Kanban - what exactly is it?Kanban method basics to help you get started

Kanban in a nutshell

Kanban method has been gaining popularity in corporations and businesses around the world, as a way to easily manage work. Derived from Japanese, Kanban means a visual sign, used to trigger an action. In terms of project management - a Kanban board is a visual representation of a workflow. Kanban cards - tasks - will move through various stages of the process, right towards completion.

Kanban examples

Sales pipeline Kanban board

Kanban in Inbound Marketing

Personal Kanban Board

How does Kanban work?

• Visualize what you do: your workflow:
  A visualization of all tasks on a board will help team members to stay on track of their jobs.
• Limit WIP:
  Balance the workflow by limiting work in progress, to prevent over-commitment. Try to set achievable goals.
• Track your time:
  Measure the working time seamlessly to accurately evaluate your team's ability.
• Read visual indicators for instant updates:
  Find out what's going on, at one glance. Card colors, priorities, tags, deadlines and much more.
• Evaluate performance:
  Use Lead & Cycle Time, Cumulative Flow and Time Report. With them, you can spot bottlenecks, eliminate waste and adjust the workflow accordingly.

Even a basic Kanban will yield an increase in performance. Task distribution, workflow monitoring and making adjustments along the way, will improve your process efficiency. One software development team, hired by BBC Worldwide London, has seen tremendous improvement over a course of 12 months, after implementing Kanban. Their delivery time shortened by 37%, and the consistency of delivery improved by 47%. And this isn't an isolated case!

Key benefits of using Kanban

Performance boost: Insightful analytics allow you to measure performance and inform of any improvement opportunities. Kanban is very flexible, making it easy to polish the process, in order to achieve best results.

Easy organization and collaboration: Kanban executes the power of a visual approach: by use of columns, swimlanes and colored cards. You're able to work on a shared board with your team, and collaborate in real time. Digital Kanban will give you access to the workflow from any place, at any time. You'll be able to easily share tasks, and conveniently communicate them to your colleagues.

Work distribution: Get a clear overview of ongoing work and spend less time distributing and submitting tasks. Estimates are imperfect, while a constant flow of tasks reduces time spent waiting for and assigning work. Team members pull their tasks from a backlog, rather than wait until items are pushed onto them. Time savings all round!