Kanban

Kanban is a way to visualize the flow and the current state of each action. Every participant can see the progress from start to finish. Team members start working as capacity permits. Unlike Scrum, there is no need for forecasting as it is a continuous process.

Kanban is a methodology that uses visualization with a Kanban board. The method originates from Lean manufacturing (inspired by Toyota), but it is often used for software development as well. In its most basic shape, it contains three columns, reflecting the state of each item—To do, Doing, and Done. Note that it is important to keep the amount of items in the Doing lane to a minimum. People are, in fact, not really good in multitasking, although they think they are. Switching from contexts will increase waste and should be avoided.

All you need to create a Kanban board is an empty wall and a number of post-its, but you can also use a software service such as Trello. If you sign up at www.trello.com, you can set up your own project for free and define a number of lanes. In this example, set up with Trello, it is clear to everyone which state each item is in. You can define additional lanes where needed:

In Kanban, the flow of work is continuous, but in Scrum, work is pided into events that last for a specific amount of time. Scrum uses Kanban boards, but adds a forecasting element to it.