Kanban and Lean are about flow — delivering value smoothly and continuously by making work visible and removing waste. They pair well with Scrum or stand alone.
Kanban essentials
Kanban is an evolutionary method with a few powerful practices:
- Visualise the work — a Kanban board with columns for each stage (e.g. To Do → In Progress → Review → Done); each task is a card.
- Limit work in progress (WIP) — cap how many items can be in each stage. This is the heart of Kanban: less multitasking means faster, higher-quality flow.
- Manage flow — watch how work moves; find and fix bottlenecks.
- Pull, don't push — start new work only when there's capacity.
- Improve continuously — use metrics to get better.
Key metrics: cycle time (how long an item takes from start to done) and throughput (items completed per period). Lower, more predictable cycle time = a healthier system.
Lean thinking
Lean (from Toyota) maximises customer value while eliminating waste — anything the customer wouldn't pay for. The classic seven wastes: overproduction, waiting, transport, over-processing, inventory, motion and defects. Lean tools include value stream mapping (seeing the end-to-end flow) and kaizen (small, continuous improvements).
Kanban vs Scrum
- Scrum works in fixed sprints with defined roles and a committed sprint backlog.
- Kanban has no fixed iterations or prescribed roles — work flows continuously and priorities can change any time. Choose Scrum for cadence and predictability on evolving products; choose Kanban for continuous, unplanned or support/ops work (often called Scrumban when combined).
Put it to work
Draw a Kanban board for your work, set a WIP limit per column, and watch what speeds up. Track your cycle time for a week.