What does kanban mean?
Kanban is a visual system used to manage and track work as it moves through a process. The word Kanban is Japanese and roughly translates to "the card you see." Or
Kanban is a popular Lean workflow management method for defining, managing, and improving services that provide knowledge work.
Definition of Kanban, kanban, or kanban systems?
- The Kanban method (capital K)—A method to create evolutionary change in your organization, first formulated by David J. Anderson and documented in his book Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business.
- Kanban (sometimes lowercase k, sometimes capital K)—Sometimes refers to a “visual process management system that tells what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce”, sometimes to the actual visual signal.
- Kanban system— The system that is set up to track the work in process. An example of this might be a kanban board, the cards, and the policies around your work. All of that is your kanban system.
In theory, these things have quite different meanings; But in reality, people in the community often don't distinguish between them. What people usually refer to as "using Kanban" is using some form of Kanban system to manage and optimize Kanban (visual signals) to improve incrementally. This is what we mean when we use the term Kanban.
The principles of Kanban
Visualize Workflow
It can start by creating sticky notes representing each work item and a visualized workflow in the form of a board to track each item's current status. This is a great way to learn about your work, how to start seeing opportunities for improvement in you and your workflow.
Limit Work in Progress
By setting a WIP limit, you create a little tension in your workflow; Because it will reveal problems in your system.
WIP simulated improvement opportunities will begin to surface. Flow through the workflow will stall (sticks moving slowly up the board), start backing up (too many stickies in a given column), or stop completely (items waiting). These are all indicators that you can improve your system. What you do to address these issues will determine whether you make progress.
Measure and Manage Flow
Manage flow through workflows quickly and without interruption.
This is the start of your journey to continuous workflow improvement. The bad news is that you will never accomplish this task. Your workflow can always be improved; There is always an obstacle that slows you down.
Additional Properties
Clarify process principles – With clear principles, you can start a discussion around your process based on objective data rather than what you think, feel, and have anecdotal evidence for.
Implement feedback loops—This practice focuses on getting feedback from your process: for example, what's called an operations review, which is kind of an antecedent to the process itself.
Few Terms of Kanban
Lead Time: The time it takes for a work item to go through the entire workflow, in the simplest form, you can "stamp" the card on the date it enters the board and the date it enters the final stage of the workflow. Lead time is just the difference between these two times.
Throughput: The rate at which you complete tasks. Count the number of items you complete in a given period of time, say the number or number of work items done in a week.
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