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The Kanban Method: A Complete Guide
Kanban is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. Here's how columns, cards, and WIP limits fit together — and how to avoid the most common setup mistakes.
Setting Up Your Board
Map your workflow into columns
Start simple: To Do, In Progress, Done. Add columns only when a real, distinct stage of work exists — a Review or QA column, for example — not to mirror an org chart. Most teams over-build columns before they've run a single board.
Put every piece of work on a card
A card should represent a single unit of shippable work — small enough to move end-to-end in a few days. Give it a clear title, an owner, and a definition of done so anyone glancing at the board understands its state without asking.
Set a WIP limit per column
A work-in-progress limit caps how many cards can sit in a column at once. When 'In Progress' hits its limit, the team finishes something before starting anything new. This single rule is what separates kanban from a glorified to-do list.
Pull work, don't push it
Work moves when the person doing the next stage pulls a card toward them — not when someone upstream shoves it forward. Pulling keeps capacity honest: nobody accumulates a queue of things they haven't agreed to take on yet.
Review flow, not just status
Once a week, look at where cards get stuck rather than just what's 'done.' A column that's chronically over its WIP limit is telling you where the bottleneck actually is — that's more useful than any status meeting.
Kanban vs. a Simple To-Do List
| Aspect | Kanban Board | Plain To-Do List |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility | Every task's stage is visible to the whole team at a glance | Only the task owner (and maybe their manager) knows the state |
| Work limits | WIP limits force finishing before starting new work | No limit — lists grow indefinitely |
| Flow | Optimized for continuous flow, no fixed iteration length | No concept of flow or bottlenecks |
| Best for | Ongoing work: support, ops, content, maintenance | Personal task tracking |
Kanban Setup Checklist
Build Your Kanban Board in Minutes
Use My First Task boards to make work visible and agree WIP limits as a team policy — with a Free plan available.
Put this workflow into practice
Use explicit policies and flow measures to investigate waiting work.
WIP Limits: Finish Work Before Starting More
A work-in-progress limit caps the number of items allowed inside a defined workflow stage or system. It exposes bottlenecks and encourages finishing or unblocking work before pulling another item into progress.
ExploreKanban Metrics: WIP, Throughput, Cycle Time and Work Item Age
Four useful Kanban flow measures are work in progress, throughput, cycle time and work item age. Together they show how much work is active, how much finishes, how long finished work took and how long unfinished work has been active.
ExploreCycle Time vs. Lead Time: Boundaries and Worked Examples
Lead time measures elapsed time from a defined request or commitment to completion. Cycle time measures elapsed time from work starting to completion. The difference commonly includes waiting before active work begins.
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