Kanban is a workflow management method that visualizes work items on a board, allowing teams to actively limit work in progress and continuously deliver value. Originating from Japanese manufacturing in the 1940s, Kanban has been adopted by software teams looking to improve flow and reduce cycle time, especially among teams who have grown tired of Scrum's rigid ceremonies and estimation rituals.

How to use it in a sentence

• During the daily standup, the engineering manager passive-aggressively reminded the team to update the Kanban board before leaving for the day, as if moving virtual sticky notes was more important than shipping quality code.

• The newly-minted agile coach enthusiastically explained how Kanban would revolutionize the way the team worked, but the senior developers rolled their eyes, knowing that no process could magically fix the legacy spaghetti code they were stuck maintaining.

If you actually want to learn more...

• Continuous Flow: Martin Fowler explains the basics of continuous flow and how it relates to Kanban, providing a solid foundation for understanding the principles behind this popular agile methodology.

• Kanban Development Oversimplified: In this brief article, Martin Fowler warns against oversimplifying Kanban and reducing it to just a board with sticky notes, emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying principles.

• Kanban and Scrum - Making the Most of Both: This free mini-book by Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin compares and contrasts Kanban with Scrum, helping readers understand when and how to use each methodology effectively in their software development projects.

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