Kanbanboards

A Kanban board is a visual management tool used to map and manage work items as they progress through a workflow. It comprises columns representing stages of work and cards representing individual work items. The workflow is typically limited by work-in-progress (WIP) limits to prevent overloading the team. Boards can be physical or digital and are used to optimize flow and transparency.

The Kanban method originated in the manufacturing sector as part of Lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. The term kanban means “signal” or “card” in Japanese. In software and knowledge work, Kanban was adapted by practitioners such as David J. Anderson to improve throughput and predictability. Core principles include visualizing work, limiting WIP, managing flow, making policies explicit, implementing feedback loops, and pursuing continuous improvement.

Structure and usage: Columns represent stages such as To Do, In Progress, Review, and Done, though teams tailor them to their process. Each card contains details about a work item, its assignee, priority, and due date. WIP limits constrain the number of items in a column. Boards may include swimlanes for different work types. Digital boards enable features like drag-and-drop, automation, and metrics such as cycle time and cumulative flow diagrams.

Benefits and limitations: Kanban improves visibility, highlights bottlenecks, and enables incremental process changes. It is flexible and supports continuous delivery. However, it does not prescribe time-boxed iterations or roles, and success depends on disciplined use, ongoing policy refinement, and governance, especially at scale.

Relation to other methods: Kanban is complementary to Scrum and can be used as Scrumban or as a standalone approach. Unlike Scrum, it does not require fixed sprints and instead optimizes flow through continuous delivery.