Kanban
termops cultureprogramming
Stands for: Kanban (Toyota's pull system, adapted to knowledge work)
Toyota's pull system, adapted to knowledge work: visualize the flow, limit work in progress, and let capacity pull tasks instead of schedules pushing them.
The kanban (signboard) cards of the Toyota Production System signaled upstream stations to produce only what downstream consumed - inventory replaced by information. David Anderson's mid-2000s adaptation brought the idea to software and operations: a board whose columns are the workflow's real states, cards that are the work, and the one rule that does all the heavy lifting - WIP limits, which convert 'everything is in progress' into finished things leaving the board. For operations teams, kanban usually fits better than sprints: interrupt-driven work has no respect for two-week boxes, but it flows beautifully through a limited pipe.
Also known as: kanban, kanban board, wip limit, pull system