Kanban

The word "kanban" is Japanese for "visual signal" or "card," and that captures the essence of the methodology. Work items are represented as cards on a board divided into columns that represent stages of a process. A simple board might have columns for "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." As work progresses, cards move from left to right across the board, giving everyone an instant visual picture of what is being worked on, what is waiting, and what is complete. The most important principle in Kanban is limiting work in progress (WIP). Each column has a maximum number of cards it can hold. If the "In Progress" column has a WIP limit of 5 and there are already 5 cards there, no new work can start until something moves to "Done." This constraint prevents teams from starting too many things at once, which research consistently shows leads to longer completion times and more context-switching overhead. When a column hits its WIP limit, the team focuses on completing existing work rather than pulling in new tasks. Kanban is fundamentally different from sprint-based methodologies like Scrum. There are no fixed iterations or sprint planning ceremonies. Work is pulled continuously from the backlog as capacity becomes available. This makes Kanban well-suited for teams that handle a mix of planned projects and unplanned requests, like IT support teams, maintenance departments, or marketing groups that need to respond to opportunities quickly. Flow metrics drive improvement in Kanban. Lead time measures how long a card takes from request to completion. Cycle time measures how long active work takes. Throughput measures how many cards are completed per time period. By tracking these metrics, teams can identify bottlenecks (stages where cards accumulate), predict delivery dates based on historical performance, and measure the impact of process changes. In an ERP context, Kanban can manage tasks, support tickets, manufacturing orders, or any workflow where visual status tracking and flow optimization add value.