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Overview of Kanban

Home Why Kanban? Overview of Kanban

Origin

Kanban, a widely used Agile framework, optimizes business workflows by visualizing tasks, limiting WIP, and enhancing efficiency. Originating in the 1940s as part of Toyota’s Production System, it used Kanban cards to manage inventory and reduce waste. Just-in-Time (JIT) production further refined Kanban by ensuring products were made only to meet demand. Today, Kanban’s principles of workflow visualization and continuous improvement make it a powerful tool for managing processes across various industries.

Kanban Application Areas

Kanban extends beyond manufacturing to industries like software development, healthcare, retail, and education. It enhances workflows in task management, workflow automation, business process management, inventory control, operations, production planning, IT service management, and escalation management.

Kanban is widely used in customer service, finance, IT, HR, marketing, sales, strategy, design, product management, project management, operations, legal, and compliance. Digital Kanban tools offer AI-powered templates, simplifying workflow setup. By optimizing task tracking and automation, Kanban streamlines operations, boosts efficiency, and enhances productivity across industries.

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Kanban Principles

Kanban principles provide a structured yet flexible approach to workflow management, enabling teams to optimize processes, foster collaboration, and drive continuous improvement.

  1. Empirical Process Control: Decisions are based on observation and data. Organizations refine current workflows using Kanban to minimize resistance to change and support continuous improvement.
  2. Iterative or Incremental Development: Changes are implemented incrementally, allowing for course corrections based on stakeholder feedback and evolving workflow understanding.
  3. Collaborative Leadership: Leadership is encouraged at all organizational levels, fostering a culture of shared responsibility, open communication, and continuous learning.
  4. Value-based Prioritization: Work is prioritized based on the value it delivers to customers, with a focus on understanding customer needs, business value, risks, and dependencies.
  5. Self-Organization: Teams are empowered to manage their responsibilities autonomously, promoting accountability, motivation, and effective decision-making.
  6. Visualization or Transparency: Workflows are made visible through tools like the Kanban Board and Backlog, enhancing transparency, identifying areas for improvement, and enabling data-driven decisions.

By integrating these principles, Kanban supports agile, efficient, and customer-centric workflows, benefiting industries like software development, marketing, operations, finance, and healthcare. This approach ensures productivity, adaptability, and continuous improvement.

Kanban Artifacts, Metrics, and Reports

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Kanban artifacts help teams visualize workflows, optimize processes, and enhance efficiency. Key artifacts include the Kanban Workflow, Kanban Backlog, and Kanban Board, which support transparency, task management, and continuous improvement for high business value delivery.

A Kanban Workflow outlines task progression from initiation to completion, promoting transparency and efficiency through visualization on the Kanban Board. This helps teams identify bottlenecks, reduce waste, and enhance productivity. The Kanban Backlog stores tasks and task groups, ensuring flexibility and adaptability to changing priorities. The Kanban Board plays a central role in managing workflows, tracking progress, and facilitating continuous improvement. Workflows may involve multiple boards, task groups, and activities supporting service delivery or product development. Tasks are assigned action items completed by team members, ensuring structured execution and streamlined processes for achieving business goals efficiently and effectively.

Kanban reports provide insights into workflows, progress, risks, and inefficiencies, helping organizations optimize processes. Key metrics like Work in Progress (WIP), Aging Work in Progress, Cycle Time, Throughput, Lead Time, Takt Time, Queue Length, and Flow Efficiency guide decision-making. These reports support resource allocation, process improvements, and workflow stability while ensuring commitments to time, cost, quality, risk, and scope. By leveraging data-driven insights, teams enhance efficiency, minimize bottlenecks, and streamline operations for continuous improvement and better customer satisfaction.

Kanban Processes

Kanban processes are iterative and adaptive activities that visualize work, limit work in progress (WIP), and optimize efficiency for workflow management. However, Kanban processes are generally not sequential but are rather iterative in nature and may overlap with one another. For ease of understanding, Kanban processes are grouped under three phases as shown below.

Phase Kanban Processes

1. Set-up Kanban Implementation Phase

The Set-Up Phase in Kanban includes processes related to initiating a workflow or initiative.
  1. Form Kanban Team:Forming a Kanban Team involves assembling key roles like the Product Owner, Kanban Manager, and team members who drive workflow execution and continuous improvement, ensuring effective management of the Kanban Workflow.
  2. Optimize Workflows:The team reviews existing workflows or designs new ones to improve efficiency. They identify improvements, define process policies, and set work-in-progress (WIP) limits to ensure a smooth, balanced workflow.

2. Execute Phase

The Execute Phase in Kanban includes processes related to managing work within a Kanban Workflow and facilitating the deployment of completed deliverables.
  1. Get Work Done:The Kanban Team identifies and prioritizes tasks, visualizing them on the Kanban Board. By limiting WIP, managing flow, and making process policies explicit, teams optimize efficiency and ensure smooth workflow execution.
  2. Reporting and Analytics:Metrics and reports generate insights for workflow improvement. Kanban reports provide a structured way to visualize and analyze key performance metrics.
  3. Release: This process marks the culmination of work items transitioning through the workflow, ensuring deliverables meet quality and readiness criteria before deployment.

3. Review and Improve Phase

The Review and Improve phase includes processes related to reviewing completed deliverables, evaluating the team’s performance, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing changes to optimize flow and efficiency.

  1. Review Completed Deliverables: The Kanban Team presents completed deliverables to the Product Owner and stakeholders for review and acceptance in this optional process.
  2. Conduct Retrospectives:Regular retrospectives allow teams to reflect on past work cycles, discuss successes and challenges, and identify actionable improvements to enhance future performance and workflow efficiency.

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