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.
Kanban like all others has its advantages and disadvantages, which vary according to the context it is being used in. A few key advantages and disadvantages are listed below:
What are the Core Principles of Visualizing Work in Kanban?
Kanban is an ancient system of management; it enhances the workflows. An engineer at Toyota developed it and referred to it as a part of the Toyota Production System. The term “Kanban” comes from the Japanese language. It means either “visual cards” or “signals”. In addition, visualizing work within Kanban is crucial for it to be effective in running workflows and improving them.
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