Kanban System - Real-time Workflow Control

Kanban methodology has Japanese roots. This approach was pioneered by the engineering giant Toyota and later became one of the most popular ways to organize workflow. The philosophy of Kanban is based on the idea of optimizing production and minimizing the accumulation of resources in warehouses. These main principles organically migrated to other areas.

Content:
1. Kanban - a summary of the main principles
2. Kanban board and task lifecycle
3. Main advantages of the method
4. Benchmarking Kanban and Scrum
5. Versatile and simple approach to improve efficiency

The Kanban method has taken root especially quickly in the IT industry. Production optimization has been transformed into ensuring transparency and control of IT product development processes. And in the role of warehouses, which should not be overflowing, are lists of tasks at different stages of execution.

The Kanban methodology is applicable in almost any area where the workflow can be broken down into a list of tasks with different priorities. Despite the universality of the method, it is mostly used in the IT field and related industries. Kanban has become one of the most popular implementations of the Agile philosophy (agile development methodology).

Features of the Kanban system:

The agile team has a special Product backlog document that contains tasks for the project. Kanban helps ensure an efficient and uninterrupted flow of tasks from the backlog and provides tools that allow you to adjust the workflow and avoid the accumulation of unfinished tasks.

The Kanban method is built on two main entities - the board and task cards. These two simple elements help provide a complex process of coordination and control of the development team.

A Kanban board is a physical or virtual space on which task cards can be placed. In fact, it can be any surface where you can visually place the name of the task and its description. Often the Kanban space is an ordinary board (like in school) or a wall. If physical media is used for the task list, then it should be accessible and easy to learn for each team member.

Naturally, it is not always possible to allocate a wall for the implementation of the Kanban method or install a special board for this. It is much easier to implement the Kanban approach online. There are a sufficient number of services (Jira, Trello, Asana) that help create virtual boards with task cards and perform the necessary manipulations to organize the workflow. If you download an additional application for Kanban to your smartphone, then the employee can track the status of his own and other people's tasks almost at any time.

The main “actors” of the methodology are cards with tasks. The task is placed on the board, and as the status changes, it moves to the appropriate column. The simplest task life cycle in a Kanban project looks something like this:

There is a separate column for each of these statuses. When the task moves to the next stage, the card moves along the board. In practice, the life cycle of a task is almost never limited to three stages. If we are talking about the IT-sphere, then such stages as “Review” or “Testing” are often added.

Among the main advantages of the Kanban approach are the following:

Kanban board and cards are the simplest and most understandable visualization of the workflow. Each of the employees at any time can see the level of progress on their tasks and the current list of urgent tasks as a whole.

For the team leader, Kanban-style visualization also makes the job much easier. It can identify blockers and problem areas as quickly as possible, determine the effectiveness of employees, adjust work efforts, and also qualitatively estimate the duration of a particular task by analyzing the life cycles of already completed tasks.

Kanban is an opportunity to organize continuous and efficient work without accumulation of tasks at critical stages. This is solved in a simple way - by limiting the number of tasks for a certain status. For example, for the “In progress” stage, a critical number of three cards is determined. This means that when there are four or more tasks on this list, the main resources of the team are rushed to solve them. Thus, the necessary balance is provided, which can be “customized” for specific conditions.

When the whole team solves the problem of “brute force” at one of the stages, this helps to build productive communication and promotes the exchange of experience and knowledge. In addition to reducing the life cycle of the task, such a process also allows you to develop the skills of employees and increase their versatility.

The Kanban approach also has a few downsides. The method is focused on performing a limited number of tasks. This is an excellent choice for achieving short-range goals. However, for long-term planning, Kanban is not the most beneficial approach. In addition, there is a certain limit on the number of people in the team (ideally 5-8 employees). For large workgroups, the Kanban method is difficult to apply, since with an increase in the number of people involved, the process of controlling them and establishing effective communication becomes more complicated.

Kanban and Scrum are the most common implementations of the Agile project management methodology. Both approaches are aimed at the flexibility of the workflow and its visibility, identifying problem areas at an early stage, and delivering a working product in a short time.

However, there are fundamental differences between Kanban and Scrum .

Kanban:

Scrum:

The Kanban method, which came from industry, has steadily spread to other areas. Multitasking often causes a drop in work efficiency. The Kanban approach allows you to systematize tasks and make their processing more transparent and understandable.

The Kanban method is valuable not only for organizing the work of a team or department. It is also suitable for personal use. The Kanban methodology is a good tool for self-organization and efficiency improvement in almost any field of activity.

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