Kanban is an evolution, not a revolution.
When you understand the why and how of your process, your team can begin to make small but continuous improvements.

Scene:
A team of people working in an agile context decide to use Kanban.

The term Kanban often carries multiple meanings at the same time. Written in kanji (Chinese characters), it means ‘sign’ or ‘large visual board.’ Written in hiragana (Japanese characters) it means ‘signal cards’ (singular or plural). In technical presentations of the mechanics of Kanban systems it usually means the latter. Used informally, it refers to the use of Kanban systems (visual or otherwise) and the Kanban method.

A Kanban board is a tool used in Kanban to visually display the work in the system (or timebox). It is usually made up of a series of columns and possibly rows where work items move from left to right as they move through various states in order to be completed.

Simple-kanban-board-

How are you at work? Too many temptations to lose focus? Are you like the golden retriever in this film clip?


E.7 THE KANBAN METHOD

Foundational principles

●● Start with what you do now
●● Agree to pursue evolutionary change
●● Initially, respect current roles, responsibilities and job titles
●● Encourage acts of leadership at all levels.

Core practices

●● Visualize
●● Limit WIP
●● Manage the flow
●● Make policies explicit
●● Implement feedback loops
●● Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally (using models and the scientific method).


Kanban links and resources:

Intro video to Kanban (has some marketing to products but nice simple video)


 

Little’s Law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%27s_law

littlelaw


Little’s Law video – Improve process performance


Why limiting Work-In-Progress makes sense


At Å we help get your team using Kanban in your line of work.  Kanban can be so simple that even your kids can use it at home. Want your kids self-motivated (intrinsic) without having to promise (extrinsic) rewards? Check out this book at Amazon :

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Kanban in easy steps

Both myself and Geir Isene deliver workshops where teams discover Kanban, WIP limits and Littles Law through board games and interactive exercises. We deliver seminars where we talk about flow and how to help people find true motivation.

Get us involved for radical honesty and continuous innovation. Inside 30 days we can radically boost your team by using Kanban. We work fast, we promote innovation, we fail fast and learn faster.