Kanban
Pull-based workflow visualization with WIP limits, originating from Toyota.
Kanban (看板, 'visual signal' or 'card') has two distinct but related lineages in modern management. The original is the kanban signaling system within the Toyota Production System, developed by Taiichi Ohno from the late 1940s, in which physical cards passed between workstations signal demand from downstream operations and authorize upstream production — operationalizing just-in-time pull-based manufacturing and limiting work-in-progress to what is actually needed. The second is the Kanban Method for knowledge work, articulated by David J. Anderson in his 2010 book Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business, which adapts the principles to software development and knowledge work through six core practices: visualize work, limit work in progress (WIP), manage flow, make policies explicit, implement feedback loops, and improve collaboratively (using models and the scientific method). Anderson's Kanban Method emphasizes evolutionary change starting from current process rather than the disruptive role-redefinition characteristic of Scrum, making it a popular alternative or complement in agile practice.
Core components
- Kanban board (visualized workflow with columns representing process states)
- Work-in-progress (WIP) limits per column
- Pull-based work intake
- Six core practices (Anderson Kanban Method): visualize, limit WIP, manage flow, make policies explicit, feedback loops, improve collaboratively
- Cumulative flow diagram
- Lead time and cycle time metrics
- Classes of service
- Distinction from Scrum (no fixed iterations or roles)
Primary use case
Manufacturing pull-system signaling (TPS lineage); software development and IT operations workflow management (Anderson lineage); knowledge-work flow management; foundation for Lean software practices and DevOps work-management; widely used standalone or alongside Scrum (Scrumban hybrid).
Common criticisms
- Anderson Kanban Method's evolutionary 'start where you are' approach can rationalize avoiding hard organizational change
- without WIP limit discipline kanban boards become passive task trackers
- cumulative flow diagram interpretation requires statistical literacy that many teams lack
- less prescriptive than Scrum, which can leave teams without clear cadence and accountability
- commercial certification industry through Lean Kanban University
- misapplication to highly variable creative work where pull signaling fits poorly
- tendency for digital kanban tools (Jira, Trello) to surface the artifact while losing the underlying flow discipline
- loose coupling to Toyota lineage sometimes overstated to borrow legitimacy.
Lineage
- Child of
- Toyota Production System
- Siblings
- Toyota Production System, Lean Startup, Theory of Constraints
- Derived from
- Toyota Production System