Kanban framework

Kanban can be referred to as either a method within process improvement or a visual method in Just-in-Time and Lean manufacturing, following article will be focusing on its uses in process improvement.

Figure 1: Example of a simple Kanban board

The Kanban methodology originates from Japan and is therefore a Japanese word that can be translated to “signboard”. Kanban is a framework that is used in teams that is following the agile methodology, which has gained popularity throughout the software development industry, since the adaption by David Anderson back in 2010. To practice Kanban, it is essential to acquire a lean thinking mindset, which focuses on the improvement of processes and elimination of waste, called Muda in Japanese . To understand more about Lean manufacturing see Lean in Project Management.

When teams want to implement lean and a lean mindset, Kanban can work as a beneficial method to bring exactly this to the team, which is explained by David Anderson in following quote.

“The Kanban Method introduces a complex adaptive system that is intended to catalyze a Lean outcome within an organization. Complex adaptive systems have initial conditions and simple rules that are required in order to seed complex, adaptive, emergent behavior.” – David Anderson

In general, Kanban helps project managers to keep an overview of their projects and the tasks involved in them, it also increases collaboration between the team members that is involved within the projects, mainly because visualization with the use of Kanban boards, creates project transparency. How exactly Kanban works will be the focus of this article with an overview of the historical development of this specific method, an elaboration on its uses in project management and its features will also be enlightened, where the final point of the article will define some of the limitations that is linked to the use of Kanban.

Historical State of the Art

In the Japanese Edo period, which spanned from the 17th to the middle of the 19th century, Japan experienced stability and economic growth throughout the country, after several decades of war and instability. Through this growth, local shops and street markets gained popularity and to attract eventual customers the shops started using different signs and boards to attract potential buyer’s attention, this was the birth of Kanban. Kanban’s of that time tried to tell the buyers a message by clearly communicate what the shops would sell, which is also applicable for the use of Kanban to this day, by being a way to communicate content to the user visually and clearly.

In the mid 1940’s Japan faced a post-war shortage on materials and low volumes of production, this meant that it was necessary to utilize the materials in the most effective way and hereby raise the productivity to achieve a higher volume of production. This was also applicable for the Japanese car industry that was greatly stagnating. One of these car producers were Toyota, which at the time made economic losses and could not compete with other global carmakers. This changed by Taiichii Ohno, who at that time was an industrial engineer at Toyota. He sought inspiration for changes by studying an American supermarket, which only replenished its stocks when customers had bought the available products and hereby work as a pull system, where the demand and pull of products directly affected the supply of products. This inventory system was called “Just-in-Time” and was a great effector on the reduction of waste which leads to low throughput and low performance. Taiichii Ohno implemented this system to Toyota and called it Kanban, because of its new way of signal demand throughout the factory and the foundation for the “Toyota Production System” were made. Toyota Production System is acknowledged as the predecessor to the more generic Lean manufacturing.

In 2010 David Anderson wrote his book “Kanban – Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business”, where he enlightens a new way to introduce Lean ideas and methodology into technology development and IT operations with the use of a new Kanban method that utilizes the Kanban system which is known from the Lean methodology. He did this based on his work and observations at Microsoft where he worked as a development manager. The book describes how he sought a solution to overcome deadlines that were set by managers with no regard to possible complexity, risk and size of project. There was a need for a change that would increase productivity and quality, together with a new norm on working schedules and work commitments, it was described that there was a need for protection of the demands towards the software teams and for a sustainable work pace. The initial findings Anderson made, were through the use of a pull system called “Drum-Buffer-Rope” which is an application for flow problems and an approach in the “Theory of Constraints” framework developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. One of the side effects using the Drum-Buffer-Rope system and in general a pull system is that it limits work-in-progress and hereby limits overloading of workers. The implementation of the system showed great result in productivity and in lowering of lead times, therefore a success. The transition to another pull system, Kanban, happened simply because it was found that implementing a Kanban system the results would have been the same, but also because of its easy access and because it has a wider acknowledge than the Drum-Buffer-Rope system.

Kanban in Project Management

Kanban can be used in project management to bring a lean methodology into the organization and to the team working in a project. As stated earlier, the new adapted Kanban method developed by David Anderson in 2010, which following wiki article elaborates, is developed towards the use in technology development and IT operations, therefore it is, as a project manager, important to distinguish which type of project they are working with and thereby choose the right method for exactly their case of project. Exactly what the Kanban method can give to a project is that it helps visualize tasks and the tasks status, a very simple Kanban board, which is used to visualize this, can be seen in figure 1. Where the stickers represent a Kanban card and the different lanes represent the task status, which gives the manager an overview of the processes. The effects of Kanban in manufacturing are very clear since its development in the 1940’s, and this shows that Kanban fits in the field of low variety and high repetitive work, which manufacturing is. But because of the findings regarding Andersons work in technology development, Kanban also has great effects to the fields of technology development and IT operations which has very high variability of work and also seeks variability to become first movers within the industry. Visibility in the work of technology development has simply, by limiting the work-in-progress, showed great effects on increased productivity, predictability and lowered lead times. (kilde Anderson side 21) Kanban can therefore work as a method that project managers can use both in manufacturing and now in the areas of technology development and IT operations as well.

One of the most important things to elaborate regarding Kanban in Project Management is that Kanban is not an approach to Project Management, which is stated by David Anderson, ”Kanban is not a software development lifecycle methodology or an approach to project management. It requires that some process is already in place so that Kanban can be applied to incrementally change the underlying process.” (David Andersen). Therefore, there has to be some kind of processes already in place before using the Kanban method, which is different from other agile methodologies like Scrum, see Scrum for more information, because Scrum focuses on ways to handle the process of Project Management. (Kilde: Agile Bog)

As a Project Manager, who wants to stabilize and improve the system in technology development and IT operations there are some foundational Kanban method principles one can follow:

• Start with what do you know

Meaning that the method does not require any changes in the current work processes, but it is implemented directly to the working process, and the focus is solely on improving them. When looking at other agile methodologies like Scrum, is it a whole new system for managing the project and there will be new roles within the team and new activities.

• Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change

Meaning that when using Kanban there is a search for making improvements within the system that the team works with. By system this means in what way the team is doing their tasks, this could be by following a certain methodology or something else, but the only thing that matters when using Kanban is that everybody on the team understands this system. Measurements within the system and team is very important to make changes, because feedback can be given upon this and hereby help changes.

• Initially, respect current roles, responsibilities & job titles

Meaning that if different representatives of the team does not respect roles, responsibilities and titles, the system of the team would not work out, because everything then will become unclear. This is especially important when working in technology development and IT operations because there is no correct answer on how to manage it, it varies from project to project. (Kilde Agile bogen)

Use ref: Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 2017 Edition

Features of the Kanban framework

Visualize Workflow

• Describe kanban cards and boards

Limit Work-in-Progress

• Stay to the script

Measure and manage flow

• Use of CDFs and WIP area charts

Make process policies explicit

• Securing a common understanding

Limitations of the Kanban framework

• Describe what limitations there has been found when working with the Kanban framework
• Use of Scrumban can cover some of the limitations

References

Husk sidetal på kilderne og de skal laves helt korrekt

Other notable references not yet used: Books:

• Learning Agile: Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean and Kanban. By Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene
• Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business. By David J. Anderson
• The Lean Toolbox: A handbook for lean transformation. By John Bicheno & Matthias Holweg

Websites:

• https://getnave.com/blog/what-is-the-kanban-method/
• https://getnave.com/blog/kanban-history/

Articles:

• Identification of criteria affecting software project monitoring task of Agile Kanban method. By Hamzah Alaidaros, Mazni Omar and Rohaida Romli
• https://aip-scitation-org.proxy.findit.cvt.dk/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.5055423
• Collaborative Work Management with a Highly-Available Kanban Board. By Annette Bieniusa, Peter Zeller, and Shraddha Barke
• file:///Users/JakobWeber/Downloads/5bd0583fd9001d01d4104a4f.pdf