What is kanban?
10 min
Beginner
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Define kanban
- Explain how different teams use kanban to manage work
- Be a valuable member of a kanban team
Explore kanban
Kanban is an agile framework that helps your team visualize work and continuously improve. In Japanese, kanban roughly translates to "visual signal." Adopted by millions of teams across the world, kanban can help any team manage complex projects.
Kanban is a more flexible approach than scrum. It suggests you build a process starting from what you currently have.
The four principles of kanban are:
- Visualize your workflow using a kanban board to make work items visible to everyone. This allows team members and stakeholders to have constant insight on work progress.
- Set limits on your works in progress (WIP), the number of work items that can be "in progress" at any given time. This helps your team reduce workloads, improve flow, and deliver in shorter increments.
- Manage the flow of work with a system that flows freely and is as predictable as possible. Address blockers immediately, so you can reduce lead times and deliver maximum value to customers.
- Continuously improve by reviewing and monitoring your system frequently. Prioritize small improvements that make the biggest impact on outcomes.
How teams use kanban
While the framework was originally created to improve manufacturing practices, kanban has been adopted by all types of business teams, from software development to marketing.
👇Click the tabs below to explore two examples.
Payton is a software developer at NotDog, LLC. They make an iOS app where users can vote if an image is a hotdog or not a hotdog.
Payton is on a support team that fixes bugs submitted by customers. Tickets are submitted every few minutes, so the support team has a long backlog of bugs to fix.
To keep the tickets organized, Payton's team uses a kanban board. Their workflow is: New Request, In Progress, Code Review, Complete.
A customer just submitted a bug about an error message blocking the hotdog photos. When submitted, a new card is created in the New Request column. The work item gets assigned to Payton. He reads the details, begins the work, and moves the card to In Progress on the board.
After a few hours, Payton fixes the bug! He pulls the card to Code Review so another team member can check the work. Once approved, the team member moves the card to Complete. Payton is ready to pull his next card from the backlog.
Tips for using kanban
These six tips will help you be a valuable kanban teammate.
👇Click the boxes below to explore these tips.
How was this lesson?
next lesson
Use a kanban board in Jira
- Explore kanban boards
- View a kanban board in Jira