Maximise Customer Satisfaction: Kanban Cycle Time
The one question that project managers hate to hear – “How long will this take?”. Being able to estimate how much time is needed for a team using the Kanban method to complete a client request lets project managers plan ahead and inspires client confidence. Kanban cycle time tracks the average time taken and the probability to complete any type of task within a project. While cycle time can be used to assess your team’s efficiency, it can also be used…
Frequency Distribution: Histogram Diagram
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…
Boost Team Performance: Kanban Throughput
As a product manager, improving your team performance is always at the forefront of your mind. Without knowing how much your team delivers results, it’s impossible to evaluate your performance and give accurate delivery estimates to your customers. Kanban throughput measures your team’s capacity to deliver and enables you to make data-driven decisions about your future performance. What is throughput? Throughput in Kanban refers to the amount of work delivered over a certain period. No matter how many work items your…
What to Measure and Why: Metrics in Kanban
You might have heard the saying “what gets measured gets managed”. Monitoring progress and measuring performance is a key component of Kanban – both for tracking your project and making your process more efficient over time. Here we will explain the specific metrics & analytics in Kanban that you should be using to monitor your team performance and your process efficiency and delivery times, as well as the red flags to watch for that signal trouble ahead. Average cycle times Kanban…
Increase Process Efficiency: Kanban Cumulative Flow Diagram
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…
Get Started with Kanban using Trello Boards
The Kanban Method has been used to improve productivity and optimise processes – with great success since the 1940s. No longer confined to the factory floor where it was first implemented, people now apply Kanban to studying, retail management and software development. Using a Kanban board to visualise your workflow is a key component. Trello is free, simple and easy to use project management tool ideal for getting started with Kanban. What is Kanban Kanban, meaning “signboard” or “billboard” in Japanese,…
Effective Project Management: What is the Kanban Method?
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…
Our Top 10: The Expert’s List of Project Management Methodologies
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…
Staying Sharp: 5 Team Benefits of Project Status Tracking
Whether you’re a two-person startup or the director in a Fortune 500 giant, real-time project status tracking is critical. Modern analytical software means that there’s no excuse for losing track of a project, missing a deadline, or running over budget. But there’s more to effective project management. In this article we’ll take a look at 5 ways in which effective project status tracking can keep your team productive, your projects organised, and your deliverables on-schedule. Project Updates at a Glance…
The Benefits of a Project Management Process Flowchart
Lack of clarity is a major source of inefficiencies in any project. Whether from lack of a clear scope for each task or an unclear route from start to finish, this opacity hampers your project flow with unnecessary obstacles. This is especially important in the Kanban Method, where maintaining smooth workflows is essential to project success. Mapping out a flowchart makes your process transparent and improves workflow efficiency. What is a Project Management Process Flowchart? A project management process flowchart…
A Smarter Workplace: 5 Ideas for Improving Work Processes
In order for a business to thrive, it needs to consistently meet and exceed its targets: this will result in achieving the best possible results. The key to reaching this level of consistency is in developing a work process, and then refining and improving that process with each subsequent project. We’re going to take a look at some work process improvement ideas that will help you grow your business. No successful company has ever found the perfect work process at…
Business Fundamentals: What is a Project Management Process?
One of the keys to effective project management is in maintaining systems and routines. A project is integrative by nature, which means that it’s made up of various connected parts: pull one, and another moves. Getting the best possible result means actively managing interactions between your team, clients, and stakeholders. When you’re against the clock and fighting to remain under budget, the project management process will be what holds everything together. In this article we’ll examine an important question: what…