Kanban
A visual workflow management method that uses cards and boards to track work items through different stages of a process, maximizing efficiency and limiting work in progress.
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What is Kanban?
Kanban started on the factory floors of Japanese manufacturing before spreading to pretty much every industry you can think of. The word itself translates to "visual signal" or "card" in Japanese, which makes sense once you see how it works: visual cues drive everything about how work gets managed and how production flows.
The real power of Kanban lies in making invisible work visible. When teams can actually see what's happening, bottlenecks become obvious and inefficiencies can't hide. A typical Kanban board is split into columns for different work stages, with cards representing tasks that move from left to right as they go from "To Do" through to "Done."
What sets Kanban apart is its pull-based approach. New work only enters the system when there's actually capacity for it, rather than being pushed onto teams whether they can handle it or not. This tends to cut down on the constant task-switching that kills productivity, prevents burnout, and keeps work flowing at a pace people can actually sustain. The visual nature of Kanban boards also supports continuous improvement by making bottlenecks immediately visible, and each column represents a stage in your workflow.
Key Characteristics of Kanban
- Visual Management: Every work item shows up as a card on a board, physical or digital, so the whole team can see what's going on at any moment.
- Work in Progress (WIP) Limits: Columns have caps on how many items they can hold. This keeps teams from drowning in too much work at once and makes bottlenecks impossible to ignore.
- Continuous Flow: There are no sprints or fixed iterations here. Work just flows through the system continuously.
- Pull System: People grab new work when they're ready for it, rather than having tasks dumped on them regardless of what's already on their plate.
- Explicit Policies: The rules for moving work through the board are written down and visible to everyone. No guessing, no inconsistency.
- Feedback Loops: Regular check-ins on the board and its metrics help teams keep improving how they work, not just what they produce.
Kanban Examples
Example 1: Software Development Team
Picture a dev team with a digital Kanban board set up with columns for Backlog, In Development, Code Review, Testing, and Deployed. They've set WIP limits at 3 for Development, 2 for Code Review, and 2 for Testing. So when a developer wraps up a feature, they can only pull something new from the backlog if there are fewer than 3 items already in Development. This stops developers from juggling too many features at once and keeps code reviews from piling up unnoticed.
Example 2: Marketing Content Creation
A content marketing team runs their editorial calendar through Kanban with columns for Ideas, Research, Writing, Editing, Design, and Published. They've capped Writing at 5 articles so writers don't end up stretched too thin across too many pieces. If articles start stacking up in Editing, that bottleneck is immediately visible and the team can shift resources around or slow down content creation until things clear out.
Kanban vs Scrum
Both fall under the agile umbrella, but they work quite differently in practice.
| Aspect | Kanban | Scrum |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Continuous flow with gradual improvement over time | Structured sprints with specific deliverables |
| Scope | Flexible, work flows continuously without fixed periods | Fixed-length sprints, usually 2-4 weeks |
| When to use | Work shows up unpredictably and priorities shift often | Work can be planned ahead and regular releases make sense |
| Roles | No required roles | Specific roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team |
| Measurement | Lead time, cycle time, throughput | Sprint velocity, burndown charts |
How Glitter AI Helps with Kanban
Getting Kanban right depends heavily on documentation. Column policies, WIP limits, standard procedures for handling different work types, it all needs to be written down somewhere. Glitter AI makes this easier by letting teams create visual guides while they're actually working through their Kanban board.
Here's how it works: teams screen record their Kanban workflow while talking through what they're doing. Glitter transcribes the explanation automatically and grabs screenshots of the board at each step. You end up with documentation that shows exactly how work moves through the system, what each column means, and what triggers a card to move. New team members can get up to speed quickly, and everyone stays aligned on how Kanban is supposed to work in your specific context.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Kanban mean?
Kanban comes from Japanese and means 'visual signal' or 'card.' It's a workflow management approach where visual cards on a board represent work items as they move through different stages toward completion.
What is an example of Kanban?
A typical example would be a software team with a board showing columns like 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' 'Code Review,' and 'Done.' Sticky notes or digital cards represent features, and they move across the board as the work gets done.
Why is Kanban important?
Kanban makes your workflow visible so bottlenecks are immediately obvious. It prevents teams from taking on more than they can handle and helps maintain a sustainable work pace. Teams dealing with unpredictable work and shifting priorities tend to find it especially useful.
How do I create a Kanban board?
Map out the stages work goes through in your process and create a column for each one. Add cards for your work items, set WIP limits on each column, and write down clear rules for when and how cards should move between columns.
Turn any process into a step-by-step guide