Overview
Kanban is a visual workflow management method that uses boards with columns representing stages of work and cards representing individual tasks, helping teams visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and optimize workflow.
Core Principles
1. Visualize Work
- Make all work visible on the board
- Each task is a card
- Columns represent workflow stages
- See entire workflow at a glance
2. Limit Work in Progress (WIP)
- Set maximum number of tasks per column
- Prevents overcommitment and context switching
- Forces completion before starting new work
- Reveals bottlenecks
3. Manage Flow
- Monitor how work moves through system
- Identify and remove blockers
- Optimize cycle time
- Continuous improvement
4. Make Policies Explicit
- Clear definition of "done" for each stage
- Rules for moving cards between columns
- WIP limits for each column
- Team agreements visible
5. Implement Feedback Loops
- Daily standups reviewing the board
- Regular retrospectives
- Continuous measurement
- Data-driven improvements
6. Improve Collaboratively
- Team-driven improvements
- Experiment with changes
- Evolve the process
- Scientific approach to optimization
Basic Kanban Board Structure
Typical Columns:
- Backlog - All potential work
- To Do - Ready to start
- In Progress - Currently working on (WIP limit: 3)
- In Review - Awaiting review/approval
- Done - Completed work
Common Variations:
- Add "Blocked" column for stuck items
- Split "In Progress" into sub-stages
- Add "Testing" between Review and Done
- Include "On Hold" for paused work
Time Tracking with Kanban
Time Metrics
Cycle Time
- Time from "In Progress" to "Done"
- Measures delivery speed
- Target for optimization
Lead Time
- Time from "To Do" to "Done"
- Full customer perspective
- Includes waiting time
Work in Progress
- Number of active tasks
- Lower WIP = faster flow
- Track over time
Time Tracking Integration
- Add time estimates to cards
- Track actual time spent per card
- Compare estimated vs. actual
- Identify time sinks
- Calculate velocity
- Forecast completion dates
Kanban for Personal Use
Personal Board Columns:
- Ideas
- This Week
- Today
- Doing (WIP: 1-2)
- Done
Personal WIP Limits:
- Today: 3-5 cards max
- Doing: 1-2 cards max
- Forces focus and completion
Team Kanban Practices
Daily Standup
- Stand at the board
- Walk cards right to left (Done → To Do)
- Update card status
- Identify blockers
- 15 minutes max
Replenishment Meeting
- Weekly or bi-weekly
- Move items from Backlog to To Do
- Prioritize upcoming work
- Don't exceed To Do WIP limit
Retrospectives
- Review cycle time trends
- Analyze bottlenecks
- Experiment with WIP limits
- Adjust process
- Trello - Visual, simple, flexible
- Jira - Robust, enterprise features
- Asana - Project management + Kanban
- Monday.com - Customizable workflows
- Notion - Database-powered boards
- ClickUp - All-in-one with Kanban views
Physical Kanban Boards
- Whiteboard with columns
- Sticky notes as cards
- Swim lanes for people/projects
- Dots or magnets for WIP limits
- Highly visible to team
Benefits
- Visual clarity of all work
- Reduced context switching
- Faster completion through WIP limits
- Earlier detection of problems
- Team alignment on priorities
- Data for process improvement
- Flexibility to change priorities
Common Mistakes
No WIP Limits
Without limits, Kanban becomes just a visual to-do list
Too Many Columns
Overly complex board obscures insights
Cards Too Big
Cards should be 1-3 days of work max
Not Moving Cards
Board becomes stale and unreliable
Ignoring Blocked Items
Blocked cards reveal process problems
Advanced Practices
Swim Lanes
Horizontal rows for:
- Different people
- Different projects
- Different priorities
- Different work types
Classes of Service
Different policies for:
- Expedite (urgent, jump queue)
- Fixed date (deadline-driven)
- Standard (normal work)
- Intangible (improvement work)
Service Level Expectations (SLEs)
- X% of work completed in Y days
- Example: "85% of tasks done in 5 days"
- Measured and improved over time
Kanban Metrics
Throughput
Cards completed per week
Cycle Time Distribution
Histogram showing delivery predictability
Flow Efficiency
(Touch time) / (Total time)
Aging Work in Progress
How long current work has been in progress
Integration with Other Methods
With Scrum:
Scrumban - Kanban board with Scrum iterations
With GTD:
Kanban board represents GTD "Next Actions" visually
With Pomodoro:
Use Pomodoro for cards in "Doing" column
With Time Blocking:
Schedule time blocks to work on specific Kanban cards
Use Cases
Kanban excels for:
- Support teams with continuous incoming work
- Marketing teams with varied campaign tasks
- Software development teams
- Personal productivity and task management
- Any process with repeating workflow stages
- Teams wanting to improve delivery speed
The Power of Pull
Unlike push systems where work is assigned, Kanban uses pull:
- Team members pull work when capacity available
- Don't exceed WIP limits
- Self-organizing around the board
- Sustainable pace
This respects capacity and prevents overload.
Getting Started
- Map your current workflow to columns
- Write cards for current work
- Set initial WIP limits (start conservative)
- Begin daily board reviews
- Collect cycle time data
- Review and adjust weekly
Kanban's beauty is its simplicity and flexibility. Start simple, measure, and evolve based on data.
