Kanban - Visualize Work, Limit WIP, Optimize Flow

Kanban is a visual workflow management method originating from Toyota's manufacturing system. It focuses on visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress (WIP), and optimizing the flow of work through a system.

When to Use This Skill

• Managing team workflow and task prioritization
• Identifying and resolving bottlenecks
• Improving delivery predictability
• Balancing team capacity with demand
• Implementing continuous improvement
• Transitioning from chaotic to structured work

Core Concepts

The Kanban Board

+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|  TO DO   |  DOING   |  REVIEW  |   DONE   |
|          |  (WIP:3) |  (WIP:2) |          |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| [Task 1] | [Task 4] | [Task 6] | [Task 8] |
| [Task 2] | [Task 5] |          | [Task 9] |
| [Task 3] |          |          |          |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+

Six Core Practices

Key Metrics

Little's Law

Lead Time = WIP / Throughput

To reduce lead time:
- Reduce WIP (easier)
- Increase throughput (harder)

Analysis Framework

Step 1: Map Current Workflow

Identify all stages work passes through:

Idea → Backlog → Analysis → Development → Testing → Deploy → Done

Step 2: Set WIP Limits

Start with: WIP limit = Team size - 1

Step 3: Identify Bottlenecks

Look for columns where work accumulates:

+------+------+------+------+
| Dev  |Review| TEST | Done |
+------+------+------+------+
| [1]  | [4]  | [8]  | [9]  |
| [2]  | [5]  | [10] |      |
| [3]  | [6]  |      |      |
|      | [7]  |      |  ← Bottleneck in Review
+------+------+------+------+

Step 4: Optimize Flow

Actions to address bottlenecks:

• Add capacity to bottleneck stage
• Reduce WIP in preceding stages
• Improve efficiency at bottleneck
• Change policies (batch size, etc.)

Output Template

## Kanban Board Setup

**Team/Project:** [Name] **Date:** [Date]

### Workflow Stages

| Stage     | WIP Limit | Entry Criteria | Exit Criteria |
| --------- | --------- | -------------- | ------------- |
| [Stage 1] | [n]       | [Criteria]     | [Criteria]    |
| [Stage 2] | [n]       | [Criteria]     | [Criteria]    |

### Current Metrics

| Metric     | Current  | Target   |
| ---------- | -------- | -------- |
| Lead Time  | [X days] | [Y days] |
| Cycle Time | [X days] | [Y days] |
| Throughput | [X/week] | [Y/week] |

### Bottleneck Analysis

**Current bottleneck:** [Stage] **Root cause:** [Analysis] **Action plan:**
[Steps to resolve]

### Improvement Experiments

| Experiment | Hypothesis         | Measure  | Duration |
| ---------- | ------------------ | -------- | -------- |
| [Change 1] | [Expected outcome] | [Metric] | [Time]   |

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Software Development Team

Before: 15 items in progress, 3-week average delivery After: 6 WIP limit, 5-day average delivery

Changes:

• Visualized all work (including hidden tasks)
• Set WIP limits (forced focus)
• Daily standups at the board
• Swarming on blocked items

Example 2: Content Marketing Team

+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Ideas  | Draft  | Edit   | Design | Publish|
| (10)   | WIP:3  | WIP:2  | WIP:2  |        |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

Bottleneck discovered: Design stage Solution: Created template library, reduced design dependency

Best Practices

Do

• Start with current process, evolve gradually
• Make WIP limits visible and enforced
• Track metrics consistently
• Review board in daily standups
• Celebrate flow improvements

Avoid

• Treating Kanban as just a task board
• Setting WIP limits too high (defeats purpose)
• Ignoring blocked items
• Skipping retrospectives
• Comparing team throughput to others

WIP Limit Guidelines

Integration with Other Methods

Resources

• Kanban - David J. Anderson
• Making Work Visible - Dominica DeGrandis