{"id":258,"date":"2020-10-09T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T05:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/?p=258"},"modified":"2020-12-08T15:36:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T12:36:28","slug":"what-is-kanban-project-management-exactly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/what-is-kanban-project-management-exactly\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Kanban project management exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban is one of the main project management methodologies around today. The word \u201cKanban\u201d is billboard in Japanese and Kanban is called this because of it\u2019s highly visual nature.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban takes the lean, mean value-based agile principles of project management methodologies such as Lean and adds an emphasis on efficiency. It\u2019s high on flexibility, self-management, teamwork, and collaboration. Kanban wants you to focus on the things that really matter. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The roots of the word Kanban date back to the 1600s, with the boom in the Japanese economy. Kanban, literally signboards or nowadays billboards were used to attract potential customers to shops and stores. The signs were artistic and attractive but most importantly clear and concise representations. From these historical roots came the modern-day project management methodology of Kanban as introduced in the 1940s by Toyota, at the time a post-war war loss-making former giant. Unable to compete with the American car manufacturing giants across the pacific Toyota embarked on a journey of corporate culture change. Thus Kanban project management methodology was born under the<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> development innovation of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taiichi Ohno t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">o improve and maintain a high level of production<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This idea was then applied to IT, Software development and knowledge work in general in the year 2004 by David J. Anderson.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What is the Kanban system?<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-398 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/What-is-the-Kanban-system-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/What-is-the-Kanban-system-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/What-is-the-Kanban-system-1-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban is a highly visual system for managing projects as they move through a process. The system involves both the visualization of the process (the workflow) and the actual work passing through that process. The principle aim of Kanban is to identify potential hold-ups, bottlenecks,\u00a0 in the process and fix them quickly so work can move on cost-effectively at a steady pace towards completion of the whole project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is based on four foundation principles and six practices;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>4 Foundational Principles<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-399 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4-Foundational-Principles-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4-Foundational-Principles-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4-Foundational-Principles-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Start with what you are doing now:<\/strong> changing your whole system overnight is often not a practical option. Apply Kanban to your present workflow system as fittingly and smoothly as possible and then introduce further changes over a period of time, when the team and system is ready to cope. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Agree to pursue step-by-step, gradual change over time:<\/strong> this will lead to acceptance by the team and organization rather than disruptive resistance. Don\u2019t be too radical too quickly. Kanban moves on when everybody is onside and working together.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Initially, respect current workplace roles, responsibilities and job-titles:<\/strong> Kanban doesn\u2019t insist on immediate change to staffing roles and responsibilities and doesn\u2019t require organizational changes. Gradually teams will collaborate to identify and put forth changes needed in this area.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The first three foundation principles are all based on the avoidance of natural human emotions to resist change.<\/strong> Any change is slow, gradual, evolutionary, and seen to be collaborative. As such these changes give the new system a better chance of success, without immediately alienating the current staff.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Leadership at all levels is encouraged:<\/strong> All levels of workers can have input, come up with ideas and suggestions, and ought to be vital links in collaboration. This kind of initiative is valued and welcomed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>6 Core Practices of the Kanban Method<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-400 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/6-Core-Practices-of-the-Kanban-Method-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/6-Core-Practices-of-the-Kanban-Method-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/6-Core-Practices-of-the-Kanban-Method-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Visualize the flow of work<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: the fundamental first step to the Kanban Method. Visualize the workflow process, some people use a physical whiteboard others an online Kanban Board. Spell out this process in clear steps so you have a very clear visual representation of each stage. Start simple, with basic stages and one flow line, and add to it as complexity increases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Limit WIP (Work in Progress)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Kanban is a \u201cpull system\u201d so work should be completed and marked as such before starting the next stage. Limiting work-in-progress (WIP) is vital to the implementation of Kanban project management. It may not be easy to do this at the very beginning of a project and it is absolutely possible to create limits during the process as and when you get more information and data on the progression of the project. This system helps the team members progress through stages, improves engagement, and communicates capacity and work limits to clients, customers, and other stakeholders which in turn improves long term planning. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Manage Flow<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Once you\u2019ve got your visualization of workflow and managed to establish Work-in-progress limits, then it\u2019s all about managing and improving flow. The Kanban project management system should help manage flow by breaking down the different stages of the workflow and showing the status of work in each stage. You should be able to identify smooth flow or bottlenecks quickly and easily, then if needed adjustments should be made to improve flow, which in turn should reduce the time taken to complete each stage of work, and overall cycle time. This workflow improvement and smoothness should lead to greater predictability, and therefore accurate timelines and deadlines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Explicit Process Policies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: your process guidelines laying out exactly how you do the things you do and what rules and procedures you follow should be absolutely clear. Everyone needs to fully understand the requirements of any type of work being undertaken. These guidelines are best displayed at the top of the communication board\u00a0 so they are obvious and clear, and unmistakable. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Feedback Loops Implementation:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Kanban system sets great stall on feedback of all kinds and sees it as one of the core practices. Stages are reviewed, and the idea is to get lots of feedback early to avoid going off track and therefore saving time. Kanban encourages continuous highly visual feedback.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Collaboration and experimentation: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as an evolutionary process kanban is a method that purposely integrates changes and experimentation, test and change in its doctrine. Test, evaluate, change, tweak, and improve as often and as much as needed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What are Kanban boards, columns, and cards<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are researching or reading up on Kanban project management you\u2019ll hear a lot of terms repeated and repeated. Kanban boards, columns, and kanban cards &#8211; so let\u2019s look at what exactly we are talking about here. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Kanban boards<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-401 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-boards-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-boards-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-boards-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Kanban board is one of the main tools that you\u2019ll certainly become aware of. Put simply, a Kanban board is the board, (physical or digital) where your work stages and process are depicted, and cards are placed to represent work items and stages. The board should start off simply but can become more complicated depending on the nature of the project. Often the board is divided up into \u201cswim lines\u201d to represent different work or indeed different teams. The boards are updated by team members thus saving you valuable time normally spent walking around requesting status updates.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Kanban columns<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-402 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-columns-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-columns-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-columns-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban boards are usually broken up into what are known as columns,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the most straightforward pattern being the three-column pattern of; To Do, Doing and Done or Requested, In Progress and Done. Of course, they can be much more complex than this. Each column is a representation of a specific activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Kanban cards<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-403 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-cards-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-cards-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Kanban-cards-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban cards are visual representations of each work item. These cards give a clear instant representation of the work item but also can contain key detailed information, describe the work or estimated size of the work, record data, or record who this work has been assigned to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rear of the cards are often used to add extra information such as start and finish dates, blockages and any issues faced.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How to use Kanban for project management &#8211; a practical example<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s quickly guide you through the stages of very practical usage of Kanban<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>1. Create a board<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First create a board one per project or per feature, that depends on the project size. Decent will it be a physical whiteboard type, a huge wall or something digital? Much depends on the physicality and location of your team members.\u00a0 You can download free Kanban boards online or use online tools to create your own. Start simple and use the help available online.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>2. Add columns<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Define your columns, with clear criteria so no one is in any doubt or confusion about the meanings. The three most popular columns are &#8220;TO-DO&#8221;, &#8220;Doing&#8221; and &#8220;Done&#8221; and it\u2019s a great starting point. Much depends on your individual project workflow, common additions are things like next, blocked or canceled. Columns can also have subsections, such as being built, being designed, testing. This is also the stage where you should decide on whether or not you need vertical columns for different teams, different components or swim lines, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>3. Add cards<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you\u2019ve got your board ordered and designed, you need to move on to populating it with Kanban cards. The cards should be individual discrete items and have clear but brief descriptions and due dates and be placed in priority order with the most important at the top and then descending order. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>4. Assign cards to team members<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the cards have been added, now is the time to assign team roles. Remember kanban works best when everybody is onside, so collaboration and discussion are the names of the game when assigning tasks. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Kanban benefits<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The question remains, why has the Kanban project management system become and indeed sustained long term popularity. The reasons are clear, it has a number of benefits that fit comfortably with many modern projects especially in the world of IT and software development. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Better visibility<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everything about Kanban is about better visualization. The great benefit of this is that every member of the team sees the process and progress, and possible issues can be addressed before they get out of hand. This ensures the project manager is one step ahead and not always firefighting problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From this improved visibility comes a whole range of further direct benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Greater efficiency<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting more done is the wish of every project manager, and Kanban\u2019s aim to improve the workflow should result in getting more done whilst using essentially the same resources. As you are able to identify areas of inefficiency, you can immediately do something about it. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Increased productivity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With improved efficiency comes increased productivity. Kanban needs timed deliveries and focus on finished work. Improved productivity is a direct result of this focus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved efficiency naturally leads to the next Kanban benefit, which is increased productivity. Kanban benefits your productivity by shifting the focus from starting work to finishing work.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>More Flexibility<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban is an agile strategy, which means that flexibility is an important factor. Kanban is a plan of individual actions rather than an overall project plan and so project managers have freedom and a flexibility of approach to priorities that can come with market or client changes. With no prescribed phase durations, features are released as soon as they are completed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Further benefits<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban increases the <\/span><b>focus of the team<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by focusing on specific single tasks and finishing those tasks before starting another. This is contrary to popular opinion the most efficient way of working.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Better collaboration <\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as team members are encouraged to work together and offer opinions and advice. Team members should also be included in organizational meetings, prioritizing, and brainstorming sessions. Kanban works best when everyone feels part of one team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Reduces waste<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, kanban is a lean project management methodology that aims to eliminate anything that doesn\u2019t add value to the overall product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Deadline predictability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, once up and running the Kanban system should be stable and based on data with tasks coming in equal to tasks being delivered. A project manager should be able to make pretty accurate timelines of workflow and thus estimate delivery more accurately.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>When to use Kanban<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-404 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/When-to-use-Kanban-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/When-to-use-Kanban-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/When-to-use-Kanban-1-300x116.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban is one of a number of very popular project management methodologies and isn\u2019t a magic bullet for every business or indeed every type of project. There are some general rules for when Kanban is more appropriate, but you are big enough to make your own decisions. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you process need to be optimized not transformed<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are looking at a long term evolutionary change<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you have identifiable, repeatable workflow stages and processes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you want to focus on delivery, not endless preplanning<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you want to focus on continual improvement and change<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Final words<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the early days in the backstreets of Japan to a worldwide project management methodology Kanban has transformed many businesses, with consistent evolutionary change and a flexible approach. It is ideal for certain projects, especially IT and software development where experts are given autonomy and trust and encouraged to be active team members.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a system that is well worth thinking about, you may very well already manage in a similar style without putting the definitions into the theory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As with all theories, they can help, they can give you ideas, framework, systems but you and your team have to implement them, and make sure they work &#8211; and that is down to your hard work and skills. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What exactly is Kanban, and why is everybody using it? Good question. What you need is to read our brief guide that will give you all you need to know. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchen.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}