Kanban - Visualize Work, Limit WIP, Optimize Flow

Kanban is a visual workflow management method originating from Toyota's manufacturing system. It focuses on visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress (WIP), and optimizing the flow of work through a system.

When to Use This Skill

• Managing team workflow and task prioritization
• Identifying and resolving bottlenecks
• Improving delivery predictability
• Balancing team capacity with demand
• Implementing continuous improvement
• Transitioning from chaotic to structured work

Core Concepts

The Kanban Board

+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|  TO DO   |  DOING   |  REVIEW  |   DONE   |
|          |  (WIP:3) |  (WIP:2) |          |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| [Task 1] | [Task 4] | [Task 6] | [Task 8] |
| [Task 2] | [Task 5] |          | [Task 9] |
| [Task 3] |          |          |          |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+

Six Core Practices

Practice	Description
Visualize workflow	Make all work visible on the board
Limit WIP	Cap items in each stage
Manage flow	Track and optimize throughput
Make policies explicit	Document rules for moving work
Implement feedback loops	Regular reviews and retrospectives
Improve collaboratively	Evolve process based on data

Key Metrics

Metric	Definition	Why It Matters
Lead Time	Request → Delivery	Customer perspective
Cycle Time	Work Started → Done	Team efficiency
Throughput	Items completed per period	Capacity planning
WIP	Items currently in progress	Flow health

Little's Law

Lead Time = WIP / Throughput

To reduce lead time:
- Reduce WIP (easier)
- Increase throughput (harder)

Analysis Framework

Step 1: Map Current Workflow

Identify all stages work passes through:

Idea → Backlog → Analysis → Development → Testing → Deploy → Done

Step 2: Set WIP Limits

Start with: WIP limit = Team size - 1

Stage	Team Members	Initial WIP Limit
Dev	4	3
Review	2	2
Test	2	2

Step 3: Identify Bottlenecks

Look for columns where work accumulates:

+------+------+------+------+
| Dev  |Review| TEST | Done |
+------+------+------+------+
| [1]  | [4]  | [8]  | [9]  |
| [2]  | [5]  | [10] |      |
| [3]  | [6]  |      |      |
|      | [7]  |      |  ← Bottleneck in Review
+------+------+------+------+

Step 4: Optimize Flow

Actions to address bottlenecks:

• Add capacity to bottleneck stage
• Reduce WIP in preceding stages
• Improve efficiency at bottleneck
• Change policies (batch size, etc.)

Output Template

## Kanban Board Setup

**Team/Project:** [Name] **Date:** [Date]

### Workflow Stages

| Stage     | WIP Limit | Entry Criteria | Exit Criteria |
| --------- | --------- | -------------- | ------------- |
| [Stage 1] | [n]       | [Criteria]     | [Criteria]    |
| [Stage 2] | [n]       | [Criteria]     | [Criteria]    |

### Current Metrics

| Metric     | Current  | Target   |
| ---------- | -------- | -------- |
| Lead Time  | [X days] | [Y days] |
| Cycle Time | [X days] | [Y days] |
| Throughput | [X/week] | [Y/week] |

### Bottleneck Analysis

**Current bottleneck:** [Stage] **Root cause:** [Analysis] **Action plan:**
[Steps to resolve]

### Improvement Experiments

| Experiment | Hypothesis         | Measure  | Duration |
| ---------- | ------------------ | -------- | -------- |
| [Change 1] | [Expected outcome] | [Metric] | [Time]   |

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Software Development Team

Before: 15 items in progress, 3-week average delivery After: 6 WIP limit, 5-day average delivery

Changes:

• Visualized all work (including hidden tasks)
• Set WIP limits (forced focus)
• Daily standups at the board
• Swarming on blocked items

Example 2: Content Marketing Team

+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Ideas  | Draft  | Edit   | Design | Publish|
| (10)   | WIP:3  | WIP:2  | WIP:2  |        |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

Bottleneck discovered: Design stage Solution: Created template library, reduced design dependency

Best Practices

Do

• Start with current process, evolve gradually
• Make WIP limits visible and enforced
• Track metrics consistently
• Review board in daily standups
• Celebrate flow improvements

Avoid

• Treating Kanban as just a task board
• Setting WIP limits too high (defeats purpose)
• Ignoring blocked items
• Skipping retrospectives
• Comparing team throughput to others

WIP Limit Guidelines

Situation	Adjustment
Items stuck too long	Lower WIP
Team has idle time	Raise WIP slightly
Too much context switching	Lower WIP
Bottleneck forming	Address root cause

Integration with Other Methods

Method	Combined Use
Hypothesis Tree	Investigate flow problems
Five Whys	Find root cause of bottlenecks
Cognitive Load	Justify WIP limits (context switching cost)

Resources

• Kanban - David J. Anderson
• Making Work Visible - Dominica DeGrandis