PM for non IT business

Question

I am a software developer and am familiar with Scrum. However, I have also started a very different type business. I raise different types of poultry for the fine dining industry. I don't think Scrum will help me increase my productivity. I have been looking at Kanban and wondered if it might be a better fit. Am I on the right track or is there a better methodology?

I understand that the day to day operations are a production issue but constant improvement is a project management issue. For example when housing thousands of animals in a building what is the best method, i.e. different cages, lighting, bedding, building layout. The type of poultry industry that I am involved in is not state of the art anymore than the car manufacturing business is. New methods and technologies are always on the horizon and those that can adapt them to there business model most effectively will be the winners.

Answer 1

I think you're on the right track. KANBAN is suggested for an assembly-line type of process. It would really work for you if your operations are aligned in that way.

Moreover, there could be some processes which you may find difficult to manage or monitor with KANBAN as it does not have feedback. In such cases you may think to club it with your knowledge of SCRUM!

Rest is all upto you. Design a process that suits your purpose.

Answer 2

Every project needs to be managed, and to manage it you need to define your goal/aim. Once your aim/goals are defined you can formulate a strategy/project plan.

Answer 3

TL;DR

You shouldn't be looking at project management, except possibly for inspiration. What you are really talking about is process engineering.

Projects vs. Process

Projects are generally understood to have a defined duration and a set of exit criteria. Processes, on the other hand, can be ongoing. A project contains processes, and project management is typically understood to be the art of applying controls to those processes. A process, on the other hand, can exist independently of a managed project.

In your case, you might find some of the process controls from Kanban or Lean Manufacturing to be useful in designing your processes. However, you don't necessarily need the whole framework if all you want to do is apply some of the controls and principles to your own processes.

Process Engineering

Designing or modifying a process is the domain of process engineering. Many of the agile principles are useful in process engineering. For example:

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

This is the core tenet that is often restated as the "inspect-and-adapt" cycle, and I certainly recommend adopting it to ensure that you periodically review the operational effectiveness of your controls.

There are also other principles lifted from Kanban, Lean, and Scrum that may help you. These principles include:

• Reducing different kinds of waste (muda, muri, and mura).
• Optimizing for throughput instead of utilization.
• Reducing cycle times.
• Making procedures measurable and repeatable.
• Ensuring processes and procedures are testable.

Whole books have been written on process engineering, so this can only scratch the surface. As long as you inspect-and-adapt, though, you can't help but benefit from the empirical knowledge you gain from any process or control you apply.

Answer 4

I understand that the day to day operations are a production issue but constant improvement is a project management issue. For example when housing thousands of animals in a building what is the best method, i.e. different cages, lighting, bedding, building layout. The type of poultry industry that I am involved in is not state of the art anymore than the car manufacturing business is. New methods and technologies are always on the horizon and those that can adapt them to there business model most effectively will be the winners.

As part of general business improvements it helps to look at the issues from a change management perspective, for example through Prosci's approach.

But realistically I would question the need to use a formal methodology, in particular if your operation is small. Better to just follow the basic principles of project management as outlined by the PRINCE2 methodology, namely:

• Tailor the method you use to meet project needs
• Clearly define roles and responsibilities
• Manage the project in stages
• Manage the project by exception (i.e. with clear levels of authority and approval)
• Have a continually justified business case
• Focus on the end products
• Apply lessons learned on past projects