How can I apply Kanban "optics" (seeing and understanding work differently) to make better decisions? The accessible keys to Kanban success: the Lens (seeing work, workflow, knowledge work and organisations differently) and the decision filters (emphasising value and flow over waste and scale; finishing over starting, trust over control, action over analysis). They’re succinct memoranda of Kanban power! A key to successfully applying the Kanban method is to see work in a different light - to see it through the Kanban lens, and to filter decision-making for Lean working (the Lean Decision Filter) and improved business agility (the Agile Decision Filter). The Kanban Lens, as well as the Lean and Agile Decision Filters, have been part of the Kanban body of knowledge for several years, but they are not well known, and recent developments, particularly the Kanban Maturity Model, shows the need for a good understanding of these fundamentals. The lens and decision filters provide a concise and memorable framework for examining the way we look at work, workflow, knowledge work and organisation, and how decision-making can be focused on value-creation and pro-active innovation. This talk explains these key ideas, that bring to life the essence of the Kanban Method.

2. I teach Kanban!

4. Some themes:
• Seeing is …? Why optics? Why explanations won’t do
• Lean isn’t primarily about waste (but customer-value)
• Agile isn’t primarily methodology (but context and learning by doing)
• Kanban isn’t primarily about doing differently (but seeing differently)
• Work as flow
• Workflow as knowledge discovery
• Knowledge work as a service
• Organisations as networks of services
• The power… and the problem… with optics

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

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2009
Mehta, M., Anderson, D. J., & Raffo, D. (2008). Providing value to customers in
software development through lean principles. Softw. Process: Improve.
Pract. , 13 (1 ), 101-109. https://doi.org/10.1002/spip.367

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http://agilemanifesto.org/ (2001)
2001

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2009

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Fast Forward. Julian Birkinshaw, Jonas Ridderstråle. (2017)
Learn by doing, by
failing, by doing…

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13. The Origin of Wealth, Eric D Beinhocker (2007)

14. Change your
viewpoint
Start
from here
Visualise…
…Improve!

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2013
2017

18. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-
SA

24. Are you busy?
See 1!

26. Discovery Development Validation DeploymentAnalysts Developers Testers Operations

27. Discovery Development Validation DeploymentActivity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4

34. Multiple
Services

37. Seeing is believing…
Believing is seeing

38. Captain! Klingons
(on the starboard
bow) are trying to
change the shape of
our ears…
Engage force field…
prepare to launch
torpedos…
Illogical
captain!

39. Haidt, Jonathan. 2012. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People
are Divided by Politics and Religion

40. BMC Ecology, 2011. Flickr: Interactions of Malayatelura ponerophila with Leptogenys
distinguenda host workers (Ant Colony). https://commons.wikimedia.org
Co-evolution of individuals and of groups …

41. You should be
going over here!
You should be
going over here!
However elephants can be
influenced by other friendly
elephants! Jonathan Haidt

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45. Physical book available
from Amazon and other
booksellers. PDF can be
downloaded from
leankanban.com/guide
Template can be
downloaded from
goo.gl/Ho5nz8!