There is a strong contrast between the traditional management view of spare time and the kanban view. Traditional managers1 view spare time as something to avoid, as a sign of inefficiency or even laziness. One important responsibility of such managers is to keep workers busy. In contrast to this, network queuing theory—and kanban in particular—show […]
Kanban
When is a kanban tool not a kanban tool?
An indicator of the increasing popularity of kanban is the number of software tools and online services that claim kanban functionality. For those practitioners who have seen the tremendous benefits of kanban, this should be a gratifying development. But what does it really mean for a tool to support or to enable kanban? And what […]
Multitasking, kanban & neuroscience
A key assumption underpinning kanban is that context switching in work performed by people—the inevitable by-product of multitasking—leads to considerable waste. When individuals perform knowledge work, the impact of context switching resolves, in part, into the question of whether the human brain can multitask efficiently. Therefore, it is useful to understand the neurological basis for […]
10 Kanban Misconceptions
When I ask people what they think about kanban, why they do not use it or why they show little interest in learning about it, I sometimes receive surprising answers. Clearly, there are many misunderstandings about kanban, many misconceptions about what it is, how it works, who can use it and what its benefits are. […]
If you don’t have time for kanban training, you need kanban training
I recently asked people why they do not take kanban training. Many of them said they simply don’t have the time for it. Well, that is a strong indicator that they really need to use a time-saving method like kanban. Let me explain why you truly do have the time for kanban training and why […]
To whom is kanban useful?
I have been providing services based on kanban for several years now. Surprisingly, when asked if they are interested in kanban, many people respond that it doesn’t concern them. Why do I say, “surprisingly?” Because it is hard to imagine a situation where using kanban would not provide very important and durable improvements. So, to […]
Find a new job thanks to kanban
I was in a café some time ago, having a little pause between meetings with clients. I noticed a man at a table near me going back and forth between his telephone and a newspaper. The newspaper was opened to the want ads. He was obviously looking for a job. My neighbor, who I will […]
Kanban training vs. lean training
Kanban is at the core of lean practices Why get kanban training? Taiichi Ohno, one of the founding spirits of the Toyota Production System (TPS), called kanban the “operating method” of the TPS.1 Insofar as TPS is the basis for what we call lean management, kanban is of central importance to lean. I would go […]