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Kanban

Kanban is the quieter agile framework: no sprints, no required roles, no ceremonies. Just a board, a few rules, and attention to flow. It comes from Toyota's manufacturing system, adapted for knowledge work.

The board

Columns represent workflow states. The classic minimal board:

To Do | Doing | Done

Real boards grow columns that match reality: Backlog | Ready | In Progress | In Review | Done. The rule: the board must show your actual process, including the embarrassing parts (like the "waiting on legal" column everyone pretends isn't there).

The one big idea: limit work in progress

Each column gets a WIP limit — the maximum number of items allowed in it at once. When "In Progress" is full, you don't start something new; you help finish something stuck.

This fights the most expensive habit in knowledge work: starting lots of things and finishing few. Every half-done item is inventory you're paying carrying costs on — it goes stale, it blocks others, you forget the context. WIP limits make the jam visible instead of letting everyone quietly drown.

Flow metrics (what to actually watch)

  • Cycle time — how long an item takes from "started" to "done." Shorter and more predictable beats heroic and erratic.
  • Throughput — items finished per week. The honest measure of capacity; use it for forecasting instead of estimates (see Planning and Estimation).
  • Aging — how long the oldest in-progress item has been sitting. An item aging past your normal cycle time is a blocker wearing a disguise.

The rules (few, and they matter)

  1. Visualize the workflow (the board).
  2. Limit work in progress.
  3. Manage flow (watch the metrics above).
  4. Make policies explicit (write down what "done" means for each column — a checklist beats tribal knowledge).
  5. Improve collaboratively (a regular look at the board's data, even without Scrum's formal retro).

Scrum vs Kanban, honestly

Scrum Kanban
Cadence Fixed sprints Continuous flow
Roles Three defined None required
Change mid-work Discouraged during sprint Fine anytime
Best for Product teams, plannable work Support, ops, interrupt-driven work
Failure mode Ceremony theater Board nobody looks at

Many teams end up with Scrumban — sprints for planning cadence, a Kanban board for daily flow. That's fine. The frameworks are tools; use the parts that shorten your build-learn loop.