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Project Management vocabulary · Agile & Scrum

Kanban

Meaning in project management, with examples

/ˈkɑːnbɑːn/nounCommon term

In project management, kanban means: A way of managing work by showing it on a board with columns such as To do, In progress and Done, and limiting how many items can be in progress at the same time.

In Turkish: kanban, kanban yöntemi

How it is used

Comes from a Japanese word for a visual card or signal, first used in Toyota's production system. Unlike Scrum, it has no fixed sprints; work flows continuously. Teams use a Kanban board and set WIP (work in progress) limits.

Example sentences

  1. The support team uses Kanban because new tickets arrive every day and can't wait for the next sprint.

  2. Move the card to the Done column on the kanban board when the client has approved it.

Common collocations

  • Kanban board
  • WIP limit
  • use Kanban
  • Kanban card
  • agileDescribes a way of managing work in short cycles, delivering small usable parts often and changing the plan based on regular feedback.
  • scrumA popular agile framework in which a small team delivers work in fixed cycles called sprints, with set roles such as product owner and scrum master and regular events like planning and reviews.
  • backlogAn ordered list of all the work that might be done on a product, such as features, fixes and improvements, with the most important items at the top.
  • workloadThe amount of work a person or team has to do in a certain period of time.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Agile & Scrum

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