David J Anderson is the pioneer in the use of kanban systems for improved service delivery in professional services and creative, knowledge work businesses. He is the originator of the Kanban Method and Enterprise Services Planning for improved service delivery; co-creator of the Fit-for-Purpose Framework for strategy, market research, marketing and organizational measurement, management trainer and consultant; and popular conference speaker and presenter.

David is the author of the books Kanban Maturity Model: Evolving Fit-for-Purpose Organizations, Fit for Purpose: How Modern Businesses Find, Satisfy & Keep Customers, Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business, Lessons in Agile Management, and Agile Management for Software Engineering.

¨Flow is the wicked pursuit of soulless zombies¨, Aristotle**

Achieving smooth flow of work is a necessary capability, a step on an improvement journey, but without purpose, it is without meaning, and without an understanding of a virtuous outcome, it is never ending. Without realization of a virtuous outcome it is the wicked work, of those who toil without purpose. Flow in and of itself is without soul.

To inject soul into your organization, you must lead with purpose, there must be meaning to work. To understand whether your toil is virtuous, you must have a definition of a satisfactory outcome - your flow must produce service delivery that is fit-for-purpose. Together the Kanban Maturity Model and the Fit-for-Purpose Framework can help you define purpose, understand virtue, and put soul into your organization.

** Aristotle didn´t actually say this, I am paraphrasing from Plato´s Republic Book 4, and Aristotle´s De Anima

Simple Dependency Management: Stop tying yourself in knots

Scaling Agile and effective dependency management have proven mutually exclusive. The state-of-the-art method seems to involve putting 900-1000 people in a sports arena in Germany once every three months and asking them to spend 3 days on analysis activities to map all of the dependencies for the next 3 months of release planning. Large quantities of red string are consumed as they tie themselves in knots.

There is a better, faster, cheaper way! Kanban offers an elegant solution for dependency management that is more effective and costs about 15% of the time, energy and cash, you´ll spend on scaled agile.

First you must discard timeboxed sprints, embrace flow, instrument, measure and report lead times, implement a simple dynamic reservation system, then use triage tables to determine classes of service based on cost of delay, and classes of dependency management based on class of service and customer expectations.

It´s all explained on two simple infographic posters or implemented using a simple mobile application. Just-in-time dependency management, when you need it, where you need it, in the palm of your hand, at your fingertips, and at a fraction of the cost of existing alternatives.