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How Kanban helps teams be productive?


Jan 24, 2023

Kanban is a methodology for planning, scheduling, and enhancing work across systems. It is a visual system that helps teams understand and optimize work delivery, even in the most complex projects. Individuals or organizations can apply Kanban to any work, including software development, manufacturing, marketing, and more.

How Kanban helps teams be productive

Image courtesy: Eden Constantino (Unsplash)

Kanban is a Japanese word meaning visual board. Toyota was the first to develop and apply it as a scheduling system for just-in-time manufacturing.

The key principles of Kanban are:

  • Visualize work: Make the work visible so that everyone can understand it and see how it flows.

  • Limit work in progress: Limit the amount of work that can be in progress at any one time so that the team can focus on completing tasks before starting new ones.

  • Manage flow: Use metrics such as lead time, cycle time, and throughput to understand how work is flowing through the system to help make improvements to optimize it.

  • Make process policies explicit: Make the rules and policies of the process explicit so that the team is clear on how the work should be carried out.

  • Implement feedback loops: Use feedback loops to get regular feedback on system performance and make improvements as needed.

You can use Kanban standalone or in conjunction with other methodologies such as Scrum. Kanban is a versatile and adaptable system. It can be easily customized to meet the specific requirements of a team or organization.

All the above factors contribute to increased team productivity. Therefore, when selecting an online project management software solution, one must evaluate the availability of Kanban. It improves overall team collaboration and communication while serving as a task-scheduling tool. Kanban keeps the team on the same page with respect to the timelines and status of the tasks and the project.