The Arrow is an advanced Kanban board design that limits WIP by visualizing n number of swim lanes.

1. The Arrow - Advanced
kanban board
© Pop Psychology - popsych.org
2015-06-21, Tomas Rybing, Aptilo Networks

2. ”The arrow” - Design for kanban board
DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE

3. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Example

4. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Last task for story ”A” is ready to
be deployed in production.

5. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”A” deployed and Done!
Swim lane (=capacity) freed up
for new story.

6. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Business decision needed, all
information on the board is
considered. Story ”B” is selected
as the most suitable to start
working on. P1 DoD is checked
so that all info are present!

7. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
P2 slot empty, most appropriate
from P3 is selected. P2 DoD
checked so that all required info
is present.

8. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
If needed, a new task is created
in P3 from backlog list (DoD
checked first). This can instead
be done regularly (say weekly), to
”fill up” the priority triangle.

9. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” analysis starts.

10. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” analysis almost
completed, DoD criteria’s
checked before it is set to Done.

11. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” design starts, break
down is needed (no worries
about ”too many post-its”, WIP is
controlled by swim lane).

12. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” design almost done,
DoD criteria’s checked before
putting to the Done section.

13. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” development starts,
even further break-down is
needed to allow parallelism
(remember, this is no problem)

14. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” development and test in
parallell (DoD check frequently to
not miss out on anything)

15. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
…

16. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
…

17. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
…

18. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
…

19. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
…

20. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
All sub-tasks for Story ”B” ready
to be deployed, DoD is checked
first!

21. DONE
EXPEDITE (FAST LANE)
- Cake limit
- Retros interval
- Celebration!
PRIORITY
TRIANGLE
(BACKLOG)
P3 (12)
P2 (6)
P1 (3)
ANALYSIS DESIGN DEV. TEST DEPLOY.
GOALS
Visible DoDs for each step
= System improvements
= Features
= Bugs
CLASSES OF SERVICE
ONGOING
DOING DONE DOINGDOING DOING DOING DONEDONEDONE
”The arrow” - Explained
Story ”B” done, the cycle starts
all over (but we are three tasks
closer to cake celebration! :)