Kanban

Notes

• Kanban is a method that enables teams to visualize their work. By doing so, they handle better bottlenecks, waste, and chaos because people benefit from the power of visual information.

• It dates back to the first half of the 20th century when Taiich Ohno applied it in Toyota Production System (TPS). After that, many other fields, especially software and product development, applied the Kanban logic.

• You can design a Kanban-based process following five principles:

  1. Visualize your workflow using a Kanban board and cards.
  2. Limit the amount of work in process (WIP) to avoid multitasking.
  3. Manage the flow of work and monitor performance. Implement necessary improvements, and fix problems as they occur.
  4. Set the rules and guidelines of your flow, for example, following Pull Principle.
  5. Improve continuously and collaboratively.

• You can mix Kanban with Agile and Lean. Since Kanban is a method to manage workflow, any practices that can be thought of as steps or conditions of completing steps fit with Kanban.

Backlinks

• The Principles of Product Development Flow
• Enhance the Effectiveness of WIP Constraints by Cross-Training Workers
• Kanban Uses WIP Constraints to Control the Cycle Time
• Queues in Product Development
• The Kanban System Doesn't Make Assumptions About the Location of Bottlenecks