Visualize work. Limit WIP. Improve flow.
When to Use
- Team work is hard to see
- Too many tasks in progress
- Bottlenecks delay delivery
- Priorities change often
- Delivery dates are unpredictable
Goal
Improve lead time, cycle time, throughput, and focus.
Rules
- Start from current workflow.
- Make all work visible.
- Limit WIP per active stage.
- Pull work only when capacity exists.
- Write movement rules.
- Review blocked items daily.
- Improve with data.
Metrics
- Lead time: request to delivery.
- Cycle time: started to done.
- Throughput: completed items per period.
- WIP: items in progress.
Lead Time = WIP / Throughput
Flow
- Map current stages.
- Add board with those stages.
- Define entry and exit rules.
- Set WIP limits.
- Track blocked work.
- Measure flow.
- Fix one bottleneck.
- Revisit policies.
WIP Limits
Start simple:
Doing: team size minus 1Review/Test: available reviewers or testers
Output
## Kanban Setup
Team: [name]
Workflow:
- [stage]: WIP [limit], entry [rule], exit [rule]
Metrics:
- Lead time: [value]
- Cycle time: [value]
- Throughput: [value]
- WIP: [value]
Bottleneck:
- Stage: [stage]
- Evidence: [queue / delay / blocked work]
- Cause: [reason]
Improvement:
- Change: [policy or process change]
- Measure: [metric]
- Review date: [date]