Kanban Review - with Ryan Metzler

[@Informal_Geek]

Wow, I can't believe someone took an Agile development process and turned it into a game...and made it fun! That person deserves some sort of award. If the sequel game is about Scrum, I'm going to flip my wig.

[@chrisschrader4004]

John Varela Not to be overly pedantic, but Kanban was invented by an engineer at Toyota as an implementation of Just in Time manufacturing. The game is an implementation of that system. It just so happens that common IT executive group-think teaches that software development is just another form of "manufacturing" and the same principles are directly applicable to developing software. I have lived in the world of procedural programming, object oriented programming, and aspect oriented programming using life cycles like Waterfall, Agile Scrum (w/ Kanban principles), paired programming, extreme programming (XP) and others over the years. While Scrum is efficient when managed well, I think the business approach to commoditize (and then marginalize) highly trained, highly skilled technology workers is a shame and Kanban (the concept, not the game) indirectly supports this mentality. I am fascinated by Kanban the game, but I feel compelled to remind folks that it's not an Agile invention, it's really a logistics thought pattern that emphasizes just in time delivery of whatever is needed (whether that be software functionality, car parts, or widgets) with a tendency to drive workers to work harder, more overtime with little reward. The entire system is designed to shame and punish those that make a mistake and interrupt the chain all while expectations to "be more efficient" are increased. Obviously this was a hot-button for me. No offense to the commenter above intended.

[@texastuna]

+Chris Schrader +Chris Schrader Re: "with a tendency to drive workers to work harder, more overtime with little reward. The entire system is designed to shame and punish those that make a mistake and interrupt the chain all while expectations to "be more efficient" are increased." I an engineering / production / operations sense, completely disagree, unless the "Kanban" system is poorly executed / implemented, which is typically the case of people trying to use Toyota-based concepts. Toyota operates on an extreme continuous improvement philosophy that works well with Kanban. The goal is to improve every day to make the system work better. Why would this mean more overtime or penalizing problems? Again, that would only be the case if management has no idea what Kanban actually serves to do. You can't just take one piece out of an overall strategy and expect it to work. Anyway, "Toyota Kata" is a good read on this process. I have no idea how it works in a software development environment, as that doesn't make any sense to me -- so I think I agree with you there. A core mechanic of Kanban is the card system, which signals another piece of the production chain to push their unit forward, for example, which to me only works in a physical production environment with inventory, not digital code. It's a form of lean manufacturing that uses JIT, as you've said.

[@zinxin]

Review starts at 19:38

[@vettels6]

It's pronounced kahn-bahn, not can-ban. Other than that, great review.

[@danielcoore8473]

Good review. I think you should aim to make your reviews more like this one, where you focus on the big picture, and the kinds of things one has to think about while playing; and less on the detailed rules of the game. There seems to be a strong anti-Euro vein running through the Dice Tower, so I usually have to count on you to do a good job, or go somewhere else for a balanced review. (Tom's reviews of Euro games are useful usually only when he likes the game.)

[@rlong007]

Dude your review just blew my mind! I don't know if that was no big deal but man oh man in my group that game would be tough as hell to explain! All in all it really makes me want to play. Especially since it has what appears to be a well intertwined theme.

[@Xipheas]

"Kanban Review - with Ryan Metzler" I love Dice Tower videos, so please take this feedback in the manner it is intended. You call it a review, but this is a verbal description of the game - at no point do you review it! That's what I was looking for, to make a purchasing decision!

[@DemonmachinE]

I would suggest that giving an overview of the mechanisms and gameflow gives you a more informed purchasing decision than him basically saying what he likes and why he likes those elements of a game.

[@Xipheas]

Still, that's a description of the game, not a review, in the same way as describing the plot of a film is different to reviewing the film as a whole.

[@Creshex8]

I’ll need to agree, reading the rules has never given me a true impression of how fun it is until you dive into the game.

[@pincao]

Great Job Ryan. Just one main point of clarification. Rather than at the end of the week, the meeting is triggered at the end of the day, on the day the pace car crosses the checker flag space.

[@rpmetzler]

I probably just mispoke Paul, because I knew that

[@Xipheas]

Ryan Metzler Mispoke? You mean made a mistake :-)

[@rpmetzler]

Sure...whatever you'd like to call it

[@tree_fingers]

these heavy euros scare me. I wouldn't even try one at this point, until I get a ton more experience playing games.

[@omnitheus5442]

It really isn't that heavy. Give it a try if you've played Agricola. About the same weight.

[@GusG_]

+Josh Smith same as agricola? Not even close. 10 times more rules, 10xs more planing needed!

[@Creshex8]

Same as Agricola? Are you NUTS? this is the heaviest game I own, even heavier than Gaia project. This is the only game I own that I’ve read the instructions multiple times and still have not been able to get a group to the table with it.

[@Dr_C_Smith]

Josh Smith This is seriously one of the worst comments I have read online that doesn’t involve the earth being flat.

[@gabrieldomocos7570]

Made it to 5:41 then gave up. what's my reward?