There is a software development methodology that uses a Kanban board, but it isn’t called Kanban because Kanban isn’t a methodology. It’s just a method, a board with columns and stickies to track work, which this guide says can be used with any methodology and is not a methodology in itself.
So I call it the Methodology with No Name(MWNN), like Sergio Leone's character the Man with No Name.
The MWNN is simple. You add a column on the Kanban board that is a prioritized list of work that is ready to start work on next. But the trick is that the column has a reverse WIP limit, where you make sure the number of stickies in the column never falls below the reverse WIP limit number. This way work is never stalled waiting for a sticky to be completely defined and ready to begin being worked on.
That's it. You just do the work in the usual Kanban way respecting WIP limits of all the columns.
With the MWNN there is no need for sprints and sprint planning where you try to guess how many stickies you can do in the sprint, and flagellate yourselves if you don't complete your guessed number of stickies or oddly even if you complete more stickies than you guessed. I find this about as useful as medieval monks arguing about how many angels can do the Mambo No.5 on the head of a pin.
In the MWNN you are free to pick and choose whichever processes you feel will help your team succeed. Like Tuco does to assemble his perfect gun. To me this extremely light weight methodology, of all the methodologies, best fits the agile manifesto's number one value "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools".
Top comments (0)