Tracking Individual Cycle Time Harms Teams
Tracking individual cycle time can harm team performance by encouraging task cherry-picking, reduced collaboration, and lower quality, without …
A strategy for making work observable, managing flow, and continuously improving value delivery. Specifically Kanban as outlined in the Kanban Guide.
Kanban is a strategy for change, not a tool or board. As defined in the Kanban Guide, it enables organisations to “start with what they do now,” understand their current system, and improve flow and value delivery through evolutionary change. It is rooted in Lean principles and systems thinking, focusing on how work flows rather than what work gets done.
Unlike frameworks that prescribe roles or timeboxes, Kanban introduces observability: visualising work, limiting WIP, managing flow, and making policies explicit. This exposes bottlenecks and enables evidence-based improvement without disrupting existing structures.
Kanban complements other approaches like Scrum and DevOps by improving transparency and decision-making. It does not require a reset or reorganisation. Instead, it guides teams to adapt their way of working over time, based on feedback and performance metrics such as lead time, throughput, and service-level expectations.
Crucially, Kanban is often misunderstood as just visual task tracking. But its true power lies in creating a shared understanding of system behaviour and enabling strategic decisions about where and how to improve. It empowers teams to deliver value predictably, sustainably, and with greater resilience—making it an essential strategy for navigating complex, evolving environments.
Tracking individual cycle time can harm team performance by encouraging task cherry-picking, reduced collaboration, and lower quality, without …
Comprehensive reference outlining Kanban principles, practices, and metrics for optimising workflow, value delivery, and continuous improvement in …
A Definition of Workflow explains how work moves through each stage, using clear rules and limits to make progress visible and support team …
Measuring individual cycle time in Kanban misleads teams, hides real bottlenecks, and harms flow. Focus on system-wide metrics like PCE, WIP, and …
Explains how setting and adjusting Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits in Kanban helps teams manage workflow, prevent bottlenecks, and improve productivity …
Learn how to define and visualise workflows in Kanban to boost team clarity, alignment, and efficiency, with practical steps for stable processes and …
Explains how to actively manage Kanban workflows by monitoring work in progress, resolving bottlenecks, and optimising flow for greater efficiency and …
Kanban focuses on improving workflow by removing bottlenecks and constraints, reducing work in progress, and increasing process efficiency—not by …
Explains the difference between waiting and blocked tasks, why clear distinction matters in workflows, and how to track and address sources of delay …
Learn how Kanban boosts transparency in software engineering, helping teams visualise workflows, identify bottlenecks, and drive continuous …
Learn how to design, review, and adapt Kanban boards to accurately visualise workflows, identify bottlenecks, and support continuous improvement in …
Limiting work in progress in Kanban helps teams focus, spot bottlenecks, maintain quality, and deliver value efficiently by ensuring a sustainable, …
Learn the three core Kanban principles—visualising workflow, actively managing tasks, and continuous improvement—to boost team efficiency, …
Explains how visualising work in Kanban boosts team clarity, transparency, and alignment, and offers steps to define workflows, avoid misalignment, …
Learn how Kanban’s pull-based system boosts workflow efficiency by visualising tasks, setting WIP limits, managing bottlenecks, and enabling …
Learn how to improve Kanban workflows by identifying blockages, reducing waiting times, and making continuous changes to boost efficiency and value …
Using Blocked columns on Kanban boards hides workflow issues, causes task stagnation, and reduces transparency. Use tags to indicate blockages and …
Measuring individual cycle time overlooks team performance and system bottlenecks. Focus on lead time, throughput, and process efficiency to improve …
Learn how to design and customise Kanban boards to visualise workflows, identify bottlenecks, and boost team efficiency through clear, practical …
Explains why using blocked columns for stalled tasks on project boards harms workflow, and suggests better ways to highlight and address blocked work …
Explains why a “Blocked” column in Azure DevOps hinders workflow, and suggests using tags and tracking to manage blocked work more effectively and …
Explains how Kanban visualises workflows, tracks metrics, and supports continuous improvement, helping teams identify bottlenecks and enhance …
Learn how to move from traditional project management to Kanban, including steps, benefits, and tips for a smooth, gradual transition to Agile …
Explains how Kanban helps creative teams organise workflows, reduce chaos, prioritise tasks, and improve efficiency without stifling creativity, using …
Transform your organisation's efficiency with our 'Applying Scaled Portfolio Kanban' course. Learn to align work with goals and drive continuous …
Join our updated 'Applying Professional Kanban' course for an immersive learning experience, blending live sessions and real-world application over …
Boost your team's flow and throughput with our one-day course on Kanban and Azure Boards, designed by expert Richard Hundhausen. Join us for hands-on …
Tracking the time taken to complete a unit of work from start to finish.
Throughput is a delivery metric used to inspect how much work is completed per unit of time, enabling analysis of flow efficiency and system …
Learn how Kanban uses data-driven insights and probabilistic forecasting to optimise workflows, improve delivery, and enhance transparency across any …
Learn how to avoid common Kanban mistakes by focusing on actionable metrics like WIP, cycle time, and throughput instead of vanity metrics for better …
Limiting work in progress boosts productivity by reducing multitasking, context switching, and bottlenecks, helping teams focus, finish tasks, and …
Explains how Kanban can be integrated with Scrum to improve workflow visibility, provide key metrics, and enable continuous improvement in agile …
Learn how to launch a Kanban pilot, define workflows, use metrics like cycle time and throughput, and foster continuous improvement for better team …
Explains how Kanban helps creative industries optimise workflows with flexibility, personalisation, and continuous improvement, contrasting it with …
Learn about becoming a Professional Kanban Trainer, the Applying Professional Kanban course, certification process, and key Kanban principles for …
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Genus Breeding Ltd
Graham & Brown
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Alignment Healthcare
Sage
Microsoft
Freadom
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.
Big Data for Humans
Boxit Document Solutions
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Lockheed Martin
Philips
Ericson
Slicedbread
Epic Games
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Akaditi
Royal Air Force
Washington Department of Transport
Ghana Police Service
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Nottingham County Council
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Alignment Healthcare
SuperControl
Milliman
Epic Games
CR2
Jack Links