Kanban is a visual method for managing work by showing tasks as they move through a workflow. SaaS product, engineering, marketing, and customer success teams use Kanban boards to make work visible, limit too much work happening at once, and identify bottlenecks.
A Kanban board usually has columns that represent stages, such as Backlog, Ready, In Progress, Review, and Done. Each task is shown as a card that moves across the board as work progresses. The exact columns and rules should reflect how the team actually works.
How Kanban Works
- Visualize the workflow. Create columns for the main stages work passes through, including waiting or review stages that can create delays.
- Add work items. Represent tasks, bugs, customer requests, or other units of work as cards with clear descriptions and owners where appropriate.
- Set work-in-progress limits. Define how many items can be active in a stage or across the workflow to reduce overload and expose queues.
- Pull work when capacity is available. Team members take the next suitable item when they can make progress, rather than starting everything at once.
- Manage flow. Look for blocked cards, long waits, and stages where work piles up. Address the cause instead of simply pushing more tasks forward.
- Review and improve. Use cycle-time and throughput data, along with team feedback, to adjust the workflow and working agreements.
Example Kanban Board for a SaaS Team
| Backlog | Ready | In Progress | Review or Test | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potential billing report improvement | Fix a confirmed onboarding issue | Improve account settings | Validate a bug fix | Update help documentation |
This simple example illustrates columns, not a prescribed workflow. A team may add stages such as Blocked, Awaiting Customer, or Ready to Release when those states help people make better decisions. Avoid adding so many columns that the board becomes difficult to read.
What Are Work-in-Progress Limits?
A work-in-progress (WIP) limit sets a maximum number of items allowed in a workflow stage or group of stages. For example, a team may agree to have no more than three tasks in Review at a time. When the limit is reached, the team focuses on completing or unblocking existing work before adding more to the queue.
WIP limits are not quotas for individual employees. They are a way to improve flow, highlight capacity problems, and encourage collaboration. Start with a practical limit, observe how the workflow behaves, and adjust it using evidence.
Why Kanban Is Useful in SaaS
Makes work and blockers visible
A shared board helps a team see what is active, what is waiting, and where work is stuck. This can reduce the need for repeated status requests and make dependencies easier to discuss.
Reduces context switching
Starting too many tasks can make it harder to finish any of them. Pulling work based on capacity encourages the team to complete existing items before beginning new ones.
Supports continuous delivery
Kanban can help teams manage a steady flow of bugs, product improvements, and operational tasks. It can be used with automated testing and deployment pipelines, but the board itself does not guarantee reliable releases.
Improves planning with real data
Tracking how long work takes and how much work is completed can help teams make more grounded forecasts. Estimates remain uncertain, especially when work varies in size or is affected by external dependencies.
Kanban vs. Scrum
| Aspect | Kanban | Scrum |
|---|---|---|
| Planning rhythm | Work can be pulled continuously as capacity becomes available. | Work is commonly planned for a time-boxed sprint. |
| Change during work | New work can enter according to agreed policies and available capacity. | Changes during a sprint are managed within Scrum’s sprint goals and rules. |
| Primary flow view | Board stages, WIP, cycle time, and throughput. | Sprint backlog, sprint goal, and increment, supported by Scrum events. |
| Typical fit | Continuous streams of requests, support work, or evolving priorities. | Teams that benefit from a regular sprint planning and review cadence. |
Neither method is automatically better. Some teams use a hybrid approach, but they should understand which rules they are following and avoid adding ceremonies without a clear purpose.
Kanban Metrics to Track
- Cycle time: The time an item takes from a defined start point in active work to completion.
- Lead time: The time from a defined request or commitment point until the item is delivered.
- Throughput: The number of work items completed in a defined period.
- Work in progress: The number of items currently being worked on or held in defined workflow stages.
- Blocked time: Time work spends unable to progress because of a dependency, decision, or other obstacle.
Define each measure consistently. Cycle time and lead time can mean different things across organizations, so specify the start and end events before using them to compare periods or teams.
Best Practices for Using Kanban
- Design the board around real work. Use stages that represent meaningful changes in state, not every small action.
- Make policies explicit. Agree on what it means for work to enter or leave a column and what counts as done.
- Keep cards understandable. Include a clear outcome, enough context, and relevant links without turning every card into a long document.
- Set and review WIP limits. Use limits to reveal overload and bottlenecks, then refine them based on actual flow.
- Handle blocked work visibly. Record the blocker, owner, and next action so the team can help resolve it.
- Prioritize finishing. When work piles up, focus on completing or unblocking items rather than starting more tasks.
- Review flow regularly. Discuss delays, repeated rework, and process changes in a short, constructive review.
- Use metrics carefully. Measure the workflow to improve it, not to rank individuals or encourage teams to split work artificially.
Common Kanban Mistakes
- Creating a board but not updating it as work changes.
- Allowing every item to be marked as urgent, making priorities meaningless.
- Ignoring WIP limits whenever the board becomes busy.
- Tracking activity rather than whether work reaches a useful outcome.
- Using cycle-time data to compare tasks that have very different definitions or complexity.
- Hiding blocked work in a generic In Progress column.
- Adding columns and rules that create overhead without helping the team make decisions.
- Treating the board as a substitute for communication or technical quality practices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kanban only for software development?
No. Kanban can be used anywhere work moves through identifiable stages, including marketing, sales operations, customer success, support, and content production.
Does Kanban require fixed-length sprints?
No. Kanban typically manages a continuous flow of work rather than requiring sprint time boxes. Teams can still hold regular planning or review meetings when useful.
How many columns should a Kanban board have?
Use enough columns to show important workflow states and bottlenecks, but not so many that people struggle to understand the board. The right design depends on the work and the decisions the board supports.
What is a good WIP limit?
There is no universal number. Begin with a limit the team can follow, observe queues and cycle time, and adjust it as you learn. The purpose is to improve flow, not to create an arbitrary target.
Can Kanban work with Scrum?
Teams can use Kanban practices to improve visibility and flow within a Scrum environment. If combining methods, keep responsibilities and rules clear so the team does not create conflicting processes.