Kanban project management: principles, practices and metrics

Kanban project management means running work on a visual board, limiting work in progress and improving flow over time, without fixed iterations. It starts from the process a team already has and changes it step by step.

This guide covers David J. Anderson's Kanban Method, how to set up a project board, the cadences and metrics to use, and how kanban compares with Scrum. For the wider topic, see the kanban pillar guide and the kanban method page.

Key takeaways

Kanban manages projects through a visible board, WIP limits and continuous flow instead of fixed sprints.

David J. Anderson's 2010 book Kanban set out the principles and practices used in knowledge work.

Classes of service, regular meetings and flow metrics keep a project predictable.

Kanban suits work that arrives unpredictably, and Scrum suits teams who want fixed iterations.

What is kanban in project management?

Kanban in project management is a pull-based way to manage tasks, where a team starts new work only when it has capacity. Cards on a board represent tasks, and columns represent steps.

The idea comes from Toyota's production system, where cards signaled when to replenish parts. Knowledge-work teams adapted it, and the board shows what is in progress, who owns it and what is blocked.

Unlike a plan with fixed dates for every task, kanban focuses on flow. The question becomes how fast work moves, not whether each task met an early estimate.

David J. Anderson's kanban principles

Anderson's Kanban Method rests on change management principles: start with what you do now, and agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change. He described these in his 2010 book Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business.

Two more principles follow. Respect the current process, roles and responsibilities, and encourage acts of leadership at all levels.

These principles explain why kanban needs no reorganization. The team keeps its titles and its workflow, then improves them gradually.

The six kanban practices

The Kanban Method describes six core practices. Anderson's 2010 book set out the first five, and he and others later added feedback loops as a sixth.

First, visualize the workflow. Second, limit work in progress. Third, manage flow. Fourth, make policies explicit, such as what done means.

Fifth, implement feedback loops, such as regular reviews. Sixth, improve collaboratively and evolve experimentally, using the scientific method.

The first two are the ones teams feel first. The kanban principles and practices page on the method gives the short version. Our guide on why limiting WIP makes teams faster explains the second.

How to run a project with kanban

To run a project with kanban, design the board from your real workflow and set WIP limits. Then define classes of service and hold regular short meetings. The steps below take this in order.

Start with the board. List the steps a task passes through, from request to done, and make one column for each. Our kanban board template guide has layouts to copy.

Next, set WIP limits. Pick limits slightly below the current load so they create gentle pressure. Say a team of five has twenty tasks in progress. A limit of eight shows where work piles up.

Then define what done means for each column, so cards move on clear rules.

Classes of service

Classes of service sort work by how urgent it is and how it should be treated. Common classes are expedite, fixed date, standard and intangible.

Expedite work jumps the queue, so it gets a strict limit, often one item at a time. Fixed-date work has a deadline that carries a real penalty if missed.

Standard work flows in order. Intangible work, such as tidying up, has no deadline but still needs capacity. Writing these rules down is the fourth practice in action.

Cadences and meetings

Kanban uses regular meetings, called cadences, to keep the board honest. They are short and each has a clear purpose.

A daily standup at the board looks at blocked and aging cards, working right to left. A replenishment meeting chooses what enters the workflow next.

A delivery planning meeting decides what to release and when. A service delivery review looks at the metrics. Anderson describes further cadences, such as risk and strategy reviews, in his later book Kanban from the Inside and elsewhere.

Teams need not use all of them. Add one when a clear gap appears.

Kanban metrics for projects

Four metrics matter most: lead time, cycle time, throughput and the cumulative flow diagram. Together they show speed, rate and where work queues.

Lead time runs from request to delivery, and cycle time covers the period when work is actively in the system. Throughput is the count of items finished per period, such as per week.

A cumulative flow diagram stacks the number of items in each column over time. A widening band means work is building up in that step.

Little's Law links the three numbers: average WIP equals throughput multiplied by average cycle time. Try your own figures in the Little's Law calculator. The flow metrics tools category covers software that charts these.

Kanban vs Scrum

Kanban and Scrum are both agile approaches. Scrum works in fixed sprints with defined roles and commits to a sprint goal. Kanban uses continuous flow and limits work in progress.

Scrum prescribes roles: product owner, Scrum Master and developers. Kanban prescribes none and keeps existing roles, as the second principle says.

In Scrum, scope is usually fixed within a sprint. In kanban, new work can enter whenever there is capacity under the WIP limit.

Scrum measures velocity per sprint. Kanban measures cycle time and throughput. Some teams blend them, an approach often called Scrumban.

When does kanban fit a project?

Kanban fits work that arrives unpredictably, such as support requests, maintenance and operations, or teams that want to improve gradually. It also suits teams who cannot reorganize.

It fits less well when a project needs a fixed scope and a strict phase plan, such as building a bridge. Even then, kanban can manage the tasks inside each phase.

Choose a tool that supports WIP limits and flow charts. See choosing a digital kanban tool and the kanban software category for types, or try a free kanban board first.

For layouts across different teams, see kanban board examples.

Frequently asked questions