Introduction to Kanban

What is Kanban?
kanban - comes from Japan & Toyota
and it means: signal card
A Kanban System in software
development is based on visual cards
signaling & limiting WIP
Kanban is an approach to introducing
change to an existing software
development lifecycle or project
management methodology.

Kanban Cards
In industry, they are used to limit the
amount of inventory the factory builds,
while in software development they
represent work items
A limited number of kanban cards in
circulation ~ acc. to the handling
capacity of the system
Start to flow work through the system
by pulling it when kanban signals are
generated

Three core properties

Visualize the workflow - Split the
work into pieces, write each item on a
card and put on the wall.
Limit Work In Progress (WIP)
Measure the lead time (average time
to complete one item, aka cycle
time), optimize the process to make
lead time as small and predictable as
possible.

Visualize the workflow

Kanban Board

Limit the Work in Progress (WIP)

Limit the number of stories allowed
onto the board (/work type)
Limits point out bottle-necks
Different formulas:
WIP = 2 x teamsize 1
WIP = teamsize / 2
Experiment till best fit WIP size found

Measure the Lead Time

Kanban Goals
Primary Goal: Optimize existing
processes
Sustainable dev. pace
(marathon, not sprint)
Less control, more collaboration
Transparency to drive process
improvement
Improve lead time predictability
Provide slack to enable
improvement

Kanban & Scrum - Common

Both Lean & Agile
Pull scheduling
limit WIP
transparency to drive process improvement
focus on delivering releasable software early
and often
based on self-organizing teams
require breaking the work into pieces
the release plan is continuously optimized
based on empirical data (velocity / lead time)

Scrum

vs.

Timeboxed iterations
prescribed
Use Velocity as
default metric
Cross-functional
teams prescribed
Items broken
down so they can
be completed within
1 sprint

Kanban (1)
Optional
Uses Lead time as
default metric

Optional, specialist
teams allowed
No particular item
size

Scrum

vs.

Burndown chart
prescribed
WIP limited
indirectly (/sprint)
Estimation
prescribed
Cannot add items to
ongoing iteration

Kanban (2)
No particular
diagrams used
WIP limited
directly
Estimation optional
Can add new items
whenever capacity is
available

Scrum

vs.

A sprint backlog is
owned by one
specific team
Prescribes 3 roles
(PO/SM/Team)
A Scrum board is
reset between each
sprint
Prescribes a
prioritized product
backlog

Kanban (3)
A kanban board may
be shared by more
teams / individuals
No specific roles
A kanban board is
persistent
Prioritization is
optional