Kanban

Kanban (from the Japanese kan "visual" + ban "card") is a flow-management method. Work becomes a card; stages become columns; and the card moves left to right as it progresses.

It was born at Toyota in the 1940s, on the factory floor, and was adapted decades later for knowledge work.

The four principles

1. Visualize the flow. What is not on the board does not exist. Invisible work is work nobody prioritizes.
2. Limit work in progress (WIP). Every column has a cap on cards.
3. Manage the flow, not the people. The focus is how long a card takes to cross the board, not how much each person produces.
4. Improve continuously based on what the board shows.

The WIP limit is what separates Kanban from a regular board

Anyone can make a board with columns. Real Kanban has a cap per column — and the cap is the whole mechanism. When a column fills up, nobody pulls in a new item: the team is forced to finish what it already started.

With no limit, the board turns into storage: 40 cards "in progress," nothing finishing, and an empty "done" column. That is the most common state of boards that call themselves Kanban.

Kanban and Scrum

• Scrum works in closed cycles (sprints), with scope defined upfront.
• Kanban is continuous flow: items go in when there is room, come out when done, with no cycle.

Kanban usually fits better where demand is unpredictable — support, service, sales — because it does not require freezing scope.

Kanban in sales

Every deal is a card; every pipeline stage is a column. The WIP limit becomes a cap on deals in negotiation per salesperson — and it quickly reveals the salesperson with 60 open opportunities and nothing closing.