Kanban
Kanban is a flow-based work-management method, adapted to software by David J. Anderson around 2007 from the Toyota Production System. Work moves across a board (Backlog → In Progress → Review → Done) with explicit WIP limits at each stage. The method emphasises continuous flow rather than fixed-cadence sprints — work pulls when capacity frees up, not when a sprint starts.
Kanban and Scrum solve the same problem (visible, manageable team flow) with different defaults. Scrum: fixed cadence (sprints), team commits to a sprint backlog, planning happens at sprint boundaries. Kanban: continuous flow, WIP limits per column, planning happens when a slot opens. Teams with steady predictable work often prefer Kanban (lower ceremony, simpler flow); teams with mixed planning horizons often prefer Scrum (the cadence forces prioritisation). Hybrid approaches (Scrumban) take the WIP-limit discipline from Kanban and the cadence-based planning from Scrum. The most-cited reference is David Anderson's 2010 'Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business'.
Related terms
- WIP limit
A work-in-progress (WIP) limit caps how many items the team can have in flight at once, per workflow stage.
- Lead time
Lead time is the elapsed time from when work is requested (story created, ticket filed) to when it's delivered (deployed to production).
- Throughput
Throughput is the count of work items completed per unit of time (typically per week or per sprint).