The document provides an overview of the basics of Kanban, including: 1. Kanban originated from the Toyota Production System and focuses on visualizing and limiting work-in-progress to improve flow. 2. Key Kanban principles include starting with the current process and pursuing incremental, not "big bang" changes. 3. The core properties of Kanban involve visualizing work, limiting WIP, managing flow through metrics like cumulative flow diagrams, making policies explicit, using feedback loops, and continuously improving processes. 4. Kanban aims to reduce variability and continuously evolve processes through small experiments rather than revolutionary changes.

1. BASICS OF KANBAN
David Lowe

2. Introduction

3. Doing too muchDon’t know where we are
Can’t see
our position
Can’t predict
our output
Not all playing by
the same rules
Revolutionary
change
Not improving

4. Before we start
The Kanban Method is …
• for knowledge work (not manufacturing)

5. A brief history
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Toyota Production System
created by Ohno & Toyoda
(1948 - 1975)
“Waterfall” term starts to be used
when critically referring to
sequential processes
(early-mid 1970s)
First mention of Scrum
(1986) *
Goldratt publishes
“The Goal”
(1984)
Toyota documents its
management philosophy
(2001)
Beck develops
Extreme Programming
(1996)
Liker publishes
“The Toyota Way”
(2004)
Anderson publishes
“Kanban” Blue Book
(2010)
Agile Manifesto
(2001)
First mention of “Lean”
(1988) **
Cockburn starts creating
Crystal family at IBM
(1991)
Schwaber presents
SCRUM at OOPSLA
(1995)
Kanban Method developed
at MS and Corbis
(2004-2008)
* Takeuchi, H. and Nonaka, I. (1986). The New New Product Development Game. Harvard Business Review, January. Available at https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game
** Krafcik, J. (1988). Triumph of the Lean Production System. Sloan Management Review, Vol.30, Issue 1, pp.41-52. Available at: http://www.lean.org/downloads/MITSloan.pdf
Ries proposes lean
startup methodology
(2004)

6. A brief history
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Toyota Production System
created by Ohno & Toyoda
(1948 - 1975)
“Waterfall” term starts to be used
when critically referring to
sequential processes
(early-mid 1970s)
First mention of Scrum
(1986) *
Goldratt publishes
“The Goal”
(1984)
Toyota documents its
management philosophy
(2001)
Beck develops
Extreme Programming
(1996)
Liker publishes
“The Toyota Way”
(2004)
Anderson publishes
“Kanban” Blue Book
(2010)
Agile Manifesto
(2001)
First mention of “Lean”
(1988) **
Cockburn starts creating
Crystal family at IBM
(1991)
Schwaber presents
SCRUM at OOPSLA
(1995)
Kanban Method developed
at MS and Corbis
(2004-2008)
* Takeuchi, H. and Nonaka, I. (1986). The New New Product Development Game. Harvard Business Review, January. Available at https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game
** Krafcik, J. (1988). Triumph of the Lean Production System. Sloan Management Review, Vol.30, Issue 1, pp.41-52. Available at: http://www.lean.org/downloads/MITSloan.pdf
Ries proposes lean
startup methodology
(2004)

7. A brief history
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Toyota Production System
created by Ohno & Toyoda
(1948 - 1975)
“Waterfall” term starts to be used
when critically referring to
sequential processes
(early-mid 1970s)
First mention of Scrum
(1986) *
Goldratt publishes
“The Goal”
(1984)
Toyota documents its
management philosophy
(2001)
Beck develops
Extreme Programming
(1996)
Liker publishes
“The Toyota Way”
(2004)
Anderson publishes
“Kanban” Blue Book
(2010)
Agile Manifesto
(2001)
First mention of “Lean”
(1988) **
Cockburn starts creating
Crystal family at IBM
(1991)
Schwaber presents
SCRUM at OOPSLA
(1995)
Kanban Method developed
at MS and Corbis
(2004-2008)
* Takeuchi, H. and Nonaka, I. (1986). The New New Product Development Game. Harvard Business Review, January. Available at https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game
** Krafcik, J. (1988). Triumph of the Lean Production System. Sloan Management Review, Vol.30, Issue 1, pp.41-52. Available at: http://www.lean.org/downloads/MITSloan.pdf
Ries proposes lean
startup methodology
(2004)

8. Before we start
The Kanban Method is …
• for knowledge work (not manufacturing)

9. Before we start
The Kanban Method is …
• for knowledge work (not manufacturing)
• a set of ideas (not prescribed processes)

10. The Kanban Method

13. No “Big Bang” changes

14. Foundational principles:
1. Start with what you do now
(processes, roles, titles, responsibilities)
2. Agree to pursue evolutionary change
3. Encourage acts of leadership at every level
(individual team members to CEO)
No “Big Bang” changes

15. 6 core properties

16. 6 core properties

17. 1) Visualise your work

18. 1) Visualise your work
What is this called?

19. 1) Visualise your work
What is this called?
This is NOT a
Kanban board!

20. 1) Visualise your work
How might we improve this board?

21. 1) Visualise your work
Identify work types or customers?

22. 1) Visualise your work
Identify priorities? Highest at the top.

23. 1) Visualise your work
Identify who is working on what?

24. 1) Visualise your work
Identify who is working on what?

25. 1) Visualise your work
Identify blocked items?

26. 1) Visualise your work
Identify blocked items?

27. 2) Limit work-in-progress

28. East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo
2) Limit work-in-progress

29. East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo
2) Limit work-in-progress

30. ?
East Gardens, Imperial Palace, Tokyo
2) Limit work-in-progress

31. Using a pull system?
• Agree capacity of the system
• Use tokens (e.g. cards) to denote capacity
• Attach a token to each piece of work
• When run out of tokens, stop taking on new work
• Only take on new work when a token is available (one
in, one out)
System can’t become
overloaded
2) Limit work-in-progress

32. 2) Limit work-in-progress
Visualise WIP limits?

33. 2) Limit work-in-progress
Visualise WIP limits?

34. • Many (wrongly) believe that working on multiple
items at the same time increases efficiency
• But allowing too much work in progress at the
same time can have negative effects …
… as can having too little
• Aim is to get WIP limits to the “sweet spot”
where you have the optimal flow
2) Limit work-in-progress

35. Fast food drive-thru video to explain:
• WIP limits
• Cycle Time/Lead Time
• Delivery Rate
“WIP: why limiting work in progress makes sense” on YouTube
http://youtu.be/W92wG-HW8gg
2) Limit work-in-progress

36. Our drive-thru has 3 windows:
Window 1 Order food 20 secs
Window 2 Pay 30 secs
Window 3 Collect food 40 secs
How long to go through the system?
2) Limit work-in-progress

37. What happens if we allow only 1 car in our
system at a time?
Or we could say:
What happens if WIP is limited to 1?
2) Limit work-in-progress

39. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1
When WIP = 1, time from order to
collection is 90 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

40. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90
“Cycle Time” = 90 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

41. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90
1 customer leaves the
system every 90 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

42. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
“Delivery Rate” = 1/90
or 0.01111 per second
2) Limit work-in-progress

43. What happens if we allow 5 cars in our
system at a time?
Or we could say:
What happens if WIP is limited to 5?
2) Limit work-in-progress

45. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5
When WIP = 5, time from order to
collection is 200 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

46. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5 200
“Cycle Time” = 200 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

47. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5 200
1 customer leaves the
system every 40 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

48. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5 200 0.025
“Delivery Rate” = 1/40
or 0.025 per second
2) Limit work-in-progress

49. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5 200 0.025
Delivery Rate improved …
(more people got served per second)
2) Limit work-in-progress

50. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
5 200 0.025
… but Cycle Time got worse
(it took longer to get served)
2) Limit work-in-progress

51. What happens if we allow 3 cars in our
system at a time?
Or we could say:
What happens if WIP is limited to 3?
2) Limit work-in-progress

53. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3
5 200 0.025
When WIP = 3, time from order to
collection is 120 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

54. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3 120
5 200 0.025
“Cycle Time” = 120 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

55. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3 120
5 200 0.025
1 customer leaves the
system every 40 seconds
2) Limit work-in-progress

56. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3 120 0.025
5 200 0.025
“Delivery Rate” = 1/40
or 0.025 per second
2) Limit work-in-progress

57. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3 120 0.025
5 200 0.025
Delivery Rate is the same
when WIP = 3 or 5 …
2) Limit work-in-progress

58. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
3 120 0.025
5 200 0.025
… but Cycle Time is much
quicker (by 80 seconds!)
2) Limit work-in-progress

59. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
2 90 0.02222
3 120 0.025
4 160 0.025
5 200 0.025
Which WIP would you choose?
2) Limit work-in-progress

60. WIP Cycle Time Delivery Rate
1 90 0.01111
2 90 0.02222
3 120 0.025
4 160 0.025
5 200 0.025
Which WIP would you choose?
2) Limit work-in-progress

61. Limiting WIP helps because it:
• encourages swarming
• encourages small work items
• encourages flow of work
• encourages finishing work items
“Focus on finishing things, not working on things”
2) Limit work-in-progress

62. Start with what you have now …
But can you:
• Limit WIP per column on the board?
• Limit WIP per section of the board?
• Limit WIP across the whole board?
• Limit WIP across the whole organisation?
2) Limit work-in-progress

63. 3) Manage flow

64. • Measuring the flow of work through your system
helps you identify problems
• Every process has at least one bottleneck
• Your system can only work as fast as your
slowest point
• So make changes to your process in an attempt
to improve flow
3) Manage flow

65. Scrum has a burn down chart
Kanban has a variety of reports:
• Cumulative Flow Diagram
• Scatterplot
• Histogram
3) Manage flow

66. 3) Manage flow: CFD

67. The CFD shows us:
• Flow of items through process
• Current level of WIP
• Lead/Cycle Time
• Bottleneck warnings
3) Manage flow: CFD

68. Kanban has a variety of reports:
• Cumulative Flow Diagram
• Scatterplot
• Histogram
3) Manage flow

69. 3) Manage flow: Scatterplot

70. The Scatterplot shows us:
• Cycle Time variability
• Outliers
• Standard percentile lines (e.g. 85%)
“Investigate
performance to attack
sources of variability”
3) Manage flow: Scatterplot

71. Kanban has a variety of reports:
Cumulative Flow Diagram
Scatterplot
Histogram
3) Manage flow

72. 3) Manage flow: Histogram

73. The Histogram shows us:
• Frequency of each Lead/Cycle Time
• A guide for the time that future stories will take
Gives us much greater
understanding than a
burn down chart!
3) Manage flow: Histogram

74. 4) Make policies explicit

75. 4) Make policies explicit

76. It’s difficult to improve a situation if you don’t know
the rules (responses will be emotional and
subjective)
Acknowledge any policies in your process by
stating them explicitly
4) Make policies explicit

77. Entry criteria
Definition of ‘Done’
Classes of Service
• Standard
• Expedite
• Fixed
• Intangible
4) Make policies explicit

78. 4) Make policies explicit
Insert entry criteria?

79. 4) Make policies explicit
Insert entry criteria?

80. 4) Make policies explicit
Classes of service?

81. 4) Make policies explicit
Classes of service?

82. 5) Feedback loops

83. Showcases
Operations Reviews
Review data and experiences regularly.
Encourage feedback from inside and outside the
team:
RetrospectivesStand-ups
Customer feedback Stakeholders
5) Feedback loops

84. 6) Evolutionary improvements

85. • Use scientific method
• Continuous evolutionary improvements
(“Kaizen”), rather than revolutionary change
• All the other Kanban ideas lead to this and
should provide data to help improve
• Start where you are now. Seek to “attack the
sources of variability” in your processes
6) Evolutionary improvements

86. Different work types
Sources of variability
Different sizes of work
Having to rework items
Different classes of service
Accepting unknown work
Environmental / platform problems

87. Recipe for success
• Focus on quality
• Reduce work-in-progress
• Deliver often
• Balance demand against throughput
• Prioritise
• Attack sources of variability to improve
predictability

88. Although it’s from lean,
it shouldn’t break the
Agile Manifesto
Set of ideas;
not prescribed process
Evolutionary change,
not revolution
Knowledge work;
not manufacturing
Pull system;
not push system

89. David J. Anderson
“Kanban”
Mike Burrows
“Kanban from the inside”
That’s the basics … want more?