The Origin and Core Practices of the Kanban Method for Product Development

The Kanban method is a key practice in lean product development, offering stronger implementability, end‑to‑end value delivery, scalability, and systematic improvement, while integrating seamlessly with continuous delivery, DevOps, and lean design.

In China the method is often misunderstood; this series of about ten articles aims to systematically introduce the Kanban practice system, guiding team‑level application and organization‑wide lean‑agile implementation.

1.1 Origin of Kanban

The word “Kanban” (看板) comes from Japanese, where it can be written as the kanji 看板 (visual board) or the kana かんばん (signal card). In manufacturing it originally meant a signal card that triggers production, not merely a visual board. The domestic misunderstanding of Kanban as only a visual board leads to many implementation issues.

Kanban originated in the Toyota Production System (TPS). The signal‑card concept was used to pull work through the production line, as illustrated by the images of the Toyota pull system.

Pull production brings several benefits:

Inventory control : downstream demand triggers upstream production, reducing stock.

Accelerated flow : materials move quickly through the process, improving plant efficiency.

Flexible response : demand changes are rapidly reflected across all stages.

Continuous improvement : reduced inventory and faster flow expose problems early, fostering systematic improvement.

Kanban is the core tool of lean manufacturing; the pull system it creates is called the Kanban system.

1.2 What is Kanban in product development?

Inspired by Don Reinertsen, David J. Anderson introduced Kanban to software development around 2006 and defined a complete method consisting of five core practices, grouped into two sets:

Establishing a Kanban system: visualizing value flow, making policies explicit, limiting work‑in‑progress (WIP).

Operating the system: managing the flow and establishing feedback for continuous improvement.

1.2.1 Visualizing value flow

Product development value flow is invisible, so the first practice is to make work and its flow visible. Three focus areas are visualizing user value, the end‑to‑end flow of that value, and the problems/bottlenecks that impede it (see illustration).

Visualizing value flow is the most fundamental Kanban practice, covering user value, its flow, and associated problems.

1.2.2 Making policies explicit

Teams must define clear rules for moving items between columns on the Kanban board, as well as cadence, priority‑setting, and issue‑handling mechanisms. These explicit policies become the baseline for collaboration and continuous improvement.

Explicit policies are the agreed‑upon rules that guide team collaboration and serve as a baseline for improvement.

1.2.3 Limiting work‑in‑progress

WIP limits restrict the number of items in each column. When a column reaches its limit, no new items can be pulled in, exposing bottlenecks and forcing the team to finish existing work before starting new work.

Limiting WIP creates a virtual pull mechanism that accelerates value flow and reveals system bottlenecks.

1.3 Operating the Kanban system

Operating the system involves two practices:

Managing the workflow: filling the ready queue, conducting daily Kanban stand‑ups, and performing release reviews.

Establishing feedback and continuous improvement: collecting flow‑based metrics, analyzing impediments, and closing the improvement loop.

Management of the workflow ensures smooth, high‑quality value movement, while feedback mechanisms provide data for systematic improvement.

Feedback systems reflect and measure flow state, uncover problems, and drive continuous improvement.

1.4 Summary

The article introduced Kanban’s origin, clarified its true meaning, and presented the five core practices that constitute the Kanban method. These practices—visualizing flow, explicit policies, WIP limits, workflow management, and feedback loops—enable teams to expose problems, improve continuously, and boost delivery capability.