Abstract
We developed an event-driven simulator of the Kanban process a WIP limited pull system visualized by the Kanban board. WIP (work in process) represent the capacity in the activity to perform features simoultaneously. The simulator is fully object-oriented, and its design model reflects the objects of the Lean software development domain. We used this simulator to assess comparatively WIP-limited and unlimited processes. We also studied the optimum values of the working item limits in the activities, using a paradigmatic case of 4 activities and 100 work items. The cost function used is equal to the total time needed to complete the project, plus a weighted sum of the limits themselves. We performed an exhaustive search on all the admissible values of the solution, finding sensible optimal values, and a non-trivial behavior of the cost function in the optimization space.
This demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of the approach.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Poppendieck, M., Poppendieck, T.: Lean software development: An agile toolkit. Addison Wesley, Boston (2003)
Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T., Roos, D.: The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production. Harper Business, New York (1991)
Anderson D.J.: Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business. Blue Hole Press (2010)
Kellner, M., Madachy, R.J., Raffo, M.: Software process simulation modeling: Why? What? How. Journal of Systems and Software 45, 91–105 (1999)
Zhang, H., Kitchenham, B., Pfahl, D.: Reflections on 10 years of software process simulation modeling: A systematic review. In: Wang, Q., Pfahl, D., Raffo, D.M. (eds.) ICSP 2008. LNCS, vol. 5007, pp. 345–356. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Martins, K., Lewandrowski, U.: Inventory safety stocks of Kanban control systems. Production Planning and Control 10, 520–529 (1999)
Huang, P.Y., Rees, L.P., Taylor, B.W.: A simulation analysis of the Japanese just-in-time technique (with kanbans) for a multiline, multistage production system. Decision Sciences 14, 326–344 (1983)
Hurrion, R.D.: An example of simulation optimisation using a neural network metamodel: finding the optimum number of kanbans in a manufacturing system. Journal of the Operational Research Society 48, 1105–1112 (1997)
Kchel, P., Nielnder, U.: Kanban Optimization by Simulation and Evolution. Production Planning & Control 13, 725–734 (2002)
Hao, Q., Shen, W.: Implementing a hybrid simulation model for a Kanban-based material handling system. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing 24, 635–646 (2008)
Melis, M., Turnu, I., Cau, A., Concas, G.: Evaluating the Impact of Test-First Programming and Pair Programming through Software Process Simulation. Software Process Improvement and Practice 11, 345–360 (2006)
Melis, M., Turnu, I., Cau, A., Concas, G.: Modeling and simulation of open source development using an agile practice. Journal of Systems Architecture 52, 610–618 (2006)
Ladas, C.: Kanban simulation (December 2010), http://www.leansoftwareengineering.com/2008/11/20/kanban/simulation/
Bowden, R.O., Hall, J.D.: Simulation optimization research and development. In: Proc. Winter Simulation Conference (WSC 1998), pp. 1693–1698 (1998)
Ohno T.: Just-In-Time for Today and Tomorrow. Productivity Press (1988)
Cockburn, A.: Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams. Addison Wesley, Reading (2004)
Ladas, C.: Scrumban. Modus Cooperandi Press, Seattle (2008)
Kniberg, H., Skarin, M.: Kanban and Scrum making the most of both, C4Media Inc. (2010)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Anderson, D., Concas, G., Lunesu, M.I., Marchesi, M. (2011). Studying Lean-Kanban Approach Using Software Process Simulation. In: Sillitti, A., Hazzan, O., Bache, E., Albaladejo, X. (eds) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. XP 2011. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 77. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20677-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20677-1_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20676-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20677-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)