Chris Shinkle
Lean & Kanban in a Contracting Environment
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Abstract
Kanban practitioners commonly ask two questions: How can I reliably commit to a date using Kanban? and Is there a lack of perceived schedule pressure in Kanban? People in contracting or service environments must often make commitments to clients with specific delivery dates and cost estimates. We will explore how to make target-driven commitments when managing projects with Lean principles. In addition, we will look at ways to utilize those initial estimates to appropriately set team expectations. The session will show how this encourages innovation within the team leading to process improvements. At the same time providing leading indicators of project status without willfully holding to an unrealistic goal. SEP is a privately held software engineering company located in Indianapolis, IN. It was founded by engineers in 1988 and has grown to include 70+ employees. SEP collaborates with many Fortune 500 companies to develop new software systems and products for business, data and safety critical applications. They offer full lifecycle software solutions to clients in the medical, aerospace, healthcare and national defense markets.
Bio
Chris Shinkle is a Development Manager at Software Engineering Professionals. SEP is a project based developer of software systems and products for business, data and safety critical applications. Chris has worked with SEP for over 12 years in roles ranging from software engineer to recruiter to development manager. He has experience customizing and fitting process models to many different domains including aerospace, defense, medical, consumer electronics, and automotive. He has used Agile and Lean methods to lead large complex projects, most notably, a military aircraft engine monitoring and maintenance system and an FDA regulated remote patient monitoring system. He introduced FDD to SEP in 2004, and then continued to evolve the internal processes and approaches over the following years. In 2007, SEP began to adopt Kanban processes under Chris' guidance, as he trained and mentored engineers across the company. Currently, more than 10 different projects are using pull-based approaches. Chris is a graduate of Purdue University and resides in Indianapolis with his wife and two sons.