Kanban: Your Magical Task Factory 🏭

Imagine you run a toy factory. Every day, toys need to move from one room to another — from the idea room, to the building room, to the painting room, to the shipping room. If too many toys pile up in one room, workers get overwhelmed and toys get lost!

Kanban is like a smart traffic system for your factory. It helps you see where every toy is, stops traffic jams, and keeps everything flowing smoothly.

What is Kanban? (Overview)

Kanban is a Japanese word that means “visual signal” or “card.”

Think of it like this: In your toy factory, every toy gets a sticky note attached to it. This note tells everyone:

• What the toy is
• Where it should go next
• Who’s working on it

Why Kanban Works

graph TD
    A[See Everything] --> B[Spot Problems Fast]
    B --> C[Fix Problems Quickly]
    C --> D[Happy Customers!]

Real Example: A software team uses Kanban to track bugs. Instead of emails flying around asking “Who’s fixing the login bug?”, everyone looks at the board and instantly knows: “Oh, Sarah is working on it right now.”

The Kanban Board Design

Your Kanban board is like a big window into your factory. It shows every toy and where it lives right now.

The Basic Board

Making It Better

Most teams add more columns based on their actual work:

Example: A bakery Kanban board might have:

• Orders → Mixing → Baking → Decorating → Ready for Pickup

Each column matches a real step in their kitchen!

Visualizing Workflow

The magic of Kanban is seeing your work. When work is invisible, problems hide. When work is visible, problems wave at you!

What Goes on a Kanban Card?

Each card (sticky note) should tell a quick story:

┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ 🎨 Fix Login Button         │
│ ─────────────────────────── │
│ Priority: High              │
│ Owner: Alex                 │
│ Due: Friday                 │
│ ─────────────────────────── │
│ [ ] Design fix              │
│ [✓] Code changes            │
│ [ ] Test it                 │
└─────────────────────────────┘

Colors Tell Stories

• 🔴 Red cards: Urgent! Fix now!
• 🟡 Yellow cards: Important, do soon
• 🟢 Green cards: Normal priority
• 🔵 Blue cards: Nice to have

Example: At a restaurant:

• Red card = “Table 5’s food is cold, remake now!”
• Yellow card = “We’re low on pasta”
• Green card = “Prep tomorrow’s vegetables”

Work in Progress (WIP) Limits

Here’s the secret sauce that makes Kanban powerful: WIP Limits.

The Traffic Jam Problem

Imagine a highway with no speed limit or lane rules. Cars pile up, nobody moves, everyone honks. Chaos!

WIP limits are like saying: “Only 3 cars allowed in this section at once.”

How It Works

When “Testing” is full (2 items), no new items can enter until one leaves!

Why Limits Help

graph TD
    A[Too much work] --> B[People switch tasks constantly]
    B --> C[Nothing gets finished]
    C --> D[Customers wait forever]

    E[WIP Limits] --> F[Focus on few things]
    F --> G[Things get done faster]
    G --> H[Happy customers!]

Example: A designer sets their WIP limit to 2 projects. When a boss asks “Can you also do this logo?”, they say: “I’d love to! But my board shows I’m at capacity. Let’s finish the website first, then I’ll start the logo.”

The Pull System

In regular work, managers push tasks at workers: “Do this! Now do this! Here’s more!”

Kanban uses a pull system: Workers pull new work only when they have space.

Push vs. Pull

Push (the old way):

• Boss dumps 20 tasks on your desk
• You’re overwhelmed
• Quality drops
• You miss deadlines

Pull (the Kanban way):

• You finish a task
• You look at “Ready” column
• YOU pick the next most important item
• You stay focused and calm

The Supermarket Idea

Kanban was invented by Toyota, inspired by supermarkets!

When you buy milk from a shelf, the empty spot “signals” the store to refill it. The store pulls more milk from the warehouse only when needed.

graph LR
    A[Customer buys milk] --> B[Empty shelf spot]
    B --> C[Store pulls from warehouse]
    C --> D[Warehouse orders more]

Example: A writer has a “Ready to Write” column with 5 articles. They only add new articles from “Ideas” when they finish one. No more 50 half-written articles collecting dust!

Managing Flow

Flow is how smoothly work moves from start to finish. Good flow = work moves steadily, like a calm river.

Spotting Flow Problems

Bottleneck: One column gets stuffed while others are empty.

The development column is a traffic jam! Solutions:

• Help developers (maybe designers can learn simple coding)
• Reduce WIP limit for design (slow down feeding the jam)
• Hire another developer

Measuring Flow

Lead Time: How long from “customer asks” to “customer gets it”

Cycle Time: How long work spends actually being worked on

graph LR
    A[Customer Request] -->|Lead Time starts| B[To Do]
    B --> C[In Progress]
    C -->|Cycle Time| D[Done]
    D -->|Lead Time ends| E[Delivered!]

Example: A pizza shop measures:

• Lead time: Customer orders at 7:00, pizza arrives at 7:35 = 35 minutes
• Cycle time: Pizza enters oven at 7:20, exits at 7:30 = 10 minutes

If lead time is too long, they look at where pizza waits (maybe too long before entering oven!).

Kanban Policies

Policies are the “rules of the game.” They make sure everyone plays the same way.

Types of Policies

1. Entry Rules (Definition of Ready)

• What must a task have before it enters the board?
• Example: “Every bug card must have steps to reproduce it”

2. Exit Rules (Definition of Done)

• What must be true before a task leaves a column?
• Example: “Testing is only ‘Done’ when all tests pass AND documentation is updated”

3. WIP Policies

• Our limit for “In Progress” is 3 items
• If blocked, the whole team helps unblock before pulling new work

4. Priority Rules

• Red cards always move first
• Customer-facing bugs jump the queue

Example Policy Board

╔═══════════════════════════════════╗
║         OUR KANBAN RULES          ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════╣
║ ✓ Max 3 items per person          ║
║ ✓ Blocked items get red sticker   ║
║ ✓ Review code before "Testing"    ║
║ ✓ Nothing is "Done" without tests ║
║ ✓ Daily standup at 9:15 AM        ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════╝

Example: A marketing team policy: “No blog post enters ‘Publishing’ unless it has been reviewed by at least one other team member.” This prevents embarrassing typos!

Kanban Cadences

Cadences are regular meetings that keep your Kanban system healthy. Think of them as “check-ups” for your factory.

The 7 Kanban Cadences

Daily Standup (The Quick Huddle)

Every morning, the team gathers around the board for 10-15 minutes:

graph TD
    A[Look at the board] --> B[Any blockers?]
    B --> C[Who needs help?]
    C --> D[What ships today?]
    D --> E[Back to work!]

Not: “What did you do yesterday?” (boring status report) Instead: “What’s stopping this card from moving right?” (problem solving)

Replenishment Meeting

Once a week, the team looks at the backlog:

• What new requests came in?
• What’s most important now?
• Is our “Ready” column running low?

Example: A video team’s replenishment meeting:

• “We finished the product videos. What’s next?”
• “Three new requests: CEO interview, holiday promo, tutorial series”
• “Holiday promo is urgent — let’s prioritize that!”

Putting It All Together

Here’s your Kanban starter checklist:

graph TD
    A[1. Create a Board] --> B[2. Add Columns for Your Steps]
    B --> C[3. Put All Work on Cards]
    C --> D[4. Set WIP Limits]
    D --> E[5. Write Down Policies]
    E --> F[6. Start Daily Standups]
    F --> G[7. Pull Work, Don't Push]
    G --> H[8. Watch and Improve!]

Remember the Magic Words

Your Kanban Journey Starts Now!

You don’t need expensive software. You don’t need permission. You can start today with:

• A wall or whiteboard
• Sticky notes
• A marker

Draw three columns: To Do | Doing | Done

Put your tasks on sticky notes. Set a limit for “Doing” (start with 3).

And just like that — you’re doing Kanban! 🎉

The toy factory is open. The traffic flows. The customers are happy.

Welcome to the world of Kanban!