Podcast appearances and mentions of dan vacanti

Episode 96 - Validation Is Not What You Think It Is by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 97 -Agile Through A Flow Lens by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 98 -You Must Not Fool Yourself by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Dominika Bula: Building Stronger Agile Teams Through Working Agreements And Deliberate Collaboration Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Dominika shares a story about a growing team in a scaling agile environment where new members were joining frequently. This team lacked a proper working agreement, which resulted in disengaged team members who didn't participate fully in daily discussions. Dominika's approach was to help the team start a buddy system for new joiners and ensure that everyone, especially new members, felt heard. She emphasizes the importance of developing a deliberate decision-making model and the need to differentiate between the Definition of Done (DoD) and a team working agreement. Self-reflection Question: Is your team's working agreement fostering participation and inclusion from every member, especially new joiners? Leave your answer in the comments, let's get this conversation started!  Featured Book of the Week: Kanban Pocket Guide by Dan Vacanti Dominika recommends Kanban Pocket Guide by Dan Vacanti as a must-read for anyone interested in improving team flow. It's a concise and practical guide that helps integrate Kanban into Scrum teams by focusing on value and transparency. Dominika appreciates its clarity, specific examples, and how it helps Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches refine their understanding of Kanban to enhance team performance. The guide is also a great resource to revisit regularly. About Dominika Bula Dominika is an Agile Coach at SAP Signavio with a strong background in agile practices from her experiences at Oracle and Red Hat. She is passionate about Kanban and firmly believes that Agile and DevOps are the perfect combination. As a facilitator for the Women in Agile mentorship program, Dominika is dedicated to supporting and nurturing the next generation of agile leaders. You can link with Dominika Bula on LinkedIn.

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. We explore a real-life project that Marcus was part of, and how the #NoEstimates methods he used helped him make predictions, even if did not estimate the work to be done. About Dan Vacanti and Marcus Hammarberg Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of the last years focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He also co-founded ActionableAgile which provides industry leading predictive analytics tools and services to any Lean-Agile process. Dan co-founded ProKanban.org a community focused initiative to help people learn about Kanban. You can link with Dan Vacanti on LinkedIn and connect with Dan Vacanti on Twitter.  Marcus Hammarberg is the author of Salvation: The Bungsu Story (available on Amazon), an inspiring and actionable story about how simple tools can help transform the productivity and impact of an organization. The real-life stories in The Bungsu can help you transform the productivity of your team. Marcus is also a renowned author in the Kanban community, he authored the book Kanban in Action with Joakim Sundén. Head of Curriculum School of applied technology.  You can link with Marcus Hammarberg on LinkedIn and connect with Marcus Hammarberg on Twitter.

Unlock the secrets of efficient workflow management in our latest video! Dive into the world of Agile methodologies as we demystify key concepts like cycle time measurement and the art of right-sizing tasks. Perfect for project managers, Agile enthusiasts, and team leaders, this video is a goldmine of insights and practical advice.

In this episode, hosts Troy Lightfoot and Andy Cleff sit down with Prateek Singh and Dan Vacanti about the new book "Scaling Simplified ." which can be currently found on Leanpub and Amazon. It challenges many common assumptions about "Scaling Agile" and teaches techniques for simplifying scaling by focusing on flow. Resources Mentioned:     About the Agile Uprising   If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a review a rating, or leave comments on iTunes, Stitcher or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps others find us.   Many thanks to the artist from who provided us our outro music free of charge!   If you like what you heard, check out these links to find more music you might enjoy! If you'd like to join the discussion and share your stories,  please jump into the fray at our We at the Agile Uprising are committed to being free.  However, we have a if you'd like to contribute and help us defray hosting and production costs.  Who knows, you might even get some surprises in the mail!

In this episode, host Troy Lightfoot sits down with Dan Vacanti and Prateek Singh about the new book "" which can be currently found on Leanpub.  7 years Later, with the help of Prateek, Dan released the follow-up to his book Actional Agile Metrics for Predictability. It challenges many common assumptions about "Agile" and teaches techniques for understanding variation for process improvement, forecasting, and avoiding common mistakes. It's also a deep dive into flow metrics. Resources Mentioned: About the Agile Uprising If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a review a rating, or leave comments on iTunes, Stitcher or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps others find us.  Many thanks to the artist  from  who provided us our outro music free of charge!  If you like what you heard,     to find more music you might enjoy! If you'd like to join the discussion and share your stories,  please jump into the fray at our  We at the Agile Uprising are committed to being free.  However, we have a Patreon if you'd like to contribute and help us defray hosting and production costs.  Who knows, you might even get some surprises in the mail!  

BONUS: Mastering the Art of Forecasting, Prioritization Paradigms and Flow Metrics with Troy Lightfoot Agile Planning Insights From The Gambler's Ruin Thought Experiment Troy, in this Agile Uprising podcast episode, delves into his intriguing journey in the realm of forecasting and estimation for software development. Inspired by that episode, we discuss the concept of Gambler's Ruin, a mathematical problem turned into a game. Troy shares the main insights from Gambler's Ruin and mentions Prateek Singh of ProKanban.org who has used this concept to demonstrate that even a slight skill advantage can lead to success when focusing product development on what Troy calls “Small Bets”  Small bets and impact on prioritization Small bets relate to the implications of spending money on a product idea. It's not just an expense; it's an investment with an anticipated return on investment (ROI). The crucial question arises: how do we strategically place these bets in product development? Here, Troy exposes the fallacy of assuming we can determine value upfront. We also discuss the concept of anti-fragility and highlight how many processes are inadvertently designed to be fragile. In this context, the size of the bet correlates with cycle time, and "time" itself becomes the bet's magnitude. As Annie Duke advocates in her book "Thinking in Bets," small bets bolster resilience, while large bets can lead to vulnerability. Essential flow metrics and their significance How do we know we are making small bets? Troy sheds light on the pivotal flow metrics that software development teams should diligently track. He explains the relationship between Work In Progress (WIP) and cycle time, referring to Little's law formula. And he introduces work item age as a metric that can help predict WIP and Cycle time, which gives teams a tangible representation of their current investment. This metric aids in decision-making and fosters a more effective approach to forecasting. Rethinking traditional prioritization techniques In the podcast, Troy advocates for a paradigm shift in prioritization practices. He highlights that the more time spent prioritizing work, the larger the bet size (planning time directly affects bet size). Drawing from the wisdom of Don Reinertsen and the principles outlined in the book "Principles of Product Development Flow," he stresses the intrinsic cost associated with all work undertaken. Aligning individuals and teams on priorities is essential, yet the priority itself may hold uncertainty. To aid teams in this endeavor, Troy discusses the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) framework, and how it offers a pragmatic approach to prioritize tasks based on contributing factors. However, prioritization is directly affected by dependencies, which means that eliminating dependencies becomes a critical step towards making smaller, more manageable bets. For example, by segregating dependencies, teams can significantly reduce bet sizes and enhance predictability. In this episode, Troy elucidates how conventional prioritization techniques can inadvertently hinder forecasting and predictability. He provides insights into alternative approaches that foster adaptability and more accurate forecasts. Resource recommendation For those eager to dive deeper into the world of Agile metrics and predictability, Troy recommends Dan Vacanti's book, "Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability," as an invaluable resource. About Troy Lightfoot Troy is a Lean Product Development Coach and trainer for ProKanban.Org. He coaches and trains Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe and other Agile Scaling approaches. Troy transitioned from computer science to full-time Agile coaching, specializing in Lean Portfolio and Program Management. He is also a co-founder of the Agile Uprising Podcast, and an active blogger. For further insights into Troy's work and methodologies, visit ProKanbanTraining.com and explore the Agile Uprising podcast. Additionally, you can delve deeper into Troy's teachings at ProKanban.org.

In their conversation, Todd and Ryan discussed some self-study resources for Flow Metrics and Evidence-Based Management (EBM). They suggested starting with their YouTube channel's EBM series and reading Dan Vacanti's book "When Will It Be Done" for a comprehensive dive into Flow Metrics. ProKanban.org was recommended for further information on Flow Metrics and Kanban. They also suggested visiting scrum.org for webinars, white papers, and other resources on EBM. Todd and Ryan hinted that there may be more resources for EBM. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! ⏩ Join Ryan and Todd for a Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc Todd and Ryan also co-authored a book - Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems.

Daniel Vacanti, one of the instrumental founders of Kanban (), chats with hosts  and  about agile metrics, Little's Law, the one metric that matters most, and the one that doesn't matter at all. Like the work, we are doing? today Books Videos / Websites   Contact Twitter: LinkedIn:

Is having a Definition of Ready really such a bad idea? Dan asked Todd and Ryan to re-think whether or not a DoR could make sense for a Scrum and Kanban team. Let's go ahead and explore the options this situation presents. This and more are discussed in today's episode of Your Daily Scrum with Todd Miller, Dan Vacanti, and Ryan Ripley. ⏩ Join Ryan and Todd for a Scrum.org's course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc

We recently attended the Agile2022 conference put on by the Agile Alliance and wanted to share our conversations with a few of the speakers and attendees. This episode is a conversation with Dan Vacanti, an author and speaker in the product development world, and Chris Shinkle, SEP's Director of Innovation. We asked Dan some follow-up questions to expand on his talk from earlier in the conference. To illustrate how we interpret data, Dan used a story about Wilt Chamberlin's record breaking total points in a single basketball game. Dan emphasizes that all data have noise and it's easy to mistake noise for signal.Note: The audio for this is not our normal in studio quality, so thanks for bearing with us.You can find more information about this podcast at sep.com/podcast and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Creating proper flow in your product development is hard. Applying proper metrics might just give you that nudge that you need in order to open up the lines to delivery of value. But where to start? There are so many sources that suggest different things! Will Seele joins Sander to discuss his and Dan Vacanti's new book: Flow Metrics for Scrum Teams.  What you'll discover in this show:-        It's easy to apply the first metrics -       Failing isn't bad at all, it creates resilience  -      Will's stance on the KanBan vs Scrum debate Speakers: Wilbert Seele I will help you thrive in uncertaintyMy focus areas include organizational and behavioral design as well as Evidence-Based Management. I've been involved in several major transformations in sectors such as banking, insurance, and marketing, and these days I'm often asked to provide a 'second opinion on the quality of product development and delivery organizations. Besides this, I'm a Professional Scrum Trainer for Scrum.org and a Professional Kanban Trainer with Prokanban.org.Contact Will:https://www.linkedin.com/in/wjseele/  Sander Dur (host)Scrum Master, Agile Coach, trainer, and podcast host for ‘Mastering Agility”Sander Dur is a Professional Scrum Trainer at Scrum.org, podcast host of Mastering Agility, Professional Scrum Master and Lead Agile Consultant, and trainer at Xebia. Besides this, he's an avid writer for predominantly Serious Scrum on Medium.com. Sander has a major passion for the human side in complex domains. Ensuring a high level of psychological safety, therefore, is a critical part of his work. Organizations in complex domains can only survive when innovating. Innovation can only take place with the right balance between low social friction and high intellectual friction. While most organizations now understand how to apply Agile frameworks, they struggle with the delivery of value. Psychological safety is the next step in this evolution and Sander has a huge drive to help organizations reach that step. Sander is enthusiastic, open-minded, and ambitious. He finds interpersonal relationships and intrinsic motivations very important in team dynamics. Besides his work, Sander loves to spend time with his family, enjoys sports and eating healthy, barbecuing, riding his motorcycle, and traveling.  Let's connect! Sander is always up for new connections and discussions! Masteringagility.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanderdur/ https://xebia.com/academy/nl/trainers/sander-dur https://sander-dur.medium.com/ Additional resources: https://prokanban.org/scrum-flow-metrics/ https://agileforhumans.com/ Lost Connections - Johann HarriDiscord community: https://discord.gg/6YJamBJxUVSupport the show

This episode features Troy Lightfoot who is a Business Agility Coach and Consultant as well as a Professional Kanban Trainer. The interview starts with a discussion about the basic differences between Scrum and Kanban and then digs into four of the metrics recommended in the Kanban Guide. We cover WIP, Throughput, Work Item Age, and Cycle Time, talking through what each of these is, the value these metrics provide, why they are so much more valuable than simply looking at something like velocity, and what these metrics can do to help you develop a better level of predicting when work is likely to finish and how they can show you and your team ways to identify and address the things that are holding you back from delivering value for your client. Troy also has a few ProKanban Certification classes coming up. In the back half of the interview, he explains what to expect if you sign up for a Professional Kanban 1 (PK1) Certification class or his Applying Metrics for Predictability (AMP) Certification class. Troy's Classes Professional Kanban 1 (PK1) Certification June 23-24, 2022 https://bit.ly/3HmV1Ug Applying Metrics for Predictability (AMP) Certification July 21-22, 2022 https://bit.ly/3zxZOk2 Links from the Podcast ProKanban.org https://prokanban.org The Kanban Guide https://kanbanguides.org My interview with Troy Magennis on Probabilistic Forecasting https://bit.ly/3tDUW9b My interview with Colleen Johnson on ProKanban and ProKanban Certification https://bit.ly/3NUN6Ac Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability by Dan Vacanti https://amzn.to/3tAVeh7 When Will it Be Done by Dan Vacanti https://amzn.to/3NUjrqR Contacting Troy Email: troylightfoot@gmail.com

BONUS: The psychology of communicating data with Dan Vacanti About Dan Vacanti Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of the last years focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He also co-founded ActionableAgile which provides industry leading predictive analytics tools and services to any Lean-Agile process. Dan co-founded ProKanban.org a community focused initiative to help people learn about Kanban. You can link with Dan Vacanti on LinkedIn and connect with Dan Vacanti on Twitter.  Dan also hosts his own podcast, DrunkAgile. Check out Dan Vacanti's books on Amazon.

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. We explore a real-life project that Marcus was part of, and how the #NoEstimates methods he used helped him make predictions, even if did not estimate the work to be done. About Dan Vacanti and Marcus Hammarberg Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of the last years focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He also co-founded ActionableAgile which provides industry leading predictive analytics tools and services to any Lean-Agile process. Dan co-founded ProKanban.org a community focused initiative to help people learn about Kanban. You can link with Dan Vacanti on LinkedIn and connect with Dan Vacanti on Twitter.  Marcus Hammarberg is the author of Salvation: The Bungsu Story (available on Amazon), an inspiring and actionable story about how simple tools can help transform the productivity and impact of an organization. The real-life stories in The Bungsu can help you transform the productivity of your team. Marcus is also a renowned author in the Kanban community, he authored the book Kanban in Action with Joakim Sundén. Head of Curriculum School of applied technology.  You can link with Marcus Hammarberg on LinkedIn and connect with Marcus Hammarberg on Twitter.

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. We explore a real-life project that Marcus was part of, and how the #NoEstimates methods he used helped him make predictions, even if did not estimate the work to be done. About Dan Vacanti and Marcus Hammarberg Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of the last years focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He also co-founded ActionableAgile which provides industry leading predictive analytics tools and services to any Lean-Agile process. Dan co-founded ProKanban.org a community focused initiative to help people learn about Kanban. You can link with Dan Vacanti on LinkedIn and connect with Dan Vacanti on Twitter.  Marcus Hammarberg is the author of Salvation: The Bungsu Story (available on Amazon), an inspiring and actionable story about how simple tools can help transform the productivity and impact of an organization. The real-life stories in The Bungsu can help you transform the productivity of your team. Marcus is also a renowned author in the Kanban community, he authored the book Kanban in Action with Joakim Sundén. Head of Curriculum School of applied technology.  You can link with Marcus Hammarberg on LinkedIn and connect with Marcus Hammarberg on Twitter.

In episode 1 of Drunk Agile, Dan Vacanti and Prateek Singh explore the problems with using story points for estimation. We try some whisky and talk agile software development.

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website. This episode starts with a story of a team that was asked to “improve their velocity”. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when Scrum is used as a method to get the teams to “go faster” without thinking about the larger consequences of Agile adoption.  In this episode, we talk about the Rational Unified Process, a process developed in the 90’s that ultimately re-enforced the waterfall anti-patterns in organizations. In this episode, we also refer to the work by Dan Vacanti and Troy Magennis.    About Leland Newson Leland is a SAFe Release Train Engineer and servant leader who is passionate about helping improve the work environment and helping teams uncover better ways to development software. He focuses on collaboration, shortening feedback loops, improving the flow of work through the system and increasing the team’s adaptability so they can quickly respond to changes and satisfy customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. You can link with Leland Newson on LinkedIn and connect with Leland Newson on Twitter.

Joe Krebs speaks with Daniel Vacanti about the Scrum and Kanban communities and the importance of predictability and what this means in terms of empirical process control. Back in 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban method for knowledge work. He is the author of “When Will It Be Done?” and “Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability”.

Free (Brand New) Kanban Poster:https://www.incrementor.com/agile-poster-series

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website. Christian has been thinking hard about the question of what success means for Scrum Masters. He describes how the role of the Scrum Master must have a “risk” perspective, and be about minimizing risk. In this episode, we discuss what that may mean for Scrum Masters and what practices help with that goal. Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Flow Retrospective Christian shares his idea on “The Flow Retrospective”, which describes and illustrates how Agile software development can help teams reach much higher productivity and predictability. In this retrospective, Christian helps the team analyze and understand flow metrics to help them make better decisions.  In this segment, we refer to Actionable agile metrics from Dan Vacanti and The #NoEstimates book by Vasco Duarte.   About Christian Hofstetter Christian is an enthusiastic Release Train Engineer, Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, and Facilitator who started his agile journey as a Product Owner. Later he turned his back on technology and focused on people and relationships. He is passionate about creating space for people and teams to be the best they can be. You can link with Christian Hofstetter on LinkedIn.

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website.  You only know a good team when they are under pressure. It’s easy to “follow the process” if you have a lot of time, and little pressure. However, as a Scrum Master, you know you’ve done good work when the team sticks to the process (and even improves it) when they are under pressure. I advocate using self-imposed pressure to get better, I’ve written and recorded a video about that based on my own experience as a runner. The same is true in your work as a Scrum Master!  Featured Book of the Week: Agile Actionable Metrics For Predictability by Dan Vacanti In Agile Actionable Metrics For Predictability by Dan Vacanti, Darren found the inspiration to start using and learning from metrics. It also got Darren started on Probabilistic Forecasting, a method he uses regularly.  In this segment, we also refer to Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen, and to Scrum Mastery, but Geoff Watts. Both Diana Larsen and Geoff Watts have been guests here on the Scrum Master Toolbox podcast.    About Darren Smith Darren, aka the Naked Scrum Master, has been helping teams and organizations be better than they were by exposing dysfunction and helping people to remove obstacles from their path so they can be happier and more fulfilled in their working lives. You can link with Darren Smith on LinkedIn and connect with Darren Smith on Twitter.   

Trying to figure out when you will be ready to ship is incredibly challenging. Many Scrum teams track historic velocity, or story points completed in a Sprint, and then use the average number of points completed per Sprint as a way of making an educated guess as to when they could deliver when they’d expect to deliver a certain number of story points in the future. There are, however, many who feel that this approach is no better than just making a completely random guess, and there is evidence to support the value in taking a different approach. In this episode of The Reluctant Agilist, Troy Lightfoot explains his approach to Probabilistic Forecasting, what it is, why it matters, and how it is a better way of planning than using a more traditional approach. Books Recommended In the Podcast: Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability - Dan Vacanti https://amzn.to/2HT1zfe When will it be done? - Dan Vacanti https://leanpub.com/whenwillitbedone Principle of Product of Development Flow - Don Reinterson https://amzn.to/2M989DD Tools mentioned in the podcast: Throughput and cycle time calculator:  http://focusedobjective.com/free-tools-resources/ Actionable Agile http://actionableagile.com Agile Uprising Agile Uprising http://agileuprising.com Contacting Troy Twitter: https://twitter.com/g4stroy Web: http://agileuprising.com/bod/troy-lightfoot/ http://www.cookingandketones.com

Dan Vacanti - Rightsizing I met Dan years and years ago in my active time in the Kanban community. Dan was part of the very beginning of Kanban in 2007! Since then he’s been deep into Lean and Agile. Dan authored two books, "Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability“ and "When will it be done?“. He is also the founder of Actionable Agile. Dan always had his independent thought. Most of all, he is a builder of bridges. He worked hard with Scrum.org on integrating the good ideas of Scrum and Kanban. Also, he organises the conference LeanAgile US which just happened from 25 -27 Feb 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Possibly most noteworthy, Dan's twitter Avatar is not the usual egg provided by twitter, but a self made picture of an egg.  Here excerpts of our conversation as a loose transcript. don't take it word by word, please! Show Notes:  The underlying idea for all of us is to maximise customer value. Cost of Delay is a tool suggested as basis for ranking, prioritising and sequencing on a more objective base rather than gut feel. Hopefully based on basic economic fundamentals.  An extension of that is WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First), which is defined by CD3= CoD / Duration. This is meant to give a shortcut to give an answer to which number does this item have in the sequence of things to be done.  But here's the caveat: It is critical enough to get the number for duration right (how long does this take to be done? - The Estimate!). But the even more critical question is: "how do we even get the number for the value of the thing we are building?"  This is where my research started, but "Let me be honest with you, and this is just me talking, nothing I found was practical or applicable in my world.“ "More importantly, I felt there we’re a whole bunch of assumptions going into this CoD number that didn’t reflect reality.“  "Let’s focus this discussion on the area of complex product development work. And we try to get that number even before start working on something. Which, by definition, is when we have the highest amount of uncertainty. And this is what struck me: How can this CoD number give us the right answer? And that’s were I started my investigation.“  Customers will always be able to ask things from us faster than we will be able to deliver them.  There are fundamental assumptions in CoD to be in place for that to make sense.  When there is uncertainty involved, we need a probabilistic approach. That means, we have to work with ranges. That means we have to think about CoD as a distribution across that range. The same is true for the duration.  Those two assumptions are not fatal. There are mathematical tools like Monte Carlo simulation that help us to come up with an answer.  BUT: If you are in a world, where you no the numbers, then CoD/D = CD3 gives you the right number. If you do not know these numbers, once you deliver the thing, these numbers could be completely different.  So now CoD can change and as well duration can change. When you now run a Monte Carlo simulation, you will realise that this is not the best tool once uncertainty sets in.  The best answer in this world is to do things by random sequencing. What matters is: right sizing items. What that means is, we need to break things up to a size where they reasonable flow through our system. So, CoD doesn’t make a difference. Duration doesn’t make a difference. What makes a difference is right sizing your items.  This flies in the face of what’s lately been said in agile, where there is a lot of talk about outcomes over output. And what we found out is that it’s actually the other way around: It’s output over outcomes. It’s the output that generates the outcome. A metaphor here is gambling, where you would place as many small bets as possible to generate outcome.  „We’re coming back to a fundamental principle of Lean, which is that value is defined by the customer.“ What is the smallest thing that we could feedback on from the customer?  Links: Dan Vacanti on Twitter ActionableAgile, Dan's company ActionableAgile Analytics, the tool that Dan's company builds and sells Lean Agile US, Dan's conference, each February  Books: "Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability" by Dan  "When will it be done?" by Dan  

“Any measurement system can be gamed. However, if I had you game a system, I would want you to game it in getting things done faster” - Daniel Vacanti What is Flow? Is Flow project management just a fluke, yet another mantra in management? What are the core Lean performance metrics and what do they mean? In this episode of the Lamp, we asked Daniel Vacanti, a renown Kanban thought leader and CEO of Actionable Agile ™ what Kanban Flow is and what kind of Lean metrics there are to measure it. Welcome to LAMP - Lean Agile Management Podcast, a show by Kanbanize where some of the brightest minds in Lean Agile management talk about how leaders can boost work efficiency, create a culture of high performance, and build teams that thrive. LAMP is available on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. The Show The Interview Summary In this episode of Lean Agile Management Podcast, Daniel Vacanti defines the three core metrics of Kanban: Cycle Time Throughput Work In Progress and explains how they connect to the concept of Flow and Lean project management. Below you can find some of the key points from the interview. What is Flow and what metrics can we use to measure it? Dan explains what Flow is and shows that establishing a Lean Flow creates the environment that helps us answer the two key questions of workflow management that usually disturb the peace of mind of every project manager: When will it be done? How many tasks can we get done by X date? Stop estimating. Start measuring what matters. Establishing Flow is all about building a reliable system for work processing. Establishing the Flow is the key to being able to give a statistically significant answer to the two questions above. With Flow metrics, you don’t need to guess or estimate when work on a project will be done. The Flow metrics give you hard data on the productivity, efficiency, and reliability of your production process. Lean manufacturing metrics are just as relevant for knowledge work Some managers dismiss cycle time, throughput and WIP, the Lean metrics that stand behind the idea of Flow in Kanban, because of their origins in the manufacturing industry. They say these Lean metrics are not suitable for modern knowledge work environment. However, Dan Vacanti insists that managing Kanban flow is about delivering value. The Lean metrics help you capture the health of that process, and that is relevant in every context. These metrics serve 2 purposes and both are universally valuable: Track the health of the process Establish predictability of the process Analysing cycle time, throughput and WIP data of your workflow set the foundation for measuring the efficiency of our workflow. Having this data, you can clearly say how much time work items spend in your production process and looking deeper into that, you can learn even more. What is causing bottlenecks in the workflow and where do we waste time? These are the questions you’ll be able to answer. The dangers of concentrating on just one metric of Flow You get what you measure, so be careful not to put too much stress on any one metric. Getting the wrong stuff faster doesn’t help. Don’t optimize your workflow for just one metric and don’t set just one metric of operational level as a key KPI. Even more importantly, Lean Flow metrics are not to be used for sub-optimizing for individual performance. That has a negative impact on both the process and employee morale. Instead, make sure every measurement of success in your workflow contributes towards the answer to this question: what is the main problem that we are trying to solve? Flow thinking is all about the value. Common mistakes and misinterpretations of Flow management. Not understanding the impact of WIP management on Flow Capacity utilization - using up 100% of capacity is counterproductive, despite common thinking Counterintuitive measures - in order to get more stuff done,