simulating_wip_effects_with_balls_and_a_banana
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+ | ====== Simulating WIP Effects with Balls and a Banana ====== | ||
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+ | ====== Premise ====== | ||
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+ | WIP is the silent productivity killer of many organizations. Too much WIP leads to many "bad things": | ||
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+ | * Increases overall lead time | ||
+ | * Reduces throughput | ||
+ | * Increases context switching (and so reduces capacity to apply to work) | ||
+ | * Delays delivery of value | ||
+ | * Reduces quality | ||
+ | * Distracts from improving ourselves (as "we are too busy digging ditches to watch the backhoe demonstration" | ||
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+ | The problem is that most organizations really do not understand how bad it is to have to much WIP. After all, if you have WIP, doesn' | ||
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+ | The idea behind this simulation / game is to help people understand that just being busy doesn' | ||
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+ | ====== Setup ====== | ||
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+ | You have 5 people in a star formation. Balls will be passed in a specific order around the star. 6th person (or facilitator) is the counter - number of balls completed, number of balls dropped. Idea is to count how many balls you can get through each person and back to start in 60 seconds with 3 balls and a (rubber) banana, then 5 balls and banana, then 7 balls and banana. Facilitator feeds in balls to one person. | ||
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+ | ====== Debrief ====== | ||
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+ | You then plot number of balls vs throughput (number of balls) on one line , and then subtract number of balls dropped on another line. Result is that from 3 to 5 balls you typically see increase in throughput but also increase in defects (total usually goes up), but from 5 to 7 you'll see lots more defects and often just general throughput goes down without even factoring in the defects (chasing dropped balls). Note sometimes you see a person holding on to a ball in the 7 ball case - facilitator makes sure they pass the ball on. Leads to discussion about optimal WIP and effect of defects etc. | ||
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+ | ====== Want to Know More ====== | ||
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+ | * [[how_do_we_control_work-in-progress_wip|How Do We Control Work-in-Progress (WIP)?]] | ||
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+ | ~~LINKBACK~~ | ||
+ | ~~DISCUSSION~~ | ||
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+ | {{tag> | ||
/home/hpsamios/hanssamios.com/dokuwiki/data/pages/simulating_wip_effects_with_balls_and_a_banana.txt · Last modified: 2020/06/04 08:01 by hans