Going agile in the government is easy to say and hard to do. Teams and individuals prefer to stay apart and work on their own for weeks or months at a time. Documentation can quickly become more important than working software. Addressing the demands brought on by a change in administration, policy, or executive direction requires teams and individuals to start working together in order to succeed in their overall mission.

This experience report will discuss the benefits, challenges, and outcomes when implementing Kanban in a traditional waterfall and silo working environment. Techniques for creating a continuous change towards an agile way of working will be shared. Performance data from a two year Kanban initiative at the Department of Labor will be reviewed and discussed. Participants will walk away with a clear understanding of how Kanban can break down silos, improve the agility of a traditional waterfall and silo focused organization, and noticeably improve performance.

Running a small business is no small task. Financial management, sales, hiring, managing people, and supporting existing clients are just a handful of activities a small business might address in a single day. So what happens when you use the Kanban Method to manage your business?

I’ll share my experiences while training, coaching, and evolving a small business using the Kanban Method. You’ll see how the Method quickly surfaced issues, revealed hidden opportunities for innovation, and how the business is using the Method to mature the services they offer.

How do you do Kanban in Jira? There is a default Kanban system provided by Jira, but what do you do when you need to accomplish more than simply moving issues across a board? How do you manage blocks and defects? How do you set up your Kanban system in Jira to provide you with decent metrics? These are just some of the questions we will discuss and you will learn how to address through this tutorial.

I will cover how you can take a team from an analog system into Jira by using some mindful planning and thoughtful approaches.

You will leave this tutorial with a set of easy-to-follow steps that will help you get more out of Jira with your Kanban system.

Are you lazy like me and want a simple way to measure your team’s performance? The Kanban Method, which is sometimes referred to as the "Start with what you do now" approach to evolutionary change, offers a simple and easy way to start measuring and improving your team’s performance.

I will take you on a brief journey through three government teams that are using Kanban to define, measure, and improve their performance as well as their processes and quality of work. Throughout this talk, I will explain what Kanban is, show three different approaches I have used when implementing a Kanban system, help you know when your Kanban system is predictable and when it is not, and provide simple steps so you can start your Kanban efforts the next day.