Kanban: The Ultimate Essential Guide to Learn and Amplify Kanban Principles
Summary
Kanban is a workflow management method designed to help you visualize your work, maximize efficiency, and be agile. From Japanese, kanban is literally translated as billboard or signboard. Originating from manufacturing, it later became a territory claimed by agile software development teams. Recently, it started getting recognized by business units across various areas. As more and more people hear about Kanban, there often are misinterpretations. So what is Kanban? Here are the most important things you need to know about it from its creation till today. The Kanban Method At the beginning of the 21st Century, key players within the software industry quickly realized how Kanban could be used to positively change the ways in which products and services were delivered. With an increased focus on efficiency, and by harnessing advances in computing technology, Kanban left the realm of the automotive industry and was successfully applied to other complex commercial sectors such as IT, software development, marketing, and so on. Indeed, what we now recognize as the Kanban Method with all core elements emerged at the beginning of 2007. The simplest Kanban Method may start with three columns - “Requested”, “In Progress” and “Done”. When constructed, managed, and functioning properly, it serves as a real-time information repository, highlighting bottlenecks within the system and anything else which might get in the way of smooth working practices. But how does the Kanban methodology work? Let’s discover more. The 4 Core Principles of Kanban Principle 1: Start With What You Do Now Principle 2: Agree to Pursue Incremental, Evolutionary Change Principle 3: Respect the Current Process, Roles, and Responsibilities Principle 4: Encourage Acts of Leadership at All Levels The 6 Practices of Kanban Visualize the Workflow Limit Work in Progress Manage Flow Make Process Policies Explicit Feedback Loops Improve Collaboratively (using models and the scientific method) The way to achieve continuous improvement and sustainable change within an organization is through shared vision of a better future and collective understanding of the issues that need to be overcome. Teams that have a shared understanding of theories about work, workflow, process, and risk are more likely to build a shared comprehension of a problem and suggest steps towards improvement, which can be agreed by consensus. The Positive Side of Kanban Nowadays, many organizations use the Kanban method in order to be more agile and bring order to their chaotic work processes. Simply said, it helps you get more work done. A Kanban system is more than sticky notes on the wall. The easiest way to understand Kanban is to embrace its philosophy and then apply it to your daily work. If you read, understand, and resonate with the four core principles, the practical transition would seem logical and even inevitable. Visualizing workflow, setting WIP limits, managing flow, ensuring explicit policies, and collaborative improvement will take your process far beyond you could think. Remember to organize regular feedback loops and all these pieces together will reveal the true power of Kanban.
©2019 Simon J.L. Smith (P)2019 Simon J.L. Smith
