A Closer Look at the CIPSA Kanban Framework – Practical, Hands-on Kanban at Scale

Many organizations and teams choose Kanban. In fact, in my work such as preparing professional courses, certifications or writing management books, I personally use certain aspects of Kanban. There are dates I’ve to meet, which may not be every week or two weeks, but release will happen on a cadence. The work is mostly iterative and incremental. In this way, it becomes Kanban, a Lean-Agile approach.

ManagementYogi's CIPSA Framework is practical and hands-on. It uses MS Project Agile software, which provides both Scrum and Kanban capabilities. The CIPSA framework uses both Scrum and Kanban at the team level. In this post, we will learn more on CIPSA Kanban Framework.

The CIPSA Kanban Framework

The CIPSA Kanban framework extends the team level Kanban and will have the following artifacts, events and roles.

CIPSA Kanban Artifacts: There are three artifacts:

• Product Backlog, 
• CIPSA Kanban Backlog, and
• CIPSA Integrated Increment.

All individual Kanban teams use a single Product Backlog. The Backlog items are distributed across the teams. 

A CIPSA Kanban Backlog is built during the CIPSA Kanban Planning event, and it's the sum of all work done by individual Kanban teams for the upcoming release. The release is usually based on a cadence. Some CIPSA practitioners call the CIPSA Kanban Backlog as a CIPSA Kanban Program Backlog. 

The third artifact is the CIPSA Integrated Increment, which is the sum of all integrated work from all Kanban teams and is given at the end of the release. 

CIPSA Kanban Events: There are Six Events in CIPSA Kanban framework: 

• Cross-Team Backlog Refinement,
• The Release,  
• CIPSA Kanban Planning,
• CIPSA Daily Stand-ups, 
• CIPSA Kanban Review, and 
• CIPSA Kanban Retrospective. 

CIPSA Kanban Roles: There are two distinct roles in CIPSA Kanban Framework complementing the accountabilities at the individual team level. They are: 

• Chief Product Owner (CPO) or Chief Service Request Manager (CSRM)
• If you are building a large product, then it’d be a CPO. On the other hand, if you are offering a large service-based solution, then it’d be a CSRM.
• Sometimes, the CPO and CSRM can be interchangeably used.
• Principal Flow Master (PFM). 

At the individual team level, there will be Product Owner (or Service Request Manager), Flow Master and Developers. 

The CIPSA Kanban Framework – Graphical

The CIPSA Kanban framework is shown in the below figure. 

The CIPSA Kanban Framework – Interactions

A single Product Backlog with ordered items is continuously refined with cross-team members as part of the Cross-Team Backlog Refinement meta-event or meeting. The Product Backlog with the is presented by the CPO or CSRM in the CIPSA Kanban Planning event of the upcoming release. In this meeting, a CIPSA Kanban Backlog (CIPSA Kanban Program Backlog) is created with the Product Backlog items that can be delivered by multiple teams in the upcoming release. 

Post CIPSA Kanban Planning meeting, for each team, an individual team level Kanban Planning event takes place. This results in a Team Kanban Backlog, for each team. 

Next, each team begins to work on the respective Team Kanban Backlog items. The CIPSA Daily Stand-up meta-event happens regularly, and it’s preceded by an individual team-level Daily Stand-up for the individual Kanban teams. 

In the CIPSA Kanban Review meeting, a CIPSA Integrated Increment is presented to the entire CIPSA team and needed stakeholders. The CIPSA Kanban Review meeting replaces the individual Team Kanban Reviews. 

The last event for CIPSA Kanban Framework is CIPSA Kanban Retrospective. Here the CIPSA team reflects on the effectiveness of the CIPSA team as a whole and determines the improvements that can be taken-up. This meeting is preceded by Team Kanban Retrospective, which is specific to the individual teams.  

Video: The CIPSA Kanban Framework

The video below [duration: 05m:56s], explains the CIPSA Kanban Framework with some more points. 

Conclusion

As you’re coming to the end of this article, you’d have noticed that naming convention changes based on the framework being used – Scrum or Kanban. For example, CIPSA Planning meta-event is called CIPSA Sprint Planning, whereas for Kanban it’s called CIPSA Kanban Planning.

Similarly, the CIPSA Sprint Planning meta-event creates the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, whereas in Kanban, we get a CIPSA Kanban Backlog or CIPSA (Kanban) Program Backlog. 

I’m highlighting it as the CIPSA framework is quite simple to understand and follow. However, just knowing the theory won’t really help you much. You also need to know:

• How does it happen in the real-world?
• As a CPO, PSM or PFM, how would you manage a large product or service?
• How to manage a number of Sprints across multiple teams in a simple manner (in CIPSA Scrum)?
• How will the CIPSA meta-events and team events be created?
• How would you track such a plan?

All these will be part of the upcoming CIPSA certification course.

Above all, this article is about a closer look at the CIPSA Kanban Framework. The above video provides a brief explanation to enhance your learning. As recommended in the above video, download the CIPSA Framework Guide to understand more. 

References

[1] Introducing Practical Scaled Agile Framework with CIPSA Certification

[2] New Practical Scaled Agile Framework – The CIPSA Framework Guide

[3] Article, Kanban at Scale: Managing Multiple Teams and Boards with MS Project Agile