Kanban is a visual project management system originally used in Toyota's manufacturing process. It uses cards or images on a board to visualize workflow from one stage to the next and limit work-in-progress to avoid bottlenecks and focus on continuous flow. The core principles are to visualize workflow, limit WIP, focus on flow, and drive continuous improvement. Kanban and Scrum are both agile methods but Kanban allows continuous workflow while Scrum uses sprints and fixed roles. Key benefits of Kanban include improved visibility, collaboration, and productivity through waste reduction.

1. An Introduction
to
Kanban

2. What is Kanban?
❖ Kanban is a Japanese word and it means “visual card”, “signboard,”,
“billboard”.
❖ Kanban is a tool that allows you to fully visualize the status of your
processes through a board with dynamic columns that make all tasks and
processes steps clear.
❖ Kanban started life as a scheduling system for assembly lines in the
automobile industry.
❖ Toyota company first used Kanban cards.
❖ Kanban was developed as a framework to maintain a high level of production
at Toyota by managing the workflow with fine-tuning and self-improvement
built in.

3. Toyota's Six Rules
1. Each process issues requests (kanban) to its suppliers when it consumes its
supplies.
2. Each process produces according to the quantity and sequence of incoming
requests.
3. No items are made or transported without a request.
4. The request associated with an item is always attached to it.
5. Processes must not send out defective items, to ensure that finished products
will be defect-free.
6. Limiting the number of pending requests makes the process more sensitive
and reveals inefficiencies.

4. Core Principal
★ Visualize Workflow
★ Limit Work in Progress (WIP)
★ Focus on Flow
★ Continuous Improvement

5. Visualize Workflow
★ Split the entire work into defined segments or states, visualized as named
columns on a wall.
★ Write each item on a card and put in a column to indicate where the item is in
the workflow.

6. Limits Work-In-Progress (WIP)
★ Reducing wait time.
★ Avoiding stress on resources at a workflow state.
★ Identifying bottlenecks causing an item to be in a workflow state than the
anticipated time (usually average cycle time) immediately.
★ Resolving bottlenecks with collaboration of the entire team.
★ Decreasing dependencies in completing a task by splitting it into sub-tasks,
so that the sub-task is tracked independently.

7. Focus on Flow
★ The whole idea of implementing a Kanban system is to create a smooth healthy flow.
★ So, managing the flow is about managing the work but not the people.
★ Ideally, we want fast and smooth flow. This would mean that our system is creating
value quickly. This way we can minimize the average cycle time for production and
avoiding the cost of delay, but in a predictable fashion.

8. Continuous Improvement
★ Keeping close track of your processes metrics is essential for continuous
improvement
★ Must analyze all possible impacts this change might bring.
★ The flow must always be standardized and updated in order to run properly.

9. Kanban Board

10. Kanban Board
★ Provides easy access to everyone involved in the project.
★ Facilitates communication as and when necessary.
★ Progress of the tasks are visually displayed.
★ Bottlenecks are visible as soon as they occur.

11. Kanban vs Scrum
Kanban Scrum
No prescribed roles Pre-defined roles of Scrum master, Product
owner and team member
Continuous Delivery Timeboxed sprints
Changes can be made at any time No changes allowed mid-sprint
Cycle time Velocity
More appropriate in operational
environments with a high degree of
variability in priority
More appropriate in situations where work
can be prioritized in batches that can be left
alone

12. Similarities: Kanban and Scrum
❏ Both are Agile.
❏ Both use pull scheduling.
❏ Both limit WIP, Kanban at task level and Scrum at sprint level.
❏ Both use transparency across the development.
❏ Both focus on delivering releasable software early.
❏ Both are based on self-organizing teams.
❏ Both require breaking the work into pieces.
❏ In both the methods, the release plan is continuously optimized based on
empirical data (Scrum – Velocity, Kanban - Lead Time/Cycle Time).

13. Visual Metrics

14. Advantage of Kanban
1. Focus on work
2. All attention goes to the most important things
3. More flexibility
4. Puts Business Value First
5. Improves Visibility
6. Reduces Context-Switching
7. Improves Collaboration
8. Reduces Wasteful Activities
9. Introduces Predictability

15. Advantage of Kanban
10. Continuous Improvement
11. More work less talk
12. Flexibility
13. Focus on continuous delivery
14. Reduction of wasted work / wasted time
15. Increased productivity, efficiency
17. Team members’ ability to focus

16. Kanban Tools
❖ Wrike
❖ smartQ
❖ Accelo Projects
❖ Trello
❖ Kanban Tool
❖ Kanbanery
❖ LeanKit
❖ JIRA Software
❖ Earliz
❖ Targetprocess
❖ Projectplace

17. References
1. Intro to Kanban in Under 5 Minutes (What is Kanban, Learn Kanban)
2. Kanban: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Learn Kanban Step by Step
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
4. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/kanban/index.htm
5. Learning Agile: Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean, and Kanban
6. https://www.pipefy.com/blog/basic-concepts/what-is-kanban/
7. https://www.digite.com/kanban/what-is-kanban/#kanban-practices

18. Thanks
R M Shahidul Islam Shahed (CSM®, CSD®)
Project Manager at Monstar Lab Bangladesh