Disadvantages of Kanban

Kanban’s Features

Visual Boards: Kanban employs visual boards for their work items or tasks. The headings such as “to do”, “work in progress” and “done” are in different columns. The board contains cards each representing one of the Tasks. Work in Progress Limits: In order to maintain an even flow, kanban sets a capacity limit to each column such that there is no congestion of work at any time for the team. Flow Management: Kanban seeks to have tasks flow smoothly, without any delays, and people who use Kanban try their best to achieve this by minimizing delays. Pull System: Kanban is based on the principles of a “pull” system, i.e., it only allows works that fit in the limited allocated space. Flexibility: Kanban is very flexible and it can be applied in all fields of work and not only for manufacturing, which was its original use. Customer Focus: Unlike other methodologies, Kanban puts much more focus on providing value to the customer, hence the team’s priorities cards are considered to be of greater importance to the consumer. Push and Pull Signals: Modern Kanban utilizes digital tools and software in order to ease out and make work efficient as compared to the original Kanban that was done physically with actual board used and signals made of cards....

Advantages of Kanban

Efficiency: Through Work in Process Limits, Kanban eliminates too much workload that leads to multi-tasking resulting in an efficient approach. Customizable: Kanban is flexible; it may be customized in order to suit the specific team’s or the project’s requirements. This is flexible to fit its work-flow and constraints. Visual Feedback: The teams can instantly see what stage each working item is at on the Kanban Boards thus enabling them to identify any barriers, problems or areas for improvement. Improved Quality: Kanban can cause the quality of work to go up since the multitasking in teams is reduced. Improved Communication: However, Kanban boards are really straightforward and therefore promote a shared understanding of the actual process which helps to enhance communication....

Disadvantages of Kanban

Complexity in Scaling: Kanban works well for projects with small to medium team sizes and workloads but gets trickier as workloads and team sizes increase. Lack of Predefined Retrospectives: Unlike Scrum which has inbuilt retrospective ceremonies, Kanban lacks such ceremonies. In order to support process changes, teams must be self-directed in scheduling, and conducting retrospective ceremonies. Lack of Deadline Focus: Kanban is not usually oriented for a rigid deadline and may not be of much help in time-related issues. Overreliance on Visual Management: Using many visual boards may also cause teams to forget or even ignore key documentation that is essential in highly dynamic and/or complicated projects. Continuous Monitoring Required: Failing to review and adapt to changes regularly might cause inefficiency, as Kanban needs to be monitored and adjusted constantly....

Core Principles of Visualizing Work in Kanban

1. Transparency...

Conclusion

To summarize, the core principles of visualizing work in Kanban revolve around transparency, optimizing flow, setting WIP, implementing continuous improvement and focusing on customer needs, while Kanban can make project management quite easy....