Evolve Kanban

Kanban is a method that helps teams deliver value to customers faster and more efficiently. It originated from Toyota’s lean manufacturing system in the late 1940s, which aimed to reduce waste and respond to market demand. The word “Kanban” means “signboard” in Japanese and refers to the visual representation of the workflow. Kanban has six core practices: visualizing the workflow, limiting work in progress, managing flow, making policies explicit, creating feedback loops, and improving collaboratively. These practices help teams optimize their process, identify and solve problems, and learn from experiments. 

Suppose you are part of a marketing team that wants to use Kanban to improve your delivery.  

• Create a Kanban board with stages: Ideas, Research, Writing, Editing, Published

• Use cards or sticky notes for work items and move them across the board

• Set WIP limits for each stage to avoid overload and bottlenecks. For example, three work items in Writing

• Track lead time and throughput for each work item and stage

• Define policies and criteria for each stage and make them visible. For example, what needs to be done before moving to the next stage

• Hold regular feedback meetings to review performance, identify issues, and plan improvements. Use data and metrics from the board

• Involve the whole team in finding solutions and testing new ideas. Measure the impact of changes and learn from them.

Please note: Kanban use is beyond Manufacturing and Software, Do not limit its use. 

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