Introducing kanban boards
Kanban is a Japanese word literally meaning billboard and is associated with lean manufacturing. More recently, kanban boards have become popular in the software industry with the adoption of agile methodologies.
A kanban board provides a visual representation of a work queue. The board is organized into columns, which represent the stages of the work process. Work items are represented by cards placed on the appropriate column of the board. New work items start from the leftmost column and travel through the board until they reach the rightmost column, which represents the completed work.
The simplicity and visual impact of kanban boards make them a good tool to support simple business processes. A basic example of a kanban board has three columns: To Do, Doing, and Done, as shown in the following diagram:
`
Figure 11.1 – An example of a kanban board
In many cases, a kanban board is a more effective way to manage a...
