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Tame the Flow
Tame the Flow

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    Tame the Flow

    This book is 100% complete

    Completed on 2014-01-29

    About the Book

    NOTE: An extended and revised edition of this book is available through J. Ross Publishing under the title of "Hyper-Productive Knowledge  Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban"

    Table of Contents

        • The Book’s Blog
        • Credits
        • Acknowledgments
        • About the Authors
          • Steve Tendon
          • Wolfram Müller
          • Disclaimer
      • Introduction
        • Who Should Read this Book, and Why
        • Structure of this Book
        • How to Read this Book
    • I What and Why
      • 1 A Case of Software Hyper-Productivity
        • 1.1 The Case of Borland Quattro Pro for Windows
        • 1.2 Most Productive Ever and Precursor to Scrum and XP
        • 1.3 Barbarians, not Burrocrats!
        • 1.4 Organizational Culture
        • 1.5 Losing Hyper-productivity
        • 1.6 Software Hyper-Productivity is Transferable
        • 1.7 The Borland Portfolio
        • 1.8 Possible and Transferable, but not Duplicable
        • 1.9 Why Care?
        • 1.10 So how do you get there?
      • 2 Shapes and Patterns of Hyper-Productivity
        • 2.1 Natural Force-based Social Networks (Adjacency Diagrams)
          • The Adjacency Diagrams of Quattro Pro for Windows
        • 2.2 Interaction Grids
          • The Interaction Grid of Quattro Pro for Windows
        • 2.3 Other Metrics
          • Connectedness
          • Communication Saturation
          • Communication Intensity Ratio
        • 2.4 From Shapes to Patterns
          • Identifying Patterns of Communication and Organization
          • Hyper-productive Patterns
        • 2.5 The Powerful Generative Nature of Patterns
        • 2.6 The Prevalence of Structure and Values over Process
        • 2.7 Early Signs of Scrum
        • 2.8 Scrum as Prepackaged Patterns
          • Scrum’s Rediscovery of Patterns
          • Scrumbuts, Blue Pills and Red Pills
          • Scrum does Not Lead to Hyper-Productivity
      • 3 Patterns and Pattern Languages
        • 3.1 What Patterns are Not
        • 3.2 Alexandrian Patterns
          • Introduction to Alexandrian Patterns
          • More about Alexandrian Patterns
        • 3.3 Patterns are a Form of Knowledge
        • 3.4 The Connection between Organizational Patterns for Software Development and Organizational Design
          • Relevance and Applicability of Patterns to Organizational Design
          • Pattern Languages are Means of Expression of Organizational Design
        • 3.5 How Patterns become a Pattern Language
          • Pattern Collection and Qualification
          • Pattern Language Development
        • 3.6 The Generative Power of Patterns and Pattern Languages
        • 3.7 Pattern Language Validation
          • Coherence
          • Completeness
        • 3.8 Patterns of Hyper-Productivity
        • 3.9 Two Noble Patterns of Hyper-Productivity
          • The Unity of Purpose Pattern
          • The Community of Trust Pattern
        • 3.10 Why All This?
    • II Management, Leadership and Organization
      • 4 The Nature of Knowledge Work
        • 4.1 From Rationalism to Empiricism
          • Uncertainty, Incompleteness and Wegner’s Lemma
        • 4.2 Rationale for Empiricism in Software Methods and Knowledge Work
        • 4.3 Empiricism in Strategic Management
      • 5 Management’s Profound Understanding of Knowledge Work
        • 5.1 Profound Understanding of the Fundamental Process
        • 5.2 The Wicked Problem of Strategy Making
          • Coping with Wicked Problems
          • Empiricism at the Heart of Strategy Making
        • 5.3 Capital Goods and Social Learning Processes
          • Knowledge about Product and about Process
        • 5.4 Strategy Making, Artful Making and Software Development
      • 6 Management’s Responsibility and Learning Organization
        • 6.1 Process Innovation and Double-Loop Learning
        • 6.2 The Executive’s Achilles’ Heel
          • Dealing with Failure
          • Defensive Reasoning
          • Change has to Start at the Top
        • 6.3 Promoting Openness and Dialog
      • 7 Discovery Driven Planning
        • 7.1 A Latent Conflict
          • Buy or Create Knowledge
          • Management’s Conflict: Plan or Experiment?
        • 7.2 The Discovery Driven Planning Approach
          • A Disciplined Approach
          • Counting the Beans Backwards
          • Tolerance for Failure
          • Assumptions are Constantly Checked and Re-checked
      • 8 Budgets Considered Harmful
        • 8.1 Beyond Budgeting
        • 8.2 Beyond Budgeting is Attuned to the Empirical Approach
        • 8.3 Beyond Budgeting Supports the Noble Patterns
        • 8.4 A Note on The Lean Startup Perspective
      • 9 The Incremental Funding Method
          • IFM is based on Discounted Cash Flow Techniques
          • Minimum Marketable Features
          • Sequence Adjusted Net Present Value
          • Financially Driven Requirements Prioritization
          • Risk and Time Control
          • Project Monitoring
          • Development and Delivery Precursors
          • Concurrent Development
          • Architecture
          • Architectural Dependencies
          • Incremental Architecture
          • Financially Sustainable Architecture
          • Investment Appraisal with the Incremental Funding Method
          • Determining Value
        • 9.1 Risk Management in the IFM
          • Caveats when Combining IFM and Agile
      • 10 Throughput Accounting
          • Throughput Accounting vs. Cost Accounting
          • Cost Accounting is not for Management Decisions
          • Throughput Accounting can be Reconciled with Cost Accounting
        • 10.1 Throughput Accounting for Software Engineering
          • Example: Decrease Operating Expense by Avoiding Feature Creep
          • Example: Decrease Investment and Operating Expense with Open-Source Software
          • Example: Increase Throughput by Targeting the Long Tail
          • Considerations on Combining the Examples
        • 10.2 Software Production Metrics in Throughput Accounting
        • 10.3 Throughput Accounting’s Effects on Delivery
          • Throughput Accounting’s Effects on Other Common Processes
        • 10.4 Conclusions
      • 11 The Thinking Processes
        • 11.1 Current Reality Tree and Relevant Problem
        • 11.2 Undesirable Effects and Root Causes
        • 11.3 Span of Control and Sphere of Influence
        • 11.4 People Factors and Change Management
          • Categories of Legitimate Reservation
          • Policy Constraints
          • The Layers of Resistance
      • 12 Creating a Shared Vision at the Team Level
        • 12.1 The Problem: True Team Work is Difficult to Achieve in a Business Setting
        • 12.2 A Daring Solution: Jim McCarthy’s Core Protocols
        • 12.3 The Core Commitments
        • 12.4 The Core Protocols
        • 12.5 Checking In
          • The Check In Protocol
          • The Check Out Protocol
          • The Pass Protocol
        • 12.6 Deciding
          • Resolution Protocol
          • Decision Making as the Key Team Building Process
          • Ecology of Ideas
          • Protocol Check and Intention Check
        • 12.7 Aligning
        • 12.8 Envisioning
        • 12.9 Validity and Caveats
      • 13 Critical Roles, Leadership and More
          • The Patron Role
          • Play by the Rules of the Game
        • 13.1 Lessons from Open Source Projects
          • The Power and Consequences of Forkability
          • The Power and Consequences of Community
          • The Open Source Governance Model
        • 13.2 The Thinking Processes of the Theory of Constraint Foster Unanimity
        • 13.3 A Counterproductive Role: the Scrum Master
        • 13.4 The Solitary Programmer
        • 13.5 Leader is Part of Team
        • 13.6 Pride, Fun, and Slack
    • III In Practice with the Kanban Method
      • 14 Herbie and Kanban
        • 14.1 The Story of Herbie
        • 14.2 Herbie and Work in Process
        • 14.3 The Five Focusing Steps
          • Step 1: Identify the Constraint — “Herbie!”
          • Step 2: Exploit the Constraint — “C’mon Herbie! Speed up!”
          • Step 3: Subordinate to the Constraint — “Everybody stays behind Herbie!”
          • Step 4: Elevate the Constraint — “Everybody carries a piece of Herbie’s gear!”
          • Step 5: Repeat!
          • The Unstated Step 0
          • The Secret Step 6
        • 14.4 From Stepping Stones to the Kanban Board
        • 14.5 A Philosophy of Ongoing Improvement
      • 15 Unity of Purpose and Community of Trust
        • 15.1 Problem: Conflicting Metrics and Incentives
          • Decision Making that Creates Disharmonies
        • 15.2 Solution: Adopt a System Wide Metric
        • 15.3 Implementation: Focus on Flow
        • 15.4 Command-and-Control Management
        • 15.5 Cost Accounting is a Root Cause Preventing Higher Performance
          • A Common Goal and a Common Enemy
      • 16 The Kanban Method, Flow and Throughput
        • 16.1 Getting Started with Kanban
          • The 3 Founding Principles of Kanban
          • The 6 Core Practices of Kanban
          • The 9 Values of Kanban
        • 16.2 Links between the Theory of Constraints and Kanban
        • 16.3 Terminology
          • The Confusion with Cycle Time
          • Other Terms
        • 16.4 A Little about Flow and Throughput
        • 16.5 The Consequences of Variation
        • 16.6 The Mirage of Balancing the Flow
        • 16.7 Where to Improve
      • 17 The Weaknesses of Work-state WIP Limits
        • 17.1 Process Management and Process Improvement in Kanban
        • 17.2 The Rationale behind Work-state WIP Limits
        • 17.3 The Problems with Work-state WIP Limits
          • Induced Instability
          • Work-state WIP Limits are Useful when Starting
          • Evolutionary but Direction-less Improvements
          • Work-state WIP Limits Create Bottlenecks and Ignore the Real Constraint
          • Bottlenecks are Not Constraints
        • 17.4 Finding the Primary Constraint on a Kanban Board
          • The Guidance of Flow Time
          • What is Next?
      • 18 Understanding the Impact of a Constraint
        • 18.1 Choosing between XP and BDD
        • 18.2 The Lean Perspective
        • 18.3 The Accounting Perspective
        • 18.4 The Constraints Management Perspective
        • 18.5 Constraints are Archimedean Levers
          • Constraints Management is Key to Throughput Performance
          • Constraints and SLAs
          • Constraints and Investment Decisions
      • 19 Hyper-Kanban: Hyper-Productive Kanban
        • 19.1 Find the Real Herbie
        • 19.2 The Need for the “Real” Kanban
          • TPS Kanban
          • Real Kanban on a Kanban Board
        • 19.3 Drum-Buffer-Rope
        • 19.4 Drum-Buffer-Rope with Visible Replenishment Signal
          • The Replenishment Token is the Drum Beat
          • Capacity in the System vs. Capacity on the Constraint
          • The Replenishment Pull Rule
          • Buffer Signals
          • Replenishment Signals
          • When Murphy Surrounds Herbie
          • Summary of Hyper-Kanban
      • 20 Understanding Common Cause Variation
        • 20.1 Common Cause Variation
        • 20.2 The Shortcoming of Kanban
        • 20.3 Variation Across the Board
        • 20.4 Common, Special, Assignable and Chance Causes
        • 20.5 The Power of Improving with Common Causes
      • 21 Improving While In the Flow
        • 21.1 Minimum Marketable Releases (MMR)
        • 21.2 Minimum Marketable Release as a WIP-Limiting Unit of Work
          • A MMR is like a Fixed Scope Project
          • A MMR Limits Work In Process
        • 21.3 Manage Risk by Varying Time, Not Scope
          • “Cutting the Backlog” Does Not Cut It
          • Lessons from Critical Chain Project Management
          • The Best of Two Worlds
        • 21.4 The MMR Buffer
        • 21.5 Buffer Sizing
        • 21.6 Buffer Management, Usage, and Interpretation
          • Buffer Burn Rate
          • Buffer Zones
        • 21.7 Buffer Charts
          • Buffer Fever Charts
          • Buffer Control Charts
          • Thresholds and Signals
          • Trends
          • Cumulative Flow Diagrams
          • Combining Diagrams and Charts
          • Signal Reaction Handled by Normal Kanban Policies
        • 21.8 How to Build and Monitor an MMR Buffer
          • Little’s Law and the Assumption of Steady/Ideal State of Flow
          • Little’s Law and the Conditions of Maximum Sustainable Pace
      • 22 Root Cause Analysis the TOC Way
        • 22.1 Risk Detection and Classification
          • Reason Tracking
          • The Example
          • Frequency Analysis and Pareto Analysis
        • 22.2 Root Cause Analysis
          • Relevant Problem and Current Reality Tree
          • From Reason Codes to UDEs
          • Assumptions for Actions may be UDEs
        • 22.3 Validating the Assumptions
        • 22.4 Validating the Cause-Effect Relationships
          • Searching Deeper
          • Searching Wider: Multiple Causes and Additional Causes
          • Do not Ignore “Obvious” Causes
          • Multiple Root Causes
        • 22.5 Changing the Reality
          • Span of Control
          • Sphere of Influence
          • Many Whys
          • Injections
          • Influence and Change
    • IV In Practice with Scrum
      • 23 One Way to Hyper-Productivity
        • 23.1 Organizational Change is Hard and Takes Long!?
        • 23.2 How to Build an Easy and Fast Organizational Change!
        • 23.3 Little’s Law or Why it is no Good Idea to Have Too Much Customers in a Shop!
        • 23.4 But where is This Constraint?
        • 23.5 But what is the Right Order to Start?
        • 23.6 Let’s Start
        • 23.7 Get Your Work Organization Right - Rules are Easy to Change
      • 24 Reliable Scrum and Reliable Kanban
        • 24.1 Define a “Major Release”
        • 24.2 “Complete” the Backlog
        • 24.3 Balance Resources, Backlog and Due Date
        • 24.4 Execution Control
        • 24.5 Reliable Scrum, the Hero for Product Owners
        • 24.6 The Portfolio Overview
      • 25 From Reliable to Ultimate Scrum
        • 25.1 The Optimum
        • 25.2 How to Bring Ultimate Scrum to Life?
        • 25.3 Drum-Buffer-Rope as the Steering Mechanism
      • 26 From Production to Projects
        • 26.1 Critical Chain
        • 26.2 Agile Enterprise
        • 26.3 People Business
    • V Bibliography
          • A
          • B
          • C
          • D
          • E
          • F
          • G
          • H
          • I
          • J
          • K
          • L
          • M
          • N
          • O
          • P
          • Q
          • R
          • S
          • T
          • U
          • V
          • W
          • X
          • Y
          • Z

    About the Authors

    Steve Tendon
    Steve Tendon

    I am a senior, multilingual, executive management consultant, experienced at leading and directing multi­national and distributed knowledge­work organizations. Expert in organizational performance transformation programs. Adviser, consultant, coach, mentor, speaker and author, specializing in organizational productivity, organizational design, process excellence and process innovation. I help businesses create high-performance organizations and teams.

    Read my blog: The Chronologist

    Check my site: tendon.net

    Find me on Goggle Plus or LinkedIn

    Read the blog about Tame the Flow

    Reviews of Tame the Flow
    Wolfram Müller
    Wolfram Müller

    High-Speed-Project-Manager, Integrationist, Scrum-Kanban-Critical-Chain-Protagonist and Consultant for Companies which want to go to the limit!

    Check my site for classical project management: Speed4Projects.net (German) Check my site for agile project management at the limit: Reliable-Scrum.Info (English)

    Or find me on Goggle Plus or XING or LinkedIn

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