Joe Justice on Agile Manufacturing Learning Consortium Webinar Q&A October 21, 2105
1. How do you deal with certification cycles of federal authorities such as the FDA, FCC, etc., in the context of an Agile manufacturing approach?
I would highly recommend the Scrum Inc. webinar “Agile Testing” to take you through the best we’ve seen so far. http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
2. XMfg - How different is it from the factory model followed in batch jobs production in the manufacturing industry?
XMfg practices reduce the cost to make change to the line and the product. This can support batch jobs or one-piece continuous flow. The fastest manufacturing method we’ve seen so far is massively parallel concurrent manufacturing, which funnels work more like a current- generation hyper-threading CPU than a traditional line flow such as batch jobs or one-piece continuous flow. And ultimately XMfg allows the company to affordably iterate more towards this pattern each sprint, again by lowering the cost (in time and money) to make change.
3. Can this be applicable for a nonprofit, high-scale contemporary art exhibition (50-plus projects, two years)?
If there is a clear vision (which is encouraged to evolve, but clear at any given point in time), these approaches will apply. And I’d love to see it; please email [email protected] if you try it! If you would like help getting started, I’ll invite you to attend a Certified ScrumMaster class: http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
4. How long did it take to "print" the carbon car you witnessed at the trade show?
Cincinnati BAAM completed the Local Motors DDM (direct digital manufacturing) porotype car during the two-day exhibition. I’m not sure if they ran the machine the entire time or not. While I’m immensely impressed with the speed and flexibility of the BAAM, after holding pieces of the car I was underwhelmed by their significant weight increase relative to other composites. In my own company, we continue to manufacture by subtractive rapid prototyping foam blocks, then wrapping them in carbon fiber for same-day unique structural assemblies. To get hands-on with this, I’d like to invite you to any of the Scrum Inc. Certified ScrumMaster classes hosted in Seattle, which include a Thursday after-class opportunity to build part of a WikiSpeed car with us. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
5. Some industries have very stringent configuration control requirements (e.g., aerospace). How can you maintain these requirements and execute this iterative/Scrum approach?
I’d recommend the “Agile Testing” webinar to you: http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
6. How are hardware and software teams melding their Scrum teams?
The fastest I’ve seen are cross-functional teams of hardware and software, where the product owner owns the budget and ROI for their module of the total solution. A set of cruise missile teams I’ve worked with is doing this to great effect. Many companies find good gains by having an engaged PO of a software team and an engaged PO of a hardware team, with a Chief PO grooming the backlog from which both those POs pull. These teams aren’t quite as fast as the cross-functional hardware and software teams, but still multiples of speed over traditional silos and a non- team-based approach. For more on that, you may want to watch any of the five webinars on “Scrum at Scale.” http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
When you are ready to implement it, I’ll invite you to a “Scrum at Scale” class: http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
7. Could you also provide an example from medical devices industry?
Philips MRI, Tecan automated and semiautomated lab equipment, have done a Scrum launch, but I haven’t been back to see if they have maintained it. The companies I mentioned in the webinar, parts of 3M medical, robotic pharmacies at MedCo, divisions of GE Healthcare, and GE FastWorks. That’s to name a few. Feel free to attend a Certified ScrumMaster® class and work with the team, and me, through your team learning log, to explain your context.
http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
8. Please explain the Delphi estimation method mentioned.
I’d like to invite you to one of our Certified ScrumMaster classes, where the technique is presented and practiced on the second day of the class. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
9. With a different product, such as PHP, will Scrum always be the best methodology?
Scrum’s super power is that it is a framework for identifying what is slowing you down from reaching your goal and removing those things slowing you down or making the journey less happy. In addition to that broad use, Scrum itself is continually refined as new audited data is published from the hundreds of thousands of Scrum teams in flight. Yes, like any construct I suspect there will be a limit to the applications of Scrum, but I suspect that will be after the sun has died.
10. What aspects do we need to consider to create a Scrum contract with a client?
I would recommend the webinar “Agile Contracting.” http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
11. Can someone talk about backlog refinement, sizing of work items, and demonstration in terms of Agile manufacturing?
We have to in order to make evidence-based decisions. Please replay the slide on Boeing’s 737 manufacturing process, current challenges and next steps, from the Scrum Alliance Learning Consortium webinar: https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/learning-consortium/learning- consortium-webinars/joe-justice-on-agile-manufacturing The 45-minute webinar “Extreme Manufacturing” may also be useful to you in this case: http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
12. How does Rocket bunny-scale their production to mass produce parts after the initial rapid prototyping?
In this case, the rapid prototyping method is the mass-manufacturing method. In my own hobby car company, WikiSpeed, we use the same technique. If a machine can produce one foam mold a day, we add a machine in parallel. With ten machines in parallel, each run by a Scrum team, more parts could be made than cars of a given type Ferrari sells in a year. The machine used by team WikiSpeed to do this is $2,700. I’d recommend watching the “eXtreme Manufacturing” webinar to dive more deeply: http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
13. Any examples of established automotive companies (OEMs) doing Scrum, e.g., BMW?
I am not aware of any automotive manufacturer that doesn’t have at least some Scrum, in software or management or marketing. In manufacturing, Johnson Controls has it in their Seating division. Volvo does in their platform design. Tesla almost does, they are super-close with some known stable interfaces and modularity, but not across the entire product. To all Tesla employees: In my opinion your companies is inches from being even more amazing. I invite you to enroll in our CSM® class here: http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
14. Have you seen distributed/remote Scrum teams in manufacturing companies, and if so what successes or challenges have they experienced?
I have. The challenges are of the same variety as [for] software teams: having similar setups in each site aids remote pairing. Good video chat etiquette and a video chat portal that’s always on aids team building, which ramps up velocity. Version control of the CAD files to machine form is just as important as version control of the code base for distributed software teams, in my experience. I’d recommend the 45-minute webinar “Distributed Scrum” at http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/.
And, to implement it, I will invite you to attend our “Scrum at Scale” course. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
15. Changing the way we do things might be faster than changing the actual factory machinery having investment/ROI periods of years. What advice would you give to someone who defers Scrum introduction with the long ROI of machinery?
The cost-of-delay calculation will of course let you know when it makes sense to invest in new machinery and disrupt competition versus the cost
of being disrupted by a competitor who emerges having already implemented XMfg. If the time to invest is not yet, organizing management and Lean cells using Scrum still fits with no change in machinery. For that, I’d recommend starting with a “Scrum Leadership Workshop” to establish the beginning of your Scrum-in-hardware transformation. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-consulting-coaching/
16. How can a ScrumMaster with no manufacturing experience start working with manufacturing companies?
We are asked this almost every week — the demand for hardware Scrum experts greatly exceeds the supply! To get started, I’d recommend our “Scrum in Hardware, Train the Trainer” course. I’d also recommend watching about eight hours of “How It’s Made” and touring as many factories as will entertain your request. While that’s happening, make sure you have a current CSM and CSPO® certification. Since the clients are going to ask you how the Scrum teams coordinate, also enroll in a Scrum at Scale class. Then start filling in, if you haven’t already, your CSC and/or CST® application, and come on in to our Scrum in Hardware Train the Trainer class. Then, I do believe, you will be well prepared to rock the socks off many types of hardware companies. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
17. Is extreme manufacturing a useful option for a production line that is relatively stable, e.g., producing dairy products? Or is it just for R&D/new product development?
Yes. I’ve worked with people scrumming in poultry production, wine making, and breakthrough emerging industries. The product owner of the given product determines if the goal is more regular production rate, lowest cost production, faster rate, shorter introduction time and line change over time, lower defects, enhanced ergonomics, a combination thereof, or something else entirely. With a trained and engaged product owner, any of these targets can be pursued, and very quickly. I’ll invite you to email [email protected] with your particular context.
18. Fascinating overview, and we are (many of us) sold on the idea. But what is also of interest are the loggerheads you have found yourself facing in particular sectors, or specific manufacturing instances. In what cases is eXtreme not quite ready for prime time? What inroads has eXtreme manufacturing made in highly regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals and diagnostics manufacturing? That is, in cases where it is not leadership mindset but rather federal regulations that constrain ways in which processes are viewed — e.g., requiring design history files, expensive submissions for process change, multiplicity of suppliers for key intermediates in an ultimate manufacturing process, and other such practices that tremendously constrain flexibility.
For regulatory compliance, I’d recommend the 45-minute webinar “Agile Testing.” http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/
For skeptics in the company, nothing is more passion-building then showing a Lean cell or a line doubling production with the same resources and lower variance. I’d say find permission to apply it rigorously on a precious product the skeptics care a whole lot about. For help, please see our leadership workshop: http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-consulting- coaching/
19. Did you show this to NASA? What was their comment?
NASA employees have contacted us, but we have not yet conducted a Scrum transformation there. However, in commercial and military aerospace, Scrum in hardware is becoming the norm. I’ll add — after seeing several teams jump up and down celebrating double or higher velocity as the sticky note labeled “Kill Vehicle” moved to the “Done” column — that I’d love to work with research and exploration missions at NASA, just to feel fully human again.
20. Can you speak more about importance of morale to increasing velocity and the happiness metric? What does this look like, how is it measured?
I’d recommend the 45-minute webinar on “Agile Metrics” (http://www.scruminc.com/scrumlab-prime/), and then Niki Harre’s work as dean of psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and the Harvard Business Press book Happiness.
21. Is there any value in integrating Scrum into the tenets, teaching, and even certification requirements of other disciplines, such as PMP?
I would believe so. Kiro Harada, a well-known Toyota Production System trainer, continually refreshes his Scrum skill and teaches test-driven
development as a nonnegotiable for speeding up production. The PMI groups I’ve spoken to are already in love with the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner credential and want to see more of this team-based delivery and inspect-then-adapt approach across the older PMI methods. For folks interested in making this happen, please attend a Certified ScrumMaster class so we can establish common vocabulary and methods to attack this systematically. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses- list/
22. How do we deal with cost changes through the implementation of Agile and Scrum through the process implementation? Normally, companies have a lot of resistance to make the switch because of this reason.
One of the Scrum Inc. team members just returned from conducting an Agile transformation that started with nine teams. All nine have exceeded five times their velocity. To the company, that’s the value of adding 225 additional headcount. The benefits pay for themselves so quickly I rarely see this blocking an adoption.
For companies on the fence, the cost-of-delay calculation typically makes the case. For training in the cost-of-delay calculation and other essential product owner tools, I’ll invite you to our Certified Product Owner® class: http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
23. Does Agile manufacturing work with machine service or maintenance?
Mission Bell Winery does this in machine service and maintenance in addition to wine production, cellar operations, wine making, labeling, polyphenolics research, and others. The machine services group report increased team happiness, zero ISO 9001 defects, and over double velocity. I’d recommend visiting their facility if you can make the field trip to Madera, California. For help booting it up in your division, I’ll invite you to one of our Certified ScrumMaster classes. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
24. Does the Scrum framework need "adaptation" for mechanical teams, and do they need more complicated adaptation than software teams?
The best I’ve seen so far, the Scrum framework — the way the teams work — is identical in hardware or software. Then, just as software teams use Scrum to add excellent technical practices, like shared ownership of the solution, pairing, swarming, user stories, test-driven development, etc., hardware teams do the same. The practices I’m seeing most hardware teams pull in are recorded in eXtreme manufacturing and taught as part of that curriculum. For software teams, they typically get this by bringing in an expert XP (eXtreme Programming) coach.
25. Our production employees do not show commitment to the company. They come in, work eight hours to make money, and leave for home. Do I need to change the staff to successfully introduce Agile/Scrum manufacturing?
Many production facilities have this situation and suspect the situation might not be changeable. I have not yet seen an XMfg transformation require even one layoff. The method puts equal value on increasing production velocity and increasing employee morale, which, according to Harvard’s current research on happiness, are both required for sustained, increased performance. Employees tend to resonate with that.
Please rewatch the section of the webinar on Mission Bell’s Scrum transformation launch, where Eric Mardella invites all staff, including the janitor, to a fancy lunch and asks them to write as many ideas as they might like of missions and goals to make the winery faster or happier, and stick them on the walls. This became his actual backlog, after he prioritized them, for the winery staff to work on in Scrum teams. No wonder the winery staff reported increased happiness at work while the business metrics continue to climb.
26. Some types of products benefit by batch production, and the machinery required are large and the investment required is sometimes very huge. If we have to form Scrum teams and need to provide such machinery parallel to teams, it would require a huge investment and not really get the required ROI. How do we overcome this?
This varies with the specific machine. I’ll invite you to attend a Certified ScrumMaster class in Seattle, where we can walk through machine types and their solutions. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum- courses-list/
27. Can you explain the advantage of using the Delphi method above other estimation techniques, as Planning Poker or Silent Grouping?
This is taught as a core part of every Scrum Inc. Certified ScrumMaster class, I’ll invite you to attend as soon as is practical. The CliffsNotes version is that the Delphi method returns what statisticians call the maximum likelihood estimate in the same or less time. It is, statistically, the most accurate form of estimation humans know how to do right now. How and why takes longer to walk through, and we’ll go through together in class. I’ll add that, to your point, some coaches are able to conduct Planning Poker in a way that is the Delphi method; but many coaches who do not know the Delphi method miss the maximum likelihood estimate, conducting something they will also call planning poker. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
28. I see that in a new company, working in Scrum from scratch, that you do not need as many managers. But in a classical company, you have a lot of managers who are concerned that they are not needed anymore when company introduces Scrum, and they block the introduction. What perspective should we give these managers? (I could see that they could evolve to either product owner or ScrumMaster).
Bleeding knowledge out of the company by releasing headcount is one of the most expensive mistakes a company can make. These folks need guidance and training so that they can choose to be effective development team members, ScrumMasters, or product owners. If none of those three fit, then it’s true they would have to opt out of the company. But as more and more companies [go] Scrum, they are likely to be faced with the same choice to learn and evolve or jump ship again and again, until they take a good hard look at what is important to them at work. Succeeding or failing as a team, or clinging to a broken mindset that statistically has led to nine projects out of ten being late and over budget, across all industries.
29. What effects does it have that two cooperating teams, an embedded software team and a mechanical team, are both using Scrum?
The synergy can be strong. In an earlier question response, I mentioned a set of cruise missile teams, among others, who took this even a step further and have cross-functional teams of software (including embedded) and hardware (including fabrication and production). In the case you mentioned, to start, we can expect the embedded software team and the mechanical team to both double velocity or higher. To coordinate them, I’d like to invite you to a Scrum at Scale course. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/
30. How do Scrum teams in a manufacturing environment find time to work on projects while also [remaining] focused on their line responsibilities?
The backlog of work for the team includes the line responsibilities along with user stories to increase team happiness and velocity. The team’s product owner prioritizes that backlog, daily, to keep the most important stuff at the top and keep interference out. To be called Scrum, a product owner must prioritize and the teams must complete one “kaizen” to increase happiness and velocity once per sprint, which in Scrum is a maximum of a calendar month.
31. What is the biggest difference between internal and external Scrum maintenance?
I’m afraid I don’t understand the question. Please attend a Certified ScrumMaster class with me and ask the question with your team through your Learning Backlog, and we’ll get to the bottom of it together. http://www.scruminc.com/scrum-training/scrum-courses-list/