Kanban

In our last two blog posts, we discussed Agile and Scrum. Another implementation of Agile is Kanban.

Just like Scrum, Kanban is focused on iterations and solving problems for the customer. However, there are some differences:

• Team roles: there are no defined team roles in Kanban (apart from a Project Manager) while in Scrum the roles are better designed and tasks are assigned (remember the product owner, scrum master and development team).
• Delivery dates are more strict with Scrum (based on the sprints) while in Kanban delivery is dictated by needs or by the business
• Kanban is more flexible towards last-minute changes than Scrum, which aims at following the priorities set in the previous sprint review

Kanban is all about continuous optimization. Kanban was originally created by Toyota to improve the workflow of their assembly line.

Kanban Storage Area at Motomachi Plant. Retrieved from https://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/text/entering_the_automotive_business/chapter1/section4/item4.html

Using a Kanban board, the workflow is visualized for the whole team and the goal is to have a smooth workflow without bottlenecks. A bottleneck is a situation where a lot of work is crammed up in one particular place and cause a delay in the process.

The goal is to limit the number of items that are marked as WIP (Work In Progress). Remember Toyota’s assembly line? The goal is to have a steady flow that gets interrupted as little as possible. This is why it is very important to identify bottlenecks. On the picture below, you can clearly see the bottleneck. On the Kanban board, you will be able to see this as well. And the team needs to make sure that this bottleneck is solved ASAP by putting extra resources to place C. For example, if one developer is busy with task C, another developer might help him to smoothen the flow.

Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jam-before-Bottleneck.png

Similar to Scrum, Kanban wil work with a backlog of items that need to be done. This backlog is often managed by the project manager (in Scrum this is the product owner). This project manager will always make sure that the most important tasks are prioritized.

Texidi’s mobile appliation Kanban Board: texidi.io

In contrast to Scrum however, there are no strict sprint deadlines. The team might commit to some deadlines, but in theory the work is done continuously and the team makes sure that tasks move from the left side of the board to the right side as smoothly as possible.

Generally, Kanban teams are self organized and cross-functional. In contrast to Scrum, there are no well-defined roles, except for the project manager. So the project manager defines the most important tasks and the development team will organize itself to have a smooth workflow that minimizes bottlenecks.

This blogpost is part of Texidi’s mission to make tech understandable for non-tech profiles. Check out other blogposts explaining tech terms in an easy and fun way.

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