Managers often think they need to have agile teams so they could deliver projects faster. But this is a faulty kind of thinking. If you want to deliver faster as an organization, you need to take care of the end-to-end value flow. The question is where do you start? When you fly low, all you see are the little details and try fixing things at personal or team levels. When you fly hight, though, all you see is the bigger picture and general landscape. So how do we find the right way to look at our work? Learn on this episode of the Lamp with Klaus Leopold. 
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How to Fly Your Business at Portfolio Level

Welcome to Lean Agile Management Podcast – a podcast for business leaders and managers who want to take the mystery out of successful Lean Agile transformation. In every episode of the LAMP, we ask industry thought leaders and top-tier management consultants to shine the light on the toughest issues in management. Learn how experts boost work efficiency, create a culture of high performance, reduce stress in the workplace, and help to build businesses that thrive. Lean Agile Management Podcast is presented by the leading Kanban software for Lean project management, Kanbanize.

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“Do things, learn, reflect, adapt, change on the premise that (hopefully) we will go faster each time we do that because we are addressing the fundamental process issues.” Keith Howells, Project4 Learning Lab



In this episode of our Lean Agile Management Podcast, we discuss how Lean/Agile principles can be applied to the knowledge work domain. 



Our guests today are Keith Howells and Angeline Thorne. Keith is a managing partner at Project4 Learning Lab and an experienced engineer with 20 years of operational leadership experience in the Aerospace, Defence, Energy, and Marine sectors. Angeline is a partner at Project4 Learning Lab with a track record of delivering sustainable improvements in business performance in senior leadership roles.



Both experienced in business agility, program and portfolio management, leadership development, and change management, today they will share valuable insights on applying Lean and Agile from their practice.



The topics discussed in this episode:



* The benefits of practicing more discipline to project management by introducing the Lean pull system technique* What do digital and physical simulations bring to the surface?* The productivity paradox or how people confuse productivity with efficiency?* Where to start the transition from “pushing in more work” to “pull principle”?* What are some of the “push behavior” dysfunctions?* How to approach planning in project management?









Learn more about:



Project4 Learning Lab is a renowned organization specializing in leadership training, development, Lean and Agile consulting. Through the use of a holistic and sustainable approach to learning, P4 Learning Lab coaches guide leaders and organizations to deliver outstanding performance.



* Project4 Learning Lab* LinkedIn



Contact our guests:



* Angeline Thorne * Keith Howells

Applying Lean and Agile Principles to Knowledge Management


“Kanban scales in a way that does not require bureaucracy and brings coherence to all the actions in the company, because it is clear how decisions are made at all levels. “ Teodora Bozheva
In this episode of the LAMP, we are talking about project, program, and portfolio management with Kanban with Teodora Bozheva. Teodora is an experienced Kanban consultant and one of the brightest minds in the Kanban community. She is an Accredited Kanban Trainer and Consultant with more than 15 years of experience leading organizational change initiatives. 
Teodora is the founder and CEO of Berriprocess Agility. A company that provides training and guides you in the evolution of your project and service management practices, as well as your organizational culture.
Teodora is also a co-author of Kanban Maturity Model: A Map to Organizational Agility, Resilience, and Reinvention and author of The Complete Guide for Project, Program, and Portfolio Management with Kanban.
In this episode, we discuss:

* Can companies use Kanban for Project, Program, and Portfolio Management?
* What types of companies use Kanban for Project, Program, and Portfolio Management?
* What makes Kanban suitable for different organizations?
* Can Kanban be scaled?
* What kind of challenges does Kanban solve?
* How do companies apply Kanban?


 

Learn more about:

* The Complete Guide for Project, Program and Portfolio Management with Kanban
* Kanban Maturity Model: A Map to Organizational Agility, Resilience, and Reinvention

Contact with our guest:

* LinkedIn
* Twitter





Project, Program and Portfolio Management with Kanban

As the popularity of Kanban grows, so does the cloud of misconceptions and confusion around it. While many people will try convincing you that Kanban is better than Scrum (and vice versa), few can actually explain it in simple terms. 

This time on the LAMP, we are joined by Andy Carmichael who helps us find the roots of Kanban. In its essence, Kanban is a way to see and manage your flow of work. All it really asks you to do is look at your work in a different way. Kanban lens helps to summarize that in just four elements. Tune in to learn how.

Start managing work, stop managing people.



Is team Kanban really enough to achieve Business Agility? If you already practice Kanban, you are probably enjoying the visibility and efficiency it brings on the team level. However, the joys of having agility in a siloed team wear off quickly if the rest of the organization is inefficient and slow. The answer? Let me introduce you to Portfolio Kanban.

Today on Lean Agile Management Podcast, we're talking about scaling Kanban to the organizational or the project portfolio level. Some like to say that Kanban is just for small teams. Our guest proves them wrong, as he works with groups as large as 1800 people. In this episode, you will learn how to apply Kanban end-to-end at the system level.

We're talking today to Nader Talai, who is a professional IT manager, the organizer for the London Limited WIP Society and Business Agility Consultant at Value Glide.

In this episode, he walked us through a range of hot topics about scaling Kanban to the portfolio level and making this a change that lasts.


Here are the key questions we've covered:

 	* How to make Business Agility a change that lasts?

Stop focusing on practices and labels, think about the outcomes and results you are trying to achieve using Kanban or any other tool. Nader tells us how to adopt Portfolio Kanban with the positive outcomes and lasting change in mind.

 	* What causes a high rate of expedite tasks and how to deal with them

When your team is constantly putting out fires, you need to ask yourself what's the reason behind all of the expedite tasks? Nader walks us through the root cause behind the endless stream of "urgent" tasks.

 	* Is Kanban effective only for small teams?

Myth or reality? What kind of teams can benefit from Kanban? How can we use Kanban on portfolio level?

 	* How to do less as an organization to achieve more? 

Is it possible to effectively limit work in progress on the organizational level? How to achieve work predictability at the portfolio level with Kanban Pull?

 	* The unexpected downsides of high resource utilization

While it might seem like the most logical thing to do, aiming for 100% resource utilization (aka keeping everyone and everything busy) can be bad for your organization. We discussed how Portfolio Kanban lets us focus on and manage the Flow of work instead of simply keeping people busy.

 	* Kanban planning: how to set up realistic goals and expectations

With all the great promises Agile and Lean worlds offer, you might be tempted to "account for it" in your goal setting process. Nader brings up the topic of setting up the right expectations in Kanban planning.

 	* Adopting Portfolio Kanban: how to get top management buy-in?

Convincing stakeholders that changing the way teams or whole organizations work is not the easiest of tasks. In the interview, you'll learn how to get the top management buy-in for practicing Pull principle and Portfolio Kanban.



Looking for more on the topic of Portfolio Kanban and scaling Kanban to the company level? Here are some useful resources on the topic:

 	* What is Portfolio Kanban?
 	* Implementing a Kanban Roadmap
 	* What are WIP limits and how to use them to boost productivity
 	* How to Set and Manage WIP Limits on Portf...

How to Fly Your Business at Portfolio Level

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