The kanban system: a flexible, simple method of project management

Meeting deadlines in digital work — and so the result, and so a business's profitability — depends on managing projects effectively. To get collaboration inside a team and work with a client running smoothly, companies use various methods of project management. One of them is kanban. What does that odd word mean and what ideas stand behind it? Here is a closer look.

What is kanban? 

Kanban is an element of the agile philosophy, a method of improving processes in teams of developers, marketers and other digital specialists. Its main ideas are included in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development: 

• People matter more than tools;

• Quality is worth more than documentation;

• The will and readiness to change matter more than any plan;

• Working with the client matters more than a formal contract. 

The purpose of the kanban method is to create a quality product within the planned timeframe. 

Work in kanban begins with visualisation: the processes have to be visible to the whole team. Cards, a set of coloured stickers or online services along the lines of Leantime are used for that. 

Kanban boards: what they are and how they work  

This is the key element of the method, used both in Scrum and in Kanban. Every member of the team has access to the boards, so they can see what stage an important task is at. A kanban board can be virtual or physical. The standard example is the interface of Trello, where a list of tasks is displayed. 

How does kanban work in projects? 

In any marketing or development project the process can be split into several stages. To work the kanban way, analyse the process and divide it into stages. Each stage corresponds to one column, and their names and number depend on the specifics of the project. It matters to keep the columns in sequence: that is how the work achieves a state of flow, and flow is kanban's key feature. 

On the board, tasks are represented by kanban cards carrying the task's name and a short comment. The description should be clear, concise and unambiguous. The card is gradually moved rightwards across the board as the task passes into new stages. 

Kanban boards can be used to run several similar projects. In that case there are two options: 

• split the working space into several boards;

• use one board and mark the tasks of each project in a particular colour. 

The board also makes process analysis possible. Every member of the team sees which tasks are being held up, and with that information the approach to the work can be adjusted. 

The second function of kanban boards is to show the contribution each team member makes to the common cause. 

Kanban combines elements of the agile and lean approaches. There are no clear boundaries between the three: all of them use a large set of principles, techniques and devices that can be combined to fit a project. 

Why does visualisation matter so much in kanban projects? 

Visualising processes helps track the flow and see both the process as a whole and its individual elements. You will see how changes show up in the result. 

Working the kanban way, determine how many tasks the team can carry out at once. That figure differs for each stage: at the writing stage there may be up to ten articles, while in review there are at most three. 

Visualisation helps judge the team's capacity correctly and choose the right pace of work. 

Why does flow matter and how do you achieve it? 

We have mentioned the state of flow. It is the situation where tasks move dynamically from one column to the next. Thanks to flow a team can: 

• improve the quality of the product noticeably;

• save resources and time on a project;

• reduce the cost of the product and its prime cost;

• raise productivity. 

Flow can stop. What do you do then? First determine which stage the tasks are being held up at — it may be text editing or testing. Then work out the cause and remove it, by hiring another editor or software tester, for instance.  

Remember that multitasking does not agree with kanban's principles. Every team member should have a limit on the number of tasks. 

Bear in mind that the kanban approach has its drawbacks too. It is only a tool and cannot be perfect. Kanban has three main drawbacks: 

• the larger the team, the lower its effectiveness;

• it does not suit projects with a complicated working process;

• long-term planning is almost impossible with this method. 

Conclusions

Bringing kanban into projects demands a serious level of self-discipline from everyone involved. The working principles here are simple, but keeping to them matters. To use kanban productively, split the project into stages and determine the team's capacity and the time each task needs.  

Use kanban with the Leantimetool to deliver projects even when working remotely. 

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