Developed for knowledge work by David J. Anderson (Kanban, 2010), from the kanban of Taiichi Ohno (Toyota Production System, 1978).
Puts work on a board of stages, caps how many items each stage may hold, and pulls new work only when capacity frees up, exposing bottlenecks.
When to reach for it
Teams are overloaded, work starts faster than it finishes, and nobody can see where it piles up.
How it runs
- Draw the current process as columns on a board.
- Set a limit on items in each column.
- Pull new work only when a column is under its limit.
- Track lead time, throughput, and blockers.
- Write down the team's working rules and improve them gradually.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business, 2010
- Toyota Production System, 1978