Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development

Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development - Kindle edition by Corey Ladas. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC .
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Corey Ladas offers a gentle, conversational, and opinionated introduction to kanban and pull systems in Scrumban. As Bas Vodde notes the title's a little misleading - but if you come from a Scrum background and you're encountering these ideas for the first time, it makes a lot of sense, because Corey introduces a continuum of possible software process outlines, explaining each evolution and the reasons for it. I enjoyed this book because it's clear, it takes a stand, and Corey clearly states what's his opinion based on his experience.

I don't agree with all of it - in particular I have trouble with the feature-brigade ideas at the end - but for walking through the basics of kanban and pull systems, focused on real workflows and not abstract theory, you can't beat it. It's short, concise, and well targeted to anyone who's already familiar with the ideas of Scrum and XP. Anyone who's doing Scrum should come to understand these ideas, to have greater insight into how their process is working, even if they don't implement them.

They're useful thinking tools. You NEED background in agile software development to make sense of this book, though. One of the biggest risks with an approach like this - one you -need- to mitigate - is promoting silos and handoffs, after all the work other agile methods have done to break down the walls. Corey notes this in passing - that you want to map the workflow of the work but avoid siloing people into activity boxes - but I worry he doesn't make this clear enough.

This book can be very interesting had Mr. Ladas hired an editor. In its current state it seems to be a stream of consciousness, without any logic or structure and is very hard to follow. Sentences do not connect to each other, paragraphs are broken in odd places and context switching make this book a difficult read. This is too bad, since the content has the potential of providing excellent value. This book was my introduction to Kanban. Coming from a Scrum background it was really easy to understand how Kanban could make a difference and how the combination of the two approaches could bring added value to a team with the right maturity level in Scrum.

One person found this helpful 2 people found this helpful. It reads like a mathematical and academic analysis of kanban. It might be valuable to those with a lot of experience in Kanban, but it's also very dry and sometimes sanctimonious, making it a hard read. One person found this helpful. This book is very interesting but in my personal opinion need more practical examples. Nevertheless I have enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. More philosophical and dive to the roots and history of lean. Got couple of ideas anyway from it. Corey Ladas applies lean thinking to software development and, in general it is a good thought experiment.

I like a lot what is in there and it helps me think through the things I need to say to my clients.

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But I have two big "howevers". First, why is every kanban and lean thinking book, this included, trying to compare software development to Toyota's manufacturing line? There isn't much overlap between software development and a manufacturing line except the unfortunate terms we use. Software development is all design, even coding is designing instructions for a compiler. The question shouldn't be how we do workflow in a manufacturing line but how do we do design and scale it.

Fred Brooks recent book, the Design of Design, has important stuff on that.

Scrumban - Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development (Modus Cooperandi Lean)

Second is where do these nifty roughly equally sized work items for kanban come from? There is little to no discussion in this book and many other software kanban books where those wonderful work items come from. Most of my clients have these big feature ideas which take months to years to create with teams of 30 and I need a "feature" that is two weeks or less of work?

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Where did that come from? Who did that design? Ladas does a fair job if you accept the two big "however" areas. This book is not for new people just trying to understand scrum and lean. It has a ton on insider references that can throw you off track if you are not familiar with them. Heck, I had to look up a few items and I am pretty well read. If you are a seasoned Scrum coach or aged methodologist, this book will give you good food for thought. Just keep the "howevers" in mind. See all 9 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published on February 15, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.

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Scrumban - Essays On Kanban Systems For Lean Software Development by Ladas, Corey

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Scrumban - Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. View or edit your browsing history. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Not Enabled Word Wise: Not Enabled Screen Reader: ScrumBan the book provides a series of essays that give practitioners the background needed to create more robust practices combining the best of agile and lean.

Published January 12th by Modus Cooperandi Press first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Scrumban , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Sep 17, Matt rated it it was ok.


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Presented here are a number of essays on lean software. Less an introduction to the concept, the book is more musings with a theme. That said, there are introductions to some of the aspects of Kanban and how they are being applied to software after their original application to manufacturing. Also included are thoughts on the best ways to do things in a Kanban system - the proper layout of the big board, how big a team the system and variations on the system can support, how small a portion Presented here are a number of essays on lean software. Also included are thoughts on the best ways to do things in a Kanban system - the proper layout of the big board, how big a team the system and variations on the system can support, how small a portion of work should be to keep things moving.

Most of these concepts are built upon in a "try it, see what works, adjust, see what improves" manner. That said, without some experience with software development systems going in, this book may be incomprehensible. Too often, terms are defined many pages after they're used and the author sometimes takes for granted that his audience has instant access to some knowlege that they may not.

Essentially, as a series of linkified blog posts, this would be much easier to read, but as a published work, editing in some exposition might have made this easier reading. Jan 16, Robert Postill rated it liked it Shelves: I feel bad in some ways for this book. It came just after reading the Kanban book and also the rspec book. So when I picked this book up I was looking forward to stretching my legs intellectually. Sadly, this book wasn't what I wanted. Some I feel bad in some ways for this book. Some of the analogies seemed well-worn too coffee-cup kanban example I'm looking at you.

As an aside, please, if you're writing a book about Kanban don't take any more pictures of the post-it notes! I get tokens but it makes it hard to read the damn tokens with your photography. Just do a diagram and have done. It did help clarify some of my thinking on Kanban but was it worth the effort? Apr 07, Christophe Addinquy rated it really liked it Recommends it for: This book is short, but the content is not.

Many people spoke about merging Scrum and Kanban looking at this book. But this is not the purpose of the text. It's all about the nature of agile, about how to move the development model while the team maturity progress. The whole book is in fact a compilation of blog post, but it's worth reading!

Nov 23, David Snook rated it really liked it. For a small book, it is surprisingly packed with software development process insights. It is also surprisingly applicable even nine years after it was published, which I partially attribute to how early the author was applying Lean concepts to software development while everyone else was just starting to pick up on Scrum.

A self-professed software "methodology geek", the author is not a process snob but instead takes an eclectic approach and shows how various approaches can be mixed-and-match For a small book, it is surprisingly packed with software development process insights. A self-professed software "methodology geek", the author is not a process snob but instead takes an eclectic approach and shows how various approaches can be mixed-and-matched depending on the situation.

I expect that I will spend some time tracking down the other intriguing allusions and references to other process approaches that I had never even heard of before, as I am reminded that no one approach has the perfect solution in every circumstance and there is value in a diversity of perspectives.

Mar 12, Nathalie Karasek rated it it was ok Shelves: I was looking forward to reading this book as I was expecting some insight on how to combine scrum and kanban. I am now rather disappointed.

The book is just a bunch of articles that I would rather expect to read on a blog. Some interesting things have been mentioned but to be honest I did not really understand some parts of it. That is not a pleasant readin I was looking forward to reading this book as I was expecting some insight on how to combine scrum and kanban. That is not a pleasant reading experience. I am still happy that I read through it, but well also somewhat disappointed Feb 29, Kevin rated it it was amazing Shelves: For those of you that have felt that Scrum was just a touch childish, this is definitely a perfect read.

Scrumban - Essays On Kanban Systems For Lean Software Development

This books describes a "second generation" of Agile development processes, using Scrum as a foundation for evolution. This book assumes detailed knowledge of Scrum, and at least a passing knowledge of Lean principles don't expect to find a definition of "Kanban" in here ; however, this just lets you get on with the important bit: The read is quite quick, although there are definitely areas that are worth a second or third read. Oct 30, Alejandro rated it liked it Shelves: Scrumban was on my reading list for some time.

The book offers some tips and some useful approaches that can be experimented with software development teams and is a useful resource for team members interested in applying the Kanban Method.