Kanban Principles & Best Practices Explained

Kanban Principles & Best Practices Explained

Kanban is a visual workflow tool that, while originally used as a Toyota scheduling system, is now associated within an agile methodology, especially in DevOps software development. It has found a use in industries looking for a way to have everyone on the team view the state of their work, and requires real-time communication and an understanding of kanban principles. The four kanban principles are governed by a set of principles that allow for better management of the process, which improves the flow of work. The goal is to always improve an organization's processes, and improvements to kanban include better flow, a reduction of cycle time, increasing value to the customer and developing products that increase predictability. Limit Work in Progress (WIP) is an important kanban principle that helps prevent work overloads and improve workflow.

It creates capacity in the system, making it more likely that team members will complete what they're currently working on rather than moving on to the next task. The goal of lean kanban is to start with no limits and monitor the WIP. Once you have some experience and data, you can make a more insightful decision as to how much to limit your WIP for each column on your kanban board.