How development teams implement kanban
Last updated: January 2025
The Japanese word for signboard. A framework for agile software development. A pull-based workflow system. These are a few different ways to define kanban — all are correct.
For the purpose of this guide, kanban is a system for visualizing work. It encourages continuous improvement of processes, elimination of waste, and quick delivery of software. If your development team has adopted kanban, you might be looking to validate whether you have done it right. There is no one "correct" way to implement kanban. But this guide shares the basics of why and how development teams implement kanban:
Set up a kanban board in Aha! Develop — free for 30 days.
Benefits of kanban for development teams
Increased productivity is a primary reason that many agile development teams adopt kanban. Because it encourages you to complete work incrementally, kanban can help you deliver updates and new features to customers more frequently. This makes it an ideal approach for agile development teams that practice continuous delivery.
Kanban is flexible and iterative. It allows you to easily shift priorities to adapt to changes in the business, customers, and market. And it encourages the team to look for opportunities to improve your processes and refine your workflow.
Development teams use a kanban board to tackle features as engineering capacity allows, helping them move faster and increase value delivery. Optimizing your process at every step can help you increase productivity and improve the quality of the features you are shipping.
Kanban can also help development teams balance business priorities and manage different types of work — including customer-driven efforts, bug fixes, performance improvements, security, and other technical projects.
Here are some of the other ways that development teams can benefit:
Faster value creation
Clarity and transparency about who is working on what
Visibility into the status of work items
Greater team alignment and morale
Improved communication and collaboration
Responsiveness to changing information and feedback
Related:
How do development teams implement kanban?
The beauty of kanban is that it is adaptable — different types of organizations and teams can modify it to their needs. Typically, the CTO or another engineering lead is responsible for selecting the team's methodologies and practices. But at smaller companies, engineering practitioners influence these decisions as well.
The first step of implementing kanban is visualizing all of the development work you must complete. Capture each step of your current processes on a kanban board. You will want to create a card to represent each work item and columns for each stage of the workflow — such as "Not started," "In progress," "QA," and "Ready to ship."
Make sure everyone on the team is aligned around why you are adopting this method and what the processes will be. Folks need to understand how work will flow from one column or status to another on the kanban board. And everyone should commit to keeping the board accurate and up to date.
5 steps for implementing kanban
In the five steps included below, we assume you are using software such as Aha! Develop to create a digital kanban board. We will suggest resources that will help you do so. However, most of the guidance will support your kanban rollout regardless of the tool you use.
On this kanban-style board in Aha! Develop, one card represents each work item. Columns of cards show the status of each item.
1. Choose how to visualize work
First, capture your existing processes for delivering new functionality. Add cards to your kanban board to represent everything the team is working on, and create vertical columns to show each step of your workflow. Your board should display the full cycle of what it takes to deliver value to your users.
Depending on what you are working on and how your organization functions, you might want to add interstitial columns that represent necessary waiting stages between active work. Either way, remember that your board is not fixed. You will iterate and evolve it over time as you incorporate feedback from the team.
Aha! Develop best practices:
2. Set work-in-progress (WIP) limits
How much work is too much? Set a limit for the number of cards that can be in each column at a given time. This helps you create a smooth workflow so you can optimize productivity. Some development teams set WIP limits by estimating work in story points or individual capacity.
For example, you could assign a certain number of story points to each card and determine a maximum number of points per column. Or you could decide on a WIP limit of two cards per user so no team member goes over capacity.
If you are just starting out, do your best to set WIP limits based on your past experience and the number of teammates. You will have many opportunities to revise WIP limits as you learn.
Aha! Develop best practices:
3. Codify policies
Create certainty in the workflow so people can be most productive. No one should have to guess. Explain exactly how you will manage the backlog by answering these questions:
Who can add cards?
Who can remove cards?
Who can prioritize what to work on next?
To answer these questions, many engineering teams work closely with product management and project teams to clarify what is most important. This informs what should go on the kanban board.
Document the definition of done and any associated quality assurance checks. Define how you will handle defects and bug fixes. Then, there are the stickier questions.
How will you handle new requirements that are added to WIP by key stakeholders?
What do you do about scope creep?
How do you handle blocked work?
You might not have perfect answers here — but transparency is better than ambiguity.
Aha! Develop best practices:
4. Measure and manage flow
Once you start using the board to actively manage your workflow, identify where bottlenecks and issues occur. Look deeper into what causes delays, and add extra columns or statuses so your board shows the way you work.
Continuously improving also means that you need performance evaluation criteria. You can use data such as cycle time and throughput to measure flow. Be sure to look for opportunities to reduce the time it takes to complete work.
Aha! Develop best practices:
5. Optimize
Each member of the team is responsible for giving critical feedback to improve each step of the workflow. During your regular team meetings, carve out time for folks to share their suggestions and observations.
When major work ships, set aside time to review what went smoothly and what could be improved. Continue to iterate on your process. As you make changes, measure the outcomes and gather feedback from the team. Roll back any changes that do not yield positive results.
Aha! Develop best practices:
The most successful development teams have a consistent, repeatable process in place for approaching work. If you are looking for a development tool that your team can use to work more efficiently and deliver faster, try Aha! Develop now.
