Blog
Toyota Kanban, Lean Kanban, Professional Scrum with Kanban, Flow — same word, very different beasts. This piece traces the lineage from the original Toyota Kanban on factory floors (where bins emptied, flags raised, and the warehouse chap kept just-in-time replenishment humming along) to the modern variants designed for knowledge work, where each card represents a valuable work item rather than a depleted part. Along the way: Toyota's six rules for Kanban, the mechanics of two-bin and three-bin systems, the prerequisites that make traditional Kanban work, and the key differences in how terms like cycle time and lead time get interpreted across approaches. Plus a comparison of where Lean Kanban, Professional Scrum with Kanban, and Flow overlap, where they diverge, and what each one is actually strong at.
Professional Scrum with Kanban - Don't just limit WIP - optimize it! (post 3 of 3)
What happens when you combine Featureban simulations, Toyota Kata, and a Professional Scrum with Kanban training class? You get a hands-on way to teach teams how to actually optimize WIP — not just limit it. This piece walks through how Featureban simulations played out in practice (with coin flips, build/test moves, and a steady drift toward 2-day cycle times) and how Toyota Kata got baked into retrospectives from round two onwards. Plus a friendlier reframing of the official Kata using a solar system metaphor: Mars as the almost-impossible perfection vision, the Moon as a 1–3 year challenge, getting into orbit as the 3–6 month target condition, and Mother Earth as right now. One experiment, one obstacle at a time. No whack-a-mole.
Scrum Master role, Large Scale Scrum or not
Two sentences from Timothy Korson's LeSS case study for "Cash In Comfort" struck a nerve: "Scrum Masters are responsible for a well-working LeSS adoption. Their focus is towards the Teams, Product Owner, organization, and development practices." And: "A Scrum Master does not focus on just one team but on the overall organizational system." This piece is a short note to leaders who expect Scrum Masters to spend all their time with the team. The reality is that the role usually means working with leaders' leaders and leaders' peers, relying purely on influence — ideally riding on the coat-tails of their own leaders. Plus a nod to Elad Sofer's VeSecurity case study on why appointing managers as Scrum Masters isn't the answer either. The better path: partnership between Scrum Masters and leaders to bust impediments and coach the organization. Avoid containing Scrum Masters in a metaphorical cage. Let them do what needs to be done.
What Value does an “Agility Change Chef” Offer?
Most people have an idea what value an agile coach brings — but what value do they typically not offer? This piece makes the case for the "Agility Chef": someone who goes beyond the usual coaching toolkit to bring deep transformation and change expertise, situational leadership (including Tipping Point Leadership when coaching isn't the right move), and minimized confirmation bias (because agility is a means to an end, and sometimes not the right answer at all). It also argues for an antidote to WaterScrumFall, BigBangScrum, and cynically applied frameworks, plus an appreciation that in the 21st century, resilience matters more than "better, faster, cheaper." Plus a look at Spiral Dynamics Integral as a tool for more effective conversations with difficult stakeholders, a few honest reflections on framework bias (CSTs recommend Scrum, Kanbaners recommend Kanban), and an invitation to influence the thinking through pairwise surveys.
Agility Chefs (ACe) – flipping the system and changing the game
What separates an "agility chef" from a typical Agile coach? Beyond promoting any single framework, agility chefs bring deep transformation expertise, situational leadership, and minimized confirmation bias to organizations where coaching alone won't move the needle. This post argues that resilience now matters more than "better, faster, cheaper" — and calls for agility and change thought leaders to finally come together.