Kanban Team Members

Kanban Team Members, also referred to as Developers, Contributors, or Board Members, perform the actual work involved in delivering results to stakeholders. Kanban Team Members can directly create Task Groups and Tasks on the Kanban Board and then implement those tasks to deliver the expected results. They contribute to the overall effectiveness and success of an initiative by consistently and efficiently delivering high-quality products and services.

Some of the key responsibilities of Kanban Team Members include:

1. Visualizing the workflow through the use of a Kanban Board and ensuring that all work items are represented on the board and moved across it to show real-time progress.
2. Adhering to Work in Progress (WIP) limits agreed upon for each stage of the workflow. WIP limits are typically imposed by specifying the maximum number of tasks allowed in a column on the Kanban Board. Team Members focus on completing work before pulling in new items, which helps maintain a balanced flow and prevent work overload.
3. Prioritizing work items, tasks, and task groups on the Kanban Board.
4. Setting dependencies between Task Groups and Tasks and estimating tasks when needed.
5. Managing the workflow by addressing bottlenecks, delays, and dependencies.
6. Communicating openly and collaborating effectively with other team members to share information about the status of work, dependencies, and any issues.
7. Reflecting on the processes, identifying areas for improvement, and experimenting with changes to enhance productivity, quality, and collaboration.
8. Taking ownership of the quality of their work and being accountable for delivering business value to stakeholders by ensuring that work items meet the specified Acceptance Criteria.

Figures 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3 illustrate how the key roles and teams can be set up in various digital Kanban tools:

Figure 3.1: Organization Setup (Source: Airtable)

Figure 3-1 displays the Airtable "Employee onboarding" workspace that tracks team members, roles, emails, teams, onboarding tasks etc. It includes sorting, filtering, color-coding, and sharing features for streamlined onboarding management across Leadership, Engineering, and Marketing.

Figure 3.2: Setting up an Organization for Kanban (Source: Asana)

Figure 3-2 displays the VM Foods Marketing Team workspace on a platform (like Asana) displays an overview with curated work, members (SM, JD, ED), and goals. It allows adding team descriptions, resources, and new goals, facilitating collaboration and progress tracking towards objectives like increasing SEO marketing and improving brand image.

Figure 3 3: Preparing an Organization to adopt Kanban (Source: Vabro)

Figure 3-3 is an interface from Vabro, showing a Kanban template with "Team" details. It features tabs for team selection, fields for assigning Kanban Manager and members, and a comment section with threaded replies, facilitating team collaboration and communication within a Kanban initiative.