From the card rack to the digital board
In Toyota's factories in the 1950s, a card (kanban, "sign" or "label" in Japanese) circulated between workstations: it authorized production of only what was consumed downstream. Thirty years later, David Anderson adapted the system to software development. The principle stays the same: limit work in progress to make the whole flow more smoothly.
The four founding principles
1. Start with what you do
No reorganizing beforehand: Kanban applies to the existing flow, as it is.
2. Limit work in progress (WIP)
Every column has a ceiling: three "in progress" tasks maximum, for example. Finishing before starting — that's THE efficiency lever of the method.
3. Keep it moving
A task shouldn't stall. If a card isn't moving, the question "what's blocking it?" should have a visible answer.
4. Improve continuously
The board is a mirror: it shows the bottlenecks. Each week, a small flow adjustment beats one big annual overhaul.
Your first board in one afternoon
- Write each task currently in progress on a card.
- Create three columns: to do, in progress, done.
- Cap "in progress" at two or three cards per person.
- Move the cards as work happens — nothing more.
The instant online equivalent: the Kanban board in the FluidOps demo, ready to use. To go further, compare it with the Scrum method or read our Kanban vs Scrum comparison.