, and the benefits of completing already started work items to optimize flow.

We also touch on scaling Kanban beyond an individual team and discuss why Kanban is suitable for navigating unpredictable situations like the current economic climate. Towards the end, Colleen shares Women in Kanban, a community and scholarship programme to empower women to excel in Kanban.

Listen out for:

• Career Journey - [00:01:18]
• Kanban - [00:04:24]
• Work Item Age - [00:04:59]
• Calculating Work Item Age - [00:10:20]
• Small Batch Size - [00:13:08]
• Service Level Expectation (SLE) - [00:16:54]
• Managing Blockers - [00:21:05]
• Stop Pulling More, Finish Open Work Items - [00:24:46]
• Optimizing Flow - [00:28:14]
• Scaling Kanban Beyond a Team - [00:30:17]
• Kanban in the Current Tough Time - [00:34:37]
• Tools to Get Started - [00:37:21]
• Women in Kanban - [00:39:33]
• Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:45]

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Colleen Johnson’s Bio
Colleen is the CEO of ProKanban.org, an inclusive Kanban learning community. She is also co-founder of ScatterSpoke, a proud Atlassian Ventures Portfolio company driving actionable improvements through retrospective data. She has presented and taught agile to audiences around the world. As a coach, she has worked across a range of industries with clients like Wells Fargo, eTrade, Home Depot, Tanium, Gemini, and more. Colleen helps organizations apply a systems thinking approach to aligning agile methodologies end-to-end. She has served as a board member for Agile Denver, the Agile Uprising, and chair of the Mile High Agile Conference. She is happiest in the woods, camping with her three kids and very patient husband.

Follow Colleen:

• LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/colleen-johnson/
• Twitter – @scrumhive
• Threads – @colleenrae.j
• ProKanban – prokanban.org
• Women in Kanban – https://prokanban.org/women-in-kanban/

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