Kanban 101 – Examples of Kanban being used in An Organizational Environment

Kanban is a comprehensive, versatile, and innovative solution that empowers large organizations to solve issues and overcome challenges associated with complex project development and maintenance processes (Kanban definition from Wikipedia is here).

It allows them to ensure substantial improvement in operational efficiency along with enhanced productivity throughout the enterprise. When Kanban is deployed in an adequate manner, the benefits of the tool are substantial to the organization. The most essential point is to not only assign tasks on the scale of business activity but also to scale those tasks in accordance with both the current workload as well as future expansion. This enables organizations to meet customers’ increasing needs, identify bottlenecks and dependencies, and ensure product availability.

Kanban software stands tall on three core principles that are simple in terms of their definition but have a major impact. These principles include:

• Visibility of Work
• Focusing on Flow
• Continuous Improvement

Kanban has been used in medium to large-sized organizations for years, and it provides all the management methods – from simple whiteboards with sticky notes to advanced digital solutions. The focus of Kanban is to enhance workflow efficiency and productivity within the organization through a user-friendly and intuitive visual method that enables individuals to track projects and tasks.

What is Kanban Board Structure in KanBo?

If you look at a typical Kanban Board in KanBo it consists of three columns: ‘To do’, ‘Doing’, and ‘Done’. Every task can have its own KanBo Card with the responsible person assigned to it, The Card can include all the relevant details about the task including attached files, images, and comments. You can also have additional settings such as a Start-End date, Label, Coworkers, Dependencies, To-Dos checklist, and more. A basic Kanban Board structure looks like this:

Project purpose	→	KanBo Board general Information
KanBo List	→	Vertical Lists To-do, Doing, Done, that belong to the Kanban stage
KanBo Labels	→	Labels (equivalent swim lanes) that allow managing a similar task
Tasks	→	KanBo cards that present separate tasks.
Teammates	→	KanBo members
Extra Info	→	KanBo filters, views, labels, dates, documents, documents, groups.

Use KanBo Templates to Achieve More

KanBo software offers a variety of free yet versatile and powerful solutions that enable organizations to manage entire complex projects relying on essential features of Kanban. The integrated product empowers organizations as well as agile teams to manage projects, enterprise initiatives, and other complex operations within the limitations of an enterprise framework. It offers business unit users to gather, organize, visualize, and analyze information. With KanBo solutions, your organization can define goals and milestones, organize work, and track work progress with Kanban principles.

• Kaizen PDCA – Kaizen is a perpetual improvement method that focuses on applying small, daily changes that result in major improvements over time. KanBo Kaizen PDCA Solution for Enterprise provides an overview of the PDCA cycle for Kaizen.
• KanBo’s Innovation Model – This versatile and robust solution provides a practical framework for identifying and developing innovation that can disrupt the industry.
• PMBOK’s Five Project Phases – Users have the option to track project performance, see details about the task statuses, and estimate their ability to meet impending milestones and project goals.
• Vendor Management – Teams can analyze risks, improve contract negotiations, and take care of key vendors in a much better and involved manner by increasing the visibility of all vendors.
• Customer Feedback – This feature has been especially developed and designed to help large organizations operate a centralized customer feedback mechanism where Operations Team can turn feedback into actionable insights.
• RFP – Organizations can develop effective RFP processes to outline goals and scope, connect with stakeholders, and plan purchase projects in a seamless manner for the enterprise.
• Digital Kanban Board – Being one of the most effective KanBo tools, the Digital Kanban board enables agile project management for cross-functional teams in large organizations.

KanBo for Multiple Organizational Departments & Teams

In modern-day business, complex issues and challenges in an organizational environment need to be managed efficiently to remove bottlenecks and prevent unnecessary delays. Through enhanced process monitoring, project and department managers can acquire a more insightful picture of problems, how to tackle them, and when to let go. Management can adapt Kanban to accommodate the users’ needs and preferences in many ways. Some examples are given below.

• Kanban for the Marketing department where the marketing director and team members can track every marketing campaign in detail.
• Kanban for the Sales department where tasks are assigned through a Kanban board to keep track of activities and data.
• Kanban for the HR department where work orders are issued in a more efficient and personalized manner.
• Kanban for the Finance department where tasks and projects are assigned on a Kanban board to keep track of progress and monitor performance.
• Kanban for the IT department where tasks are assigned and monitored in a more efficient way.
• Kanban for the R&D department where every research project is tracked and updated on time.
• Kanban for the Purchasing department where every purchase is tracked in detail and monitored.
• Kanban for the Operations department where all operational activities are controlled and reviewed.

Performing Everyday Tasks with Kanban

Enterprise collaboration and advanced digital solutions can help in terms of improving processes, keeping employees motivated, and staying on track by working on correct priorities. Relying on Kanban principles, projects can be handled efficiently, and work can be distributed across the entire enterprise, thereby helping to increase efficiency and productivity. More examples of using Kanban for everyday tasks include the following:

• A project tracking system with a Kanban view where the requirements of users and vendors are added on the board.
• Workflow management tool where a Kanban board is placed to monitor the existing flow of information and tasks on the workstation.
• Documentation management tool where documents can be added to a task and placed in a folder for easy access through the Kanban board.
• A project management tool with an admin dashboard that provides detailed information about the current work status, tasks, bottlenecks, and workflows.

Each of these examples is related to a specific department. This is essential for enterprises because it helps them to focus on a specific area ensuring minimal overhead in other departments. There are real-life Kanban examples that are more advanced and are often related to cross-departmental complex projects, where independent cross-functional teams work in a collaborative manner across the entire enterprise. They may be geographically dispersed but through advanced Kanban, features stay ahead of the curve. Examples of Kanban by cross-departmental organizational environment include:

• Strategic or highly complicated projects where multiple tasks and projects are tracked using Kanban.
• Digital platform for an organization where user groups and projects are identified and organized.
• Enterprise collaboration tool where user groups, projects, and cross-departmental projects are managed and updated on a Kanban board.
• A workflow management tool, where both users and their progress are tracked through a Kanban board.

Managing a complicated and multi-tiered digital environment is an uphill task. The most successful global organizations today provide a great working environment for their employees. It does not only improve efficiency but also helps employees to stay motivated and up to date at all times.

KanBo software along with Kanban boards offers Cards and Lists that empower all of the organization’s team members to track every project’s progress and view their tasks in a chronological manner relying on engaging visuals. The cards include essential information of each particular work item providing the entire team with absolute progress visibility (more information about KanBo Board functions is here).

They can see individuals responsible for that work item, teammates who are supposed to provide support, and a clear description of the task being done. The full potential of Kanban in an organizational environment in large enterprises can be achieved by using more advanced Kanban software and Kanban boards.

Conclusion

The success of an organization is dependent on how the project management process is handled and scaled, and when the time comes to introduce Kanban into a specific area of an organization or a project, it will be a much easier undertaking to enhance and improve operations resulting in a higher level of efficiency and profitability. Not only that but the process of using Kanban can be applied to all aspects of project management, including project planning, scheduling, strategic planning, construction management, technical analysis, and project management itself as a project.