We’ve described how an ‘Agile’ software development methodology based on a ‘Kanban’ framework is used widely at Aurion, and not just by the Software Operations team (read more about our Kanban practise here).
David Norris, our Development & Test Manager, explains why we use this method. “Kanban works for us because it’s simple, easy to implement and hard to stuff up. Using Kanban as a starting point, we’ve been able build a process that allows us to plan accurately, provide clarity around workflow, and increase our velocity.”
And the benefit for our customers? “It means we get to deliver even more value to our customers with each release,” David says.
In this blog we’ll give you a high-level look at the Kanban collaboration techniques many teams at Aurion use to prioritise and minimise the items of work in play at any one time and avoid overloading our people.
Get up, stand up
So, you’ve considered the whole pipeline of issues your team could be working on. For our software development team those issues are customer requests, bug fixes, maintenance, and roadmap items. You’ve sliced and diced the issues into small tasks that can be actioned in increments of a few days, and then prioritised these tasks into increments of two or three-weeks. Now it’s time to get to work!
This is where the ritual of ‘stand up’ comes into play. It’s a daily meeting that should last a maximum of 10 minutes. The team gathers, with or without the Kanban board, which is a visual representation of all the team’s work on an actual board (with post-it notes – very high tech) or a virtual board. The Kanban board is divided into columns representing each phase of the work item, from to-do to completion.
Brevity rules at stand-up time, and as each team member takes the spotlight, the attention is fixed solely on these three questions:
- What did I do yesterday?
- What am I doing today?
- What’s blocking me?
Need to know basis
At stand up it’s important that team members answer the three questions in the context of what’s important for the rest of the team to know. For instance, ‘I’m working on this issue’ isn’t as important as ‘I’m working on this issue and will be touching these files’, which tells the other developers (or team members) they’ll need to communicate about these changes throughout the day.
We think of the stand up like a speed dating session. You want to make connections with your teammates. You want to have a larger discussion about certain issues. So, in your update you need to give the team a juicy morsel that makes them salivate for the substantial conversation later that day.
To ensure that your team stand up doesn’t become a status update or a free-for-all discussion (which should happen elsewhere), there are three key phrases you need in your arsenal:
- Can you hang back after this?
- I have nothing to share today
- Take it offline!
Showcase your success
At the end of each iteration of a few weeks the team will have a chance to present their work to a wider group of internal stakeholders in a ‘showcase’.
This is a chance to get early feedback on developed items from people who know the product but have yet to see what’s been developed. But from the opposite side, the showcase is a chance for internal stakeholders to have their say on the product and get their buy-in for the development process.
Despite the name, a showcase is anything but a passive presentation. There is an expectation for everyone in the meeting to engage with the presenter, either by giving feedback (positive or negative) or by asking questions.
In the final part of the showcase, the team outlines what they expect to complete in the next iteration and build anticipation for what comes next. It’s also an opportunity for internal stakeholders to reach out to the team and raise early ideas or concerns.
Better each time
After the showcase, there’s one last meeting to close out the iteration: the ‘retrospective’. While the formula may change from time to time to keep things fresh, the retrospective funnels the team towards a single action that can be completed in the next iteration.
To reach this goal, we follow a similar process: brainstorm ideas, vote on the best idea, create an action aimed at helping that idea. The ideas we brainstorm are drawn from the last iteration, such as:
- Things that went well and we want to continue
- Things that didn’t go well and we want to stop or change
- Questions we want answered
This practice of self-reflection and improvement is the cornerstone of Aurion’s mantra of ‘continuous improvement’ and how we make life work better for our customers and community.
Learn more about how we develop Australia’s leading payroll platform and our most recent software release featuring a suite of APIs for organisational maintenance.
