What is a Kanban Board? - LeanKit http://leankit.

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WHAT IS A KANBAN BOARD?

A Kanban board is a work and workflow visualization tool that enables you to
optimize the flow of your work. Physical Kanban boards, like the one pictured
below, typically use sticky notes on a whiteboard to communicate status,
progress, and issues. Online Kanban boards draw upon the whiteboard
metaphor in a software setting.

A physical Kanban board with a basic, three-step workflow

The Kanban technique emerged in the late 1940s as Toyota’s re-imagined

approach to manufacturing and engineering. Line-workers displayed colored
kanbans — actual cards — to notify their downstream counterparts that
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approach to manufacturing and engineering. Line-workers displayed colored

kanbans — actual cards — to notify their downstream counterparts that
demand existed for parts and assembly work. (Kanban is the Japanese word
for “visual signal” or “card.”) The system’s highly visual nature allowed teams
to communicate more easily on what work needed to be done and when. It
also standardized cues and refined processes, which helped to reduce waste
and maximize value.

The application of Kanban to knowledge work — influenced not only by the

Toyota Production System but also by Lean systems thinking — began as early
as 2005. Kanban’s core principles are the same in industries like software
development and human resource management as they are in manufacturing:
visualize your work, limit your work in process, focus on flow, and practice
continuous improvement.

Visualize Your Work and Workflow

In manufacturing, the process for completing work is visible in the structure of
the production line. But in knowledge work, the process is often opaque.
Mapping out the process steps on a Kanban board — and using Kanban cards
to represent work — provides visibility into the process and gives insight into
many aspects of the work, including how the work flows.

Since every team has its own process for completing work, Kanban boards
give you the freedom to map your own workflow. Simple processes are laid
out as vertical lanes on the board, whereas more complex processes typically
combine vertical and horizontal lanes. Mapping the workflow that’s unique to
your team makes your process transparent and helps the entire team easily
see the status of its work in process.

The sample physical board and card example below give you an idea of how
Kanban works. Each lane is labeled with a step in the team’s process (to do,
plan, etc.). Kanban cards are then placed on the board in lanes that indicate
the current status of the work. When customized to reflect your team’s
process, the board — including the cards themselves — can communicate
multiple details at a glance.

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In this example, card color demonstrates the type of work (e.g., purple for user
story and lime for defect), but card color can also mean urgency or priority
(e.g., red for expedite, green for normal, etc.). Visual indicators, like icons and
user avatars, are placed on the card to show who is assigned to the work, the
source of demand, class of service, or other important details that are relevant
to your team’s work. You get to decide what your board looks like and how the
cards represent your work.

A sample physical board and card example

Visualizing your work and workflow carries many benefits, starting with how
our brains process information. The human brain can intuit visual information
60,000 times faster than text. Since Kanban boards create a “picture” of your
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60,000 times faster than text. Since Kanban boards create a “picture” of your
work, the visual display makes it quicker and easier to understand status and
progress. These visual details are displayed in a single place, minimizing the
time spent tracking down progress reports or sitting in status update
meetings. The Kanban board and cards represent a shared visual language
that team members and stakeholders can use to quickly communicate
high-value information in a way that is frictionless and transparent.

Optimize the Flow of Your Work

Visualizing work is only one of the benefits of the Kanban board and Kanban
system. Kanban elevates physical and virtual whiteboards from visual to-do
lists to powerful workflow optimization and collaboration tools by helping you
limit your work in process, see how your work flows, and gather the metrics
you need to measure and improve.

The goal of a Kanban system is to limit the amount of work in process so the
work flowing through the system matches its capacity. In other words, a
system can only handle so much traffic and still have that traffic move
smoothly through the steps in the process. When the system becomes
overloaded with work, everything slows down, and the smooth flow of work
turns into a logjam. Stuck work is easy to spot on a Kanban board, because
work piles up in the affected lane(s) and gives you instant clarity into the work
that needs attention.

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The number of cards in the Active Projects:Code lane indicates a bottleneck in

the workflow.

To prevent the logjam effect, Kanban boards utilize one or more work-in-
process (WIP) limits. A WIP limit is a constraint that can be applied to parts of
a workflow (e.g., an individual lane) or to an entire process. By using WIP
limits, you can improve the flow of work through the process steps you’ve
defined on your Kanban board, helping your team become more efficient.

To address the bottleneck in the Active Projects:Code lane — and to prevent

an excess of work from flowing into Active Projects:Test before there’s
capacity to take the work — the team implements a WIP Limit of two (2) in
Active Projects:Code.

Once your Kanban system is in place, it becomes the cornerstone for a culture
of continuous improvement. Teams can measure their effectiveness by
tracking flow, quality, throughput, lead times, and more. Experiments and
analysis can change the system to improve the team’s effectiveness.

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An auto-generated efficiency diagram from a virtual Kanban board

Choosing a Kanban Board for Your Team: Physical or

Virtual?
Some teams prefer physical Kanban boards over virtual ones. A physical board
uses sticky notes or index cards for the Kanban cards, and the board is drawn
on a whiteboard or wall. This works well for teams that are 100% co-located,
since every team member can individually interact with the board and not
have to rely on onsite colleagues to update their cards by proxy. Some teams
also prefer the tactile, low-tech feel of a physical board. Metrics, such as cycle
time, can be measured manually.

Overall, physical boards are an inexpensive way to start practicing Kanban for
individuals or co-located teams whose work doesn’t intersect with other
teams.

For distributed teams, small teams that trade work back and forth, or
enterprise organizations looking to scale Kanban across multiple teams, a
virtual Kanban board is usually required. Virtual Kanban systems not only
provide additional collaboration features, like email integration, but also
real-time accessibility for remote workers and stakeholders. A detailed audit
trail stores the history of every card. Reporting and metrics are more
sophisticated and take far less time to generate than physical board reporting.
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trail stores the history of every card. Reporting and metrics are more
sophisticated and take far less time to generate than physical board reporting.
In addition, virtual Kanban systems can be integrated with other enterprise
systems, like PPM or HelpDesk platforms, to eliminate duplicate data entry.

A good rule of thumb for enterprise teams is to consider a virtual Kanban tool
with scalability and security features for your pilot program. When it’s time to
expand, you won’t need to switch tools, which can delay productivity and cost
valuable time and resources.

Whether physical or virtual, Kanban boards make your process transparent,

give you at-a-glance visibility of the status of your work in progress, and help
you optimize your flow of work for improved effectiveness. To learn more
about how to use Kanban boards with your team, download our free guide,
“Kanban Roadmap: How to Get Started in 5 Steps,” or try LeanKit free for 30
days.

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