Are you working like a “Conveyor Belt”?

You have likely heard of ‘Fixed Mindset’ and ‘Growth Mindset’. Have you ever heard about “Conveyor Belt Mindset”? The “Conveyor Belt Mindset” is a widespread phenomenon observed in most Agile Teams. Or instead, in the teams that call themselves Agile.

Common Symptoms

1. The product team assigns the work to the team, and the team then queues and completes it. Sometimes, the “pushed work” can also lead to over-burdening.

2. The managers monitor resource utilization. Of course, running an empty conveyor belt is a waste of money. It’s better to stop it. But how can we ask the team not to come to work for a few days if there are not many tasks to keep them busy?

3. All work, regardless of size, dimensions, fragility, complexity, or any other variable, is queued in the same line. Due to heavy workloads, the conveyor belt may run slowly, which can be frustrating.

4. If any work gets stuck or blocked in the middle, the conveyor belt continues to operate. The team pushes the blocked work to the side so that the rest of the items can pass through. The blocked work remains “blocked” until “forgotten.”

5. The team may discuss the value of the work on the conveyor belt. But it does not matter. There is no way to reverse the direction of the conveyor belt.

The Impact

1. Loss of interest in the work, which in turn causes delays, poor quality, and stress.

2. There is no growth, as the team should be 100% utilized with no time to think creatively about completing the work. Perhaps utilizing AI could be a solution. Will it be?

3. Focus on output rather than outcomes.

4. Lack of customer service orientation.

5. The team works for the manager and not to create value for the customers. The manager gets promoted, and the team remains unchanged, as they are heavily dependent on the manager.

6. The team resigns or is “asked to resign.”

7. Businesses and clients suffer.

Cure

Some of the Kanban practices work best to cure the “Conveyor Belt Mindset.” Below is a list of some of the benefits of applying Kanban Practices:

1. Convert the “push-based” system to a “pull-based” system. Apply the WIP (Work-In-Progress) limits to create a pull mechanism. The “pull-based” systems create self-managed and self-organized teams. The WIP limits help “unburden” the team. When unburdened and with less context-switching, the team regains focus and thinks creatively to find better ways of working.

2. Before “pushing” the work, the product owners and stakeholders understand the available capacity. The prioritization framework is then applied to first identify the work that generates the most value for the customer and, hence, the business.

3. The team can visualize the end-to-end workflow from idea to delivery to the customer. The focus shifts from “completing the work” to “delivering value to the customer.” The team silos disappear, and more collaboration takes place.

4. The team and the manager focus on optimizing the “flow of work.” The team/manager generates the metrics “that make sense.” The lead time distribution, control charts, and other metrics help establish the “well-kept” service level expectations for the customer.

5. Invisible work, delays, dependencies, and blockers become visible. The team creates explicit policies to keep the blocker moving and not sidelined.

To sum up

The best part is that anyone can easily apply these Kanban practices to any existing framework. Once applied, the Kanban practices bring an evolutionary change to the team. The mindset of both customers and team members changes to a growth mindset. Although there may still be a “conveyor belt,” the teams have set up additional conveyor belts to segregate the work by type, size, complexity, and other factors. The conveyor belts can now stop as needed, and the manager does not raise their voice. There is a tremendous improvement in the bond between the manager and the team. The conveyor belt now has multiple stations to handle dependencies on other teams. The conveyor belt starts working as a network of services (delivered to the customer) rather than just being a “belt.”