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As an industrial engineer, this is the equivalent of a developer walking into a factory and hearing about how "the mythical man-month" is a terrible book/idea b

As an industrial engineer, this is the equivalent of a developer walking into a factory and hearing about how "the mythical man-month" is a terrible book/idea because it allows for waste. Right. The Mythical Man-Month is a great book/concept for creative/engineering projects. Kanban is a wonderful way of implementing a Just-In-Time manufacturing system. Props to the OP for explaining the origin of kanban. May this post help fix the co-opting of an IE term for something totally different.

bdehaaff 13y ago
I appreciate that. I really do. It's rare to receive an ounce of props on HN. I must admit that I was totally surprised to learn that it was not designed for software development and that the author of the Lean Methodology has been trying to convince folks to stop using it.
- agileramblings 13y ago
  What do you mean the author of the Lean Methodology has been trying to stop folks from using it? Are you suggesting David Anderson wants us to stop using Kanban for Knowledge Work?
  - bernardom 13y ago
    From TFA: David Anderson, the creator of The Kanban Method (discussed above) wrote the following in late 2010. “Kanban is NOT a software development life cycle or project management methodology! It is not a way of making software or running projects that make software!”
    - agileramblings 13y ago
      Unfortunately, the tendency to overload terms with multiple meanings is confusing the situation. It is very common for the word kanban to be used incorrectly because there are three commonly confused meanings for the word. kanban - visual signal, signboard kanban system - pull-based, wip limited flow management system Kanban Method - an approach to incremental, evolutionary process and systems change for organizations So yes, the Kanban Method is not an SDLC method. It is a meta-method that will allow for the emergence of an appropriate SDLC within an organization. That SDLC may be Agile (very good things in Agile mindset), may be waterfall, may be Scrum or Scrumban-ish, but it should be appropriate for then context. Please refer to this wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development) You don't see any SDLC specific tactics or guidance in there. That is true. You don't see any Agile language in there. It doesn't provide any specific Agile guidance. Does the Agile Manifesto have any specific SDLC tactics? Please refer to http://www.agilemanifesto.org http://www.agilemanifesto.org You won't find any specific tactics for software development in the Agile Manifesto either. But out of the mindset comes specific SDLCs that are aligned to the manifesto like Scrum or XP or any of the million "custom" Agile methodologies that have no name but are used by IT organizations everywhere. David Anderson absolutely wants the Kanban Method to be used (as appropriate) in organizations that do knowledge work (software development is knowledge work) to help those organizations develop the best workflow and capability for a given context and to create a culture of learning, growth, and continuous improvement. I've talked to him many times about these very topics! Many of the case studies that we quote in our work are from software development organizations. The quote used above has been taken out of context, isolated, and used to create fear, uncertainty and doubt about The Kanban Method and I find that kind of behaviour negligent at best.

bdehaaff 13y ago

I appreciate that. I really do. It's rare to receive an ounce of props on HN. I must admit that I was totally surprised to learn that it was not designed for software development and that the author of the Lean Methodology has been trying to convince folks to stop using it.

agileramblings 13y ago
What do you mean the author of the Lean Methodology has been trying to stop folks from using it? Are you suggesting David Anderson wants us to stop using Kanban for Knowledge Work?
- bernardom 13y ago
  From TFA: David Anderson, the creator of The Kanban Method (discussed above) wrote the following in late 2010. “Kanban is NOT a software development life cycle or project management methodology! It is not a way of making software or running projects that make software!”
  - agileramblings 13y ago
    Unfortunately, the tendency to overload terms with multiple meanings is confusing the situation. It is very common for the word kanban to be used incorrectly because there are three commonly confused meanings for the word. kanban - visual signal, signboard kanban system - pull-based, wip limited flow management system Kanban Method - an approach to incremental, evolutionary process and systems change for organizations So yes, the Kanban Method is not an SDLC method. It is a meta-method that will allow for the emergence of an appropriate SDLC within an organization. That SDLC may be Agile (very good things in Agile mindset), may be waterfall, may be Scrum or Scrumban-ish, but it should be appropriate for then context. Please refer to this wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development) You don't see any SDLC specific tactics or guidance in there. That is true. You don't see any Agile language in there. It doesn't provide any specific Agile guidance. Does the Agile Manifesto have any specific SDLC tactics? Please refer to http://www.agilemanifesto.org http://www.agilemanifesto.org You won't find any specific tactics for software development in the Agile Manifesto either. But out of the mindset comes specific SDLCs that are aligned to the manifesto like Scrum or XP or any of the million "custom" Agile methodologies that have no name but are used by IT organizations everywhere. David Anderson absolutely wants the Kanban Method to be used (as appropriate) in organizations that do knowledge work (software development is knowledge work) to help those organizations develop the best workflow and capability for a given context and to create a culture of learning, growth, and continuous improvement. I've talked to him many times about these very topics! Many of the case studies that we quote in our work are from software development organizations. The quote used above has been taken out of context, isolated, and used to create fear, uncertainty and doubt about The Kanban Method and I find that kind of behaviour negligent at best.