📋 Kanban & Flow Management

Continuous flow approach to managing work without fixed iterations.

Core principles

1. Visualize the workflow — Board with columns representing stages
2. Limit Work in Progress (WIP) — Cap items per column to avoid bottlenecks
3. Manage flow — Optimize for throughput and lead time
4. Make policies explicit — Define entry/exit criteria for each column
5. Improve collaboratively — Use data to drive process changes

Typical board layout

Backlog → Ready → In Progress → Review → Done

Key metrics

Metric	Definition	Goal
Lead time	Time from request to delivery	Minimize
Cycle time	Time from start to delivery	Minimize
Throughput	Items completed per time period	Stabilize
WIP	Items currently in progress	Limit

WIP limits

• Set WIP limits per column AND per person
• If a column is at its limit, help finish existing work before starting new
• WIP limits expose bottlenecks — that's the point

When to use Kanban over Scrum

• Continuous flow of work (support, ops, maintenance)
• No need for fixed-length iterations
• Team handles unpredictable incoming requests
• Work items vary significantly in size