When discussing Agile methodology and Kanban, one equation makes frequent appearances: Little’s Law. But what does this formula have to do with project management? While originating from queuing theory, Little’s Law has been found to apply to all kinds of different systems – from retail to design to development. In Kanban, Little’s Law links the three basic metrics – throughput, cycle time and work in progress – in one simple formula. Understanding how these Kanban metrics are connected allows you…

Teams turn to the Kanban method to streamline workflows and improve process efficiency. With large teams and complex projects, however, a common issue occurs – the Kanban board becomes cluttered and hard to read. Kanban swimlanes are used to tame this visual clutter and improve task organisation. What are Kanban swimlanes? In large projects, different team members often need to focus on different work items. Your developers and your customer service aren’t going to have any overlap, and your team…

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In the same way that the Kanban method uses analysis and feedback loops to improve workflow efficiency, Kanban meetings aim to improve the efficiency of the whole organisation. From quick daily check-ins within a team to big-picture strategy reviews with senior executives, Kanban meetings keep interconnected Kanban systems operating efficiently, identify problem areas and assess overall customer satisfaction. David J Anderson, a key figure in modern Kanban history, identifies 7 essential Kanban meetings…

Many project managers appreciate the efficiency and productivity benefits of Kanban, but don’t know how best to prioritise tasks. How do you deal with an emergency? How are deadlines and milestones taken into account? When are maintenance tasks carried out? That’s where Kanban Classes of Service come in. Classes of Service allow you to set up parallel streams within your workflow for different types of task – keeping your projects on track without disturbing the standard flow and speeding up…

Histograms are a great way to visualise data and track key performance indicators because they are so clear and simple to read. They are the preferred method of presenting large amounts of data in a simple straightforward manner. What is a histogram and how does it help you analyse your data? What is a histogram diagram? The histogram is a graph that is often used in mathematics and statistics. Histograms are used to measure how frequently values or value ranges…

When implementing the Kanban method, how do you know how much work has actually been done and how much is in progress? Perhaps more importantly, how can you assess your workflow efficiency? The cumulative flow diagram (or CFD) is a crucial Kanban analytics tool, and provides an overview of the current state of your project. It can be used to help you identify issues that may be affecting your team performance. When your process is about to face setbacks, you’ll…

Delivering work in a quick and efficient way could be a challenge. Kanban is a project management method with an emphasis on continuous delivery without overburdening the development team that focuses on productivity and efficiency. Kanban was initially invented as a way of managing Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing processes. The next chapter in Kanban’s history involved adding best practices and features such as Swimlanes and Classes of Service to make it more efficient for knowledge workers. It is a process designed to…

Defining and implementing a project management methodology is a key stepping stone to success for any project. While dozens of different approaches have been created, with many of them overlapping and intertwining, there is always an optimum methodology suited to your business, and the type of projects you’re running. We’ve created this list of project management methodologies so that you can quickly build your understanding, before implementing the one which best suits your needs. Even within one company, there could…