Kanban Game, with Kevin Ottens

Summary

Our community has been doing unholy things with sticky notes for a few years now. We're also using Kanboard on one of our servers. But do we really know what this Kanban thing is about? This workshop will try to clarify our views on it.

Abstract

We've been playing with tasks, sticky notes (virtual or real) and boards for a while now. It is time to get a better grasp at it. This will be the goal of this workshop on Kanban.

During a short introduction, we'll cover the main concepts of the Kanban approach and debunk some common misconceptions.

The second and main part of the workshop will be the simulation of a Kanban system using a game. Thanks to it, you will be able to gain a better understanding of the concepts behind the Kanban approach and how it can be used for our purposes.

It will be a nice and playful way to get a better understanding at what Kanban really is and how it works.

NOTE: Due to the nature of this workshop, the number of seats for the game will be limited to six persons. More can attend and learn but only a few will be able to play.

Host bio

Kevin Ottens is a long term contributor of the KDE community. He focused for a long while on libraries API design and architecture, ultimately leading to his work in KDE Frameworks. Graduating in 2007, he owns a PhD in computer science which led him to particularly work on ontologies engineering and multi-agent systems. In 2012, he participated in the creation of the KDE Manifesto. Nowadays he spends time rethinking his job via a strong interest in software craftsmanship. Kevin's job at KDAB includes the responsibility of community liaison with KDE. He still lives in Toulouse where he serves as part time teacher in his former university.