Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
''Pulling'' indicates a ''downstream workstation pulling the component from the
upstream workstation'' and the upstream workstation would produce components
only when the previous batch of components is picked up by the downstream
workstation. That is, the upstream workstation produces components ''just in
time'' for the downstream workstation to begin its operation. This has resulted in
huge savings for Toyota and it has been adopted at most high volume manufac-
turing organizations.
Now software development organizations also are trying to adopt this technique
into software development field. Releasing the entire software in one big-bang
would result in it being idle if the implementation parameters are not yet made
ready. So, it advocates delivering software in iterations to those sites which are
ready for implementation and use in production.
The Kanban philosophy of software development focuses on delivering the
software just-in-time for implementation. In many organizations, software is
developed well in advance of installing the IT infrastructure making the software
wait for the facility to come up, hardware to be received, system software to be
received and so on. This is locking up valuable capital. So Kanban places emphasis
on scheduling the software development work ''to be ready in time'' rather than on
''as soon as possible'' basis.
The Kanban system does not prescribe any software life cycle or development
method. Kanban advocates an iterative development methodology to deliver
software in installments. The development organization can follow their existing
software development processes.
There are five steps in Kanban development, namely, visualize the workflow,
limit WIP (Work In Progress), manage flow, make process policies explicit, and
improve collaboratively.
To visualize the workflow, a set of cards are pinned to a wall referred to as the
card-wall. The cards on the wall are arranged in columns. Each card column would
contain the steps of a process flow of the proposed system.
Limit WIP advocates against taking up too many modules in parallel. It sug-
gests taking up one or two modules at a time so that workable software becomes
ready faster. If ten team members take up ten programs of ten different modules it
will make the WIP higher. On the other hand, if ten programmers of the team take
up ten different programs of one or two modules, there will be something ready for
use in a short time.
Manage the flow indicates that the workflow is measured, reported and moni-
tored at each step. This will ensure that the iteration is executed efficiently and the
iteration delivery is ready on time.
Making the policies explicit, involves every stakeholder in the manner the work
is carried out by the team. That way, the stakeholders can give suggestions for
improvement and participate in discussions effectively. This would make it easier
to arrive at a consensus easily.
Improving collaboratively involves allowing suggestions for improvement to
come from any source. All suggestions received are analyzed by all stakeholders
and agreed suggestions are implemented incrementally in the process steps.
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