Tame the Flow

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Tame the Flow

Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Management

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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"

About the Authors

Steve Tendon
Steve Tendon

I create pragmatic, human-centered, inclusive, sustainable, systemic breakthrough performance-innovation in knowledge-intensive digital businesses.

I wrote the book: "Tame your Work Flow: How Dr. Goldratt of 'The Goal' would apply the Theory of Constraints to rethink knowledge-work management," among many others.

I created the TameFlow Approach: an approach that will allow you to deliver superior business outcomes in knowledge-work, without compromising sustainability, quality or humanity.

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

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

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TameFlow Chronicles 2011-2015
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TameFlow Patterns
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Tame your Work Flow
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The TameFlow Games
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