There is a lot of confusion about what Kanban is. Some of this is due to the fact that many people who have never used Kanban have been deriding it – saying it is a mechanistic team management method that doesn’t respect people. The fact that Kanban is quickly growing and gaining a reputation for success where other Agile methods have had challenges belies that categorization.
But what is Kanban? Even when listening to Kanban thought leaders one will hear different answers. 1) it’s a power agile management system based on lean-flow. 2) it’s a transition management method to assist teams to achieve continuous learning. 3) It’s a way to create visibility for executives to improve their product portfolio management. I can almost here Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd on Saturday Night Live describing New Shimmer!
This talk discusses how Kanban actually is a multi-faceted method that assists process, transition and collaboration. Kanban is not a mere tool, or even a set of practices. It’s a mindset that attends to people, their culture, and the systems they find themselves working in. The talk presents a few of the basics of Lean-Flow and theory of constraints that it is based on as well as some of the psychological aspects of people adopting new methods.
While this talk is intended for those considering adopting Kanban, those currently using Scrum will find it helpful as many of the principles and practices of Kanban fit well into the Scrum framework.
