What is Kanban?
Kanban Definition
Kanban is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. Kanban visualizes both the process (the workflow) and the actual work passing through that process.
The goal of Kanban is to identify potential bottlenecks in your process and fix them so work can flow through it cost-effectively at an optimal speed or throughput.
Principles
- Start with what you do now!
- Agree to pursue evolutionary change
- Initially, respect current processes, roles, responsibilities and job titles
- Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
Practices
- Visualize the Work and Workflow
- Limit Work-in-Progress
- Manage Flow
- Make Policies Explicit
- Implement Feedback Loops
- Improve Collaboratively, evolve experimentally
Should we be doing Kanban or not?
It isn’t a question of evaluating practice usage but rather a question of intent …
Do you intend to use visualization & Kanban systems to drive a focus on sustained fitness for purpose?
Do you view your organization as a network of services and seek to improve the balance of capability against demand & customer expectations?
Is your focus only on making work visible or on delivering work better for your customers?
Using the STATIK and reverse STATIK process we provide valuable coaching to set up teams and ensure their Kanban system will follow best practices to identify inefficiencies and continually improve.
