Why Is EDI Misunderstood?
WHY IS EDI MISUNDERSTOOD?
Agile EDI
Scrum is one of the most popular methodologies for implementing Agile due to its versatility and ease of use. Its popularity and success have made it widely accepted for managing projects among IT departments. Unfortunately, this two or three-week Sprint format does not properly address EDIs constantly fluctuating priorities and ever-changing requirements.
How Is EDI Different?
An EDI group interacts with every department within the corporation as well as external entities known as trading partners, which could range from tens to hundreds of customers/suppliers. Each project, which is not always clearly outlined, may be initiated by both internal stakeholders or by an external trading partner. This ability to initiate projects combined with prioritization variance between internal stakeholders and trading partners can cause scheduling nightmares, bottle-necks, low sprint completion rates and frustrated stakeholders. For example, it is not unusual for the implementation guides used to define coding parameters to be out of date, which are usually discovered during quality assurance checks...and we’re back to square one...bang forehead here. Enter Kanban.
What is Kanban?
Kanban (also know a Just In Time or JIT) is a scheduling methodology developed by Taiichi Ohno, a Toyota Engineer, who studied the methodology supermarkets were using to stock their shelves. Supermarkets stock just enough product to meet consumer demand, a practice that optimizes the flow between the supermarket and the consumer. As inventory levels match consumption patterns, excess stock is decreased thus making significant gains in efficiency while ensuring consumer needs are always met.
This methodology requires real-time communication and full transparency of work. Work items are represented visually on a Kanban board allowing team members to see the status of every piece of work at any time.
Kanban is based on 3 basic principles:
How is Kanban different from Scrum?
Both Kanban and Scrum focus on releasing software early and often. Both require highly-collaborative and self-managed teams. There are, however, differences between the approaches:
Kanban
Scrum
Agile EDI using Kanban
While the core principles of the framework are timeless and applicable to almost any industry, Kanban can be particularly successful for EDI within the Agile practice. Unlike implementing Kanban on a factory floor, which would involve changes to physical processes and the addition of substantial materials, EDI teams require only a board and cards (and even those can be virtual).
Scrum is one of the most popular methodologies for implementing Agile due to its versatility and ease of use. Its popularity and success have made it widely accepted for managing projects among IT departments. Unfortunately, this two or three-week Sprint format does not properly address EDIs constantly fluctuating priorities and ever-changing requirements.
How Is EDI Different?
An EDI group interacts with every department within the corporation as well as external entities known as trading partners, which could range from tens to hundreds of customers/suppliers. Each project, which is not always clearly outlined, may be initiated by both internal stakeholders or by an external trading partner. This ability to initiate projects combined with prioritization variance between internal stakeholders and trading partners can cause scheduling nightmares, bottle-necks, low sprint completion rates and frustrated stakeholders. For example, it is not unusual for the implementation guides used to define coding parameters to be out of date, which are usually discovered during quality assurance checks...and we’re back to square one...bang forehead here. Enter Kanban.
What is Kanban?
Kanban (also know a Just In Time or JIT) is a scheduling methodology developed by Taiichi Ohno, a Toyota Engineer, who studied the methodology supermarkets were using to stock their shelves. Supermarkets stock just enough product to meet consumer demand, a practice that optimizes the flow between the supermarket and the consumer. As inventory levels match consumption patterns, excess stock is decreased thus making significant gains in efficiency while ensuring consumer needs are always met.
This methodology requires real-time communication and full transparency of work. Work items are represented visually on a Kanban board allowing team members to see the status of every piece of work at any time.
Kanban is based on 3 basic principles:
- Visualization of Workflow: Itemized contextualization is very informative!!
- Limiting the Volume of Work in Progress (WIP): This balances the flow-based approach so teams don’t start and overcommit all at once.
- Enhance Workflow: When an item is complete, the next item from the backlog is prioritized.
How is Kanban different from Scrum?
Both Kanban and Scrum focus on releasing software early and often. Both require highly-collaborative and self-managed teams. There are, however, differences between the approaches:
Kanban
Scrum
- Continuous Delivery
- Timeboxed sprints
- Work is pulled through the system (single piece flow)
- Work is pulled through the system in batches (the sprint backlog)
- Changes can be made at any time
- No changes allowed mid-sprint
- Cycle time
- Velocity
- More appropriate in operational environments with a high degree of variability in priority
- More appropriate in situations where work can be prioritized in batches that can be left alone
Agile EDI using Kanban
While the core principles of the framework are timeless and applicable to almost any industry, Kanban can be particularly successful for EDI within the Agile practice. Unlike implementing Kanban on a factory floor, which would involve changes to physical processes and the addition of substantial materials, EDI teams require only a board and cards (and even those can be virtual).
EDI Terms
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