Ideas for fulfilling customer needs can be generated much faster than they can actually be realized. This is the source of much tension between the organization and its customers, but also within the organization itself.
This month’s newsletter takes a look at Upstream Kanban, which essentially is a way to create a steady flow of demand. Upstream Kanban visualizes demand in terms of options that are explored to define and select work items that will be committed.
Essential Upstream Kanban by Patrick Steyaert
Patrick’s the author of the well received Essential Upstream Kanban guide (which you can download here). We conducted a webinar sometime back with him on how Customer Kanban along with Upstream Kanban help organizations cope with a fluctuating, fragmented, and often, conflicting demand.You can view it on-demand here.
Aligning Strategy to Execution
A critical aspect of Upstream Kanban is the alignment between strategic/ portfolio objectives and their corresponding program and project/ product level execution. In this article, Mahesh Singh writes about how you can link your Kanban boards to align strategy to execution.
Value of Upstream Kanban for Backlog Grooming
How do we get groomed backlog stories? Most agile literature starts with a groomed backlog, but, there seems to be no easy answer to how your backlog can be groomed efficiently. In this article, Sudipta Lahiri describes various scenarios that demonstrate the value of Upstream Kanban for backlog grooming.
From Teams to Portfolio, the Importance of Upstream Kanban
We conducted a webinar with Natalia Manha of PagSeguro on September 19th, 2019, where we talked about the importance of Upstream Kanban to connect work from teams to portfolio level, helping people to think about systemic improvements and considering value delivery from clients’ needs to their satisfaction. It was a wonderful session – watch the recording below.
That’s all from us this month. Hope you liked these articles. Feedback, questions, all welcome!