Alchemetrics achieves higher productivity, more visibility of work & closer team collaboration.

Implementation of Kanban

When and How Did You Decide To Implement Kanban?

Q4 2015. We identified that as a business our PM methodology needed to adapt to better manage the more frequently changing client requirements.

What Business Functions Have you Implemented Kanban In?

Client Services (Helpdesk) and Development (IT & Software).

What Benefits have you Experienced due to Implementing Kanban?

More visibility of work, its status and where our blockages are. Higher productivity/output of cards. Closer team collaboration between Client Services and Development. Teams have become more multi-skilled.

Does your Organization use Any Other Scaled Agile Methods Such as Scrum of Scrums, Disciplined Agile, Safe, Others?

We don’t use Scaled Agile methods. Within the Development team, what we have implemented is more like “Scrumban” than pure Kanban – whereby cards are prioritised into 2 week delivery cycles.

How did SwiftKanban Help?

When did your Organization Start using SwiftKanban?

End 2015/ early 2016

Which Other Tools did you Evaluate Before Selecting SwiftKanban?

Trello, Smartsheet, Jira & Leankit.

What Are Some Of The Key Strengths And Weaknesses Of SwiftKanban That you Would Like To Highlight?

Aligned with Kanban University; Very comprehensive analytics; very configurable to your team needs; Good Help guide; Regular software updates/bug fixes; Friendly customer service; Flexible fee packages.

What Are Some Ways, If Any, In Which SwiftKanban has Made you and your Team More Effective?

This is hard to quantify as we had no meaningful metrics before SwiftKanban, other than Helpdesk monthly card/ticket counts. I would say though that the teams have much more visibility on who is working on what and who, if anyone, is overloaded and needs help. There is more collaboration between team members.

More Specifically, can you Share Any Metrics – Such as Lead Time, Throughput or Flow Efficiency – That You Have Seen Improvements as a Result of Using Kanban and SwiftKanban, and by How Much?

As mentioned above, we had no metrics prior to SwiftKanban other than card Throughput. Unfortunately, we have archived the 2015 Helpdesk stats from prior to Kanban implementation so I can’t give specifics – (however I can say that ) Throughput has increased.

Would you Recommend SwiftKanban To Others? If Yes, Could You List the Top 3 Reasons For Doing So?

Yes I would/ have recommended SwiftKanban. Hard to identify top 3 reasons – Configurability; Analytics; Ease of Use; Competitively priced… I know that’s 4!