Kanban Methodology: Principles, Practices, and Implementation

The team takes ten tasks at the same time and closes two in a week. The other eight hang in the status of "in progress": one waiting for a response from the subcontractors, the second stuck for a review, the third started and switched to urgent. Formally, the load is one hundred percent, in fact, the flow is worth it.

Kanban methodology works with this situation. It doesn’t rearrange roles, introduce sprints, or require processes to be rewrote from scratch—it makes work visible and limits the number of tasks taken simultaneously. We analyze what the method consists of, what metrics show its effect and how to implement kanban in a team in five steps.

What is the Kanban methodology?

Kanban methodology is a method of managing the flow of tasks in which the work is visualized on the board, and the number of tasks performed simultaneously is limited. The method does not specify roles, duration of iterations and mandatory meetings. It overlays the existing process and changes it gradually.

The key difference from conventional planning is the principle of pulling. The task moves to the next stage not because it was transferred there, but because at this stage the space was freed up. The contractor takes a new job only when he has finished the current one.

From this follows the practical effect: the bottlenecks of the process cease to be guesses. If the "Testing" column is constantly filled to the limit, and "Development" is empty - the queue is visible on the board, and not revealed on a retrospective in a month.

Where did kanban come from?

Kanban appeared in Toyota factories in the middle of the XX century as part of the lean production system. Workers attached cards to the board, which signaled the need to supply parts to a specific section of the conveyor. The word itself consists of two Japanese elements: "kan" - visible, "ban" - card or tablet.

The meaning of the card was in the signal: the part is not made according to plan, but on the fact of a request from the next site. So the plant reduced warehouse stocks and did not produce excess.

In the early 2000s, David Anderson adapted his approach to intellectual work, first at Microsoft and then at Corbis. Production batches of parts were replaced by tasks, the conveyor - stages of the workflow, and physical cards - first stickers, then digital cards. In 2010, Anderson described the result in a book, Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Changes for Your Technology Business, and the method took the form in which it is applied today.

How is kanban different from scrum?

Kanban differs from scrum by the absence of fixed iterations and mandatory roles. Both approaches apply to agile, but are arranged differently.

The practical criterion of choice is the nature of the flow. Scrum works where the volume of tasks can be planned two weeks in advance and not changed. Kanban is where tasks come continually and priorities change throughout the day: support, operation, marketing, document coordination, hiring.

Approaches are compatible. Scrum teams use WIP limits inside the sprint, and kanban teams have regular metric analysis meetings.

On what principles is kanban built?

Kanban is built on two sets of principles: change management and service delivery. The first group is responsible for how the method enters the team, the second for what it works for.

Change management principles:

1. Start with what you have now. The method does not require a new process; it describes the current one.
2. Arrange for evolutionary development. Change is made by small steps, not reform.
3. Encourage leadership at all levels. A proposal to improve the process can come from any participant, not just the leader.

Principles of service provision:

1. Understand the needs of the customer. The work of the team is considered as a service with an expected deadline.
2. Manage work, not people. Attention is focused on the movement of tasks, not on the load of employees.
3. Review the rules regularly. Process arrangements change with the process.

The third principle of the first group explains why kanban takes root in teams where previous implementations did not go: the method does not come down from the top with a single rule.

What practices are included in the Kanban method?

The Kanban method includes six practices: visualization, limiting unfinished work, flow control, explicit rules, feedback, and evolutionary improvements. Practices are applied consistently - each relies on the previous.

How do you visualize the flow of work?

The stream is visualized by decomposing the real stages of the process on the board columns. An important condition: columns describe how the work is going now, not how you would like to organize it.

A typical mistake is to copy someone else’s scheme “Backlog → Work → Ready”, although the team has an agreement with the customer, a review and acceptance. Such a board hides half of the process: the task is formally “in work” for a week, and in fact five days out of seven waiting for someone else’s answer.

So that the waiting stages do not dissolve in the general column, they are distinguished separately: “Development is in work” and “Development is ready, waiting for a review.” The difference between these columns is the latent downtime.

Why limit the number of tasks at work?

The number of tasks in the work is limited to reduce the time of execution of each of them. WIP limit is the maximum number of cards allowed in the column at the same time.

Mechanics is based on Little's law: the average time to complete a task is the amount of work in progress divided by bandwidth. If the team closes 5 tasks per week and keeps 20 tasks in work, the average task is flowing in 4 weeks. Reduce the unfinished work to 10 – the execution time drops to 2 weeks. The bandwidth has not changed.

The starting point for the limit is the number of performers at the stage plus one. For three developers, the “Development” column limit is 4. Further, the value is adjusted by the fact: if the limit regularly rests on the ceiling, and the queue grows, a bottleneck is found.

The side effect of limits is more important than the main one. When the column is full, the performer cannot take on a new task and is forced to help close someone else's. The team begins to work on the end, not the beginning.

How do you control the flow?

The flow is controlled by tracking the speed of passing tasks and eliminating the causes of delays. Management is aimed at moving work, not loading people.

In practice, this means regularly reviewing three questions: where the tasks cost the longest, which cards have not moved for more than a few days, and which types of tasks are systematically slower than others. One hundred percent workload of employees is not the goal – it usually means that the queue grows faster than the flow.

Why should the rules be explicit?

The rules make it clear that participants equally understand the conditions for the transition of tasks between stages. While the readiness criterion lives in the head of the lead developer, the task returns with a review for reasons the performer did not know about.

Explicit rules are fixed in writing and kept in view: determination of readiness for each column, order of prioritization, values of WIP-limits, rules for urgent tasks. The wording “code checked and covered with tests” works, the wording “task done normally” does not.

How to organize feedback?

Feedback is organized through regular meetings where the team looks at the board and metrics. Kanban does not prescribe the composition of meetings rigidly, but highlights several typical ones.

• Daily planning The team walks on the board from right to left, from ready to new, and takes apart the stuck cards.
• Analysis of metrics every two weeks or a month: cycle time, bandwidth, accumulated queues.
• Revision of the rules - based on the results of analysis: limits, readiness criteria, column composition.

The direction of bypassing the board from right to left is not accidental: first, what is close to completion is discussed.

How to improve the process evolutionarily?

The process is improved by small verifiable changes, each of which is evaluated by metrics. The scheme is one: hypothesis - change - measurement - decision to leave or roll back.

For example, the cycle time increased from 4 to 7 days. Hypothesis: Tasks await review. Change: The WIP limit on the Review column is reduced to 2. After two weeks, the cycle time is measured again. If the indicator returned to 4-5 days, the change is fixed in the rules.

How does the kanban board work?

The Kanban board consists of stage columns, task cards, WIP limits and, if necessary, horizontal tracks. This is the main working tool of the method.

• Columns correspond to the stages of the process. The minimum set is three: “To execution”, “In the process”, “Done”. Deployed for the development team - Backlog, Analytics, Development, Review, Testing, Release.
• Cards. Describe a unit of work. Substantial minimum: formulation of the result, performer, term, priority. Next - according to need: checklist, attachments, discussion, task type labels.
• WIP limits They are placed on active work columns. On the input and final columns, limits are usually not set.
• Pathways (swimlanes) divide the board horizontally: by task type, by customer, by service class. A separate track for urgent tasks solves a common problem – blocking incidents stop breaking general limits.
• Service classes set the order of analysis of the queue: urgent, with a fixed date, standard, intangible. Without this, prioritization becomes a manual solution for each task.

What metrics are used in kanban?

Kanban uses flow metrics: runtime, cycle time, bandwidth and cumulative flow chart. All of them are counted according to the board data and do not require separate accounting.

The cumulative flow diagram is read by the thickness of the bands. Expanding bandwidth means that tasks come to the stage faster than they leave it - the queue grows. Closing lane - the stage is idle.

The velocity metric is not used in kanban: it is tied to sprints and scores in story points, which are not in the method.

How to implement kanban in a team in 5 steps?

Kanban is implemented in five steps, without stopping the current work. The full cycle takes from two weeks to a month.

1. Describe the process as it is. Gather a team and restore the path of the task from production to delivery. Include waiting stages - approval, review, acceptance.
2. Put together a board based on this description. Columns repeat real stages. Transfer to the board all the tasks that are currently in the work, including those started and forgotten.
3. Look at the results of the week unchanged. The first week is measurement. You'll see the actual volume of work in progress and the column where the queue accumulates.
4. Set WIP limits. The starting value is performers plus one. Write down the transition criteria between columns.
5. Deconstruct the metrics in two weeks. Compare the cycle time and bandwidth with the original. Adjust your limits or columns one change at a time.

Step 3 is most often missed, and in vain: without raw data, there is nothing to measure the effect of changes.

Which teams do kanban fit?

Kanban is suitable for teams with a continuous flow of incoming tasks and changing priorities. The method fits well into processes where the amount of work cannot be fixed for two weeks ahead.

• Support and operation. Applications come unpredictable, it is impossible to plan a sprint.
• Marketing and content. Materials flow through the stages of “Idea → Text → Edit → Publication”.
• HR and hiring. Candidates move through a funnel of stages with clear transition criteria.
• Coordination of documents. The task spends most of its time waiting – Kanban makes it visible.
• Personal planning. Three columns and a limit of 2-3 tasks on “In the Work”.

There are limitations to the method, too. Kanban does not provide tools for planning long-term projects with rigid dependencies between tasks - you need a Gantt diagram or a hybrid. The method does not specify roles, so in teams without existing agreements, the board quickly turns into a dump of cards.

What mistakes prevent Kanban from working?

Kanban is hampered by four typical mistakes: a board without limits, copied columns, ignoring metrics and limits for ticks.

• A board without WIP limits. It turns out visualization without control: tasks are visible, but there are still twenty in the work.
• Columns from someone else's template. The board does not reflect the actual process and does not show where the tasks stand.
• Metrics don't look. Without cycle time and bandwidth, changes are made at random.
• The limit is exceeded when uncomfortable. A rule that is broken doesn't work. If the limit regularly interferes - it is reviewed at the meeting, and not bypassed in silence.
• Tasks of different scales on the same board. A 2-hour card and a 3-week card break cycle time statistics. Large ones decompose, otherwise metrics are useless.

Where do you start with kanban?

Start with the board on the current process, without waiting for the approval of regulations. The first week is not for the right scheme, but for the data: how many tasks are real in the work and where they stand.

This step will do. canbano The board is created in a few seconds, without registering the team and setting up the project. Access is provided by a link, so colleagues see the board immediately, not after the creation of accounts. The web version and applications for iOS and Android are synchronized, and the open API allows you to connect AI assistants and external services to the board.

Collect columns by real stages, transfer current tasks, set limits after a week of observations - this set is enough to make the method work.

Frequent questions about Kanban methodology

How is kanban different from kanban? Kanban is a method of managing the flow of work, the kanban board is its main tool. A board without WIP limits, explicit rules and metrics remains a visualization, but not a method.

Is it necessary to evaluate tasks in hours in Kanban? Not necessarily. The forecast is based on statistics: cycle time and bandwidth for past periods give a more accurate estimate than expert hours.

What is the WIP limit at the beginning? The number of performers in the stage plus one. The value is adjusted by metrics after two to three weeks of operation.

Is it possible to combine kanban and scrum? Yeah. Scrumban is a common hybrid: sprints and roles from scrum, WIP limits and pulling out of kanban.

Does kanban work for one person? Yeah. A personal board of three columns with a limit of 2-3 tasks on “In Work” solves the same problem – not to start a new one until the current one is closed.