Kanban Methodology Questions and Answers for Viva

Answer-1: Kanban is a lean workflow management methodology used to visualize and improve the flow of work in software development, focusing on continuous delivery, flow optimization, and limiting work in progress (WIP).

Answer-2: The core principles of Kanban are: visualizing work, limiting work in progress (WIP), managing flow, making process policies explicit, and improving collaboratively.

Answer-3: A Kanban board is a visual tool used to represent and manage the flow of work in a process. It typically contains columns such as "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done" to track the progress of tasks.

Answer-4: WIP refers to the number of tasks that are currently being worked on. Kanban emphasizes limiting WIP to improve flow, reduce multitasking, and ensure tasks are completed before new ones are started.

Answer-5: Kanban is a continuous flow-based method that does not use time-boxed iterations like Scrum. It focuses on optimizing workflow and limiting WIP, whereas Scrum organizes work into fixed-length Sprints with specific roles and ceremonies.

Answer-6: A Kanban board helps visualize the flow of work, making it easier to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and ensure tasks move efficiently from one stage to the next.

Answer-7: There are physical Kanban boards (e.g., whiteboards with sticky notes) and digital Kanban boards (e.g., Trello, Jira), both used to visualize workflows and manage tasks.

Answer-8: Limiting WIP prevents bottlenecks by ensuring that no one task overwhelms the system. It helps teams focus on completing tasks before starting new ones, leading to faster delivery times and better quality.

Answer-9: A Kanban pull system means that work is pulled into the next stage of the process only when there is capacity to handle it, rather than pushing tasks forward regardless of workload.

Answer-10: A Kanban card is a visual representation of a task or work item. It contains information about the task (e.g., description, priority) and is moved across the board as the task progresses.

Answer-11: The "Done" column represents completed tasks that have been fully processed. It signifies the end of the work process, ensuring that only finished tasks are counted as completed.

Answer-12: Flow efficiency refers to the percentage of time that work items spend in actual work stages as opposed to being delayed or idle in the process. Higher flow efficiency leads to quicker task completion.

Answer-13: Kanban improves collaboration by providing a clear visual representation of the workflow, encouraging team members to discuss bottlenecks, share progress, and work together to optimize the process.

Answer-14: Cycle time is the total time it takes for a work item to move from the "To Do" column to the "Done" column. It is used to measure efficiency and identify areas for improvement.

Answer-15: Throughput is measured by counting the number of tasks completed within a specific time period. It helps teams assess their productivity and identify ways to increase output.

Answer-16: A cumulative flow diagram is a graphical representation of the flow of work items over time. It shows the amount of work in each stage and helps identify bottlenecks.

Answer-17: Lead time is the total time it takes for a work item to move from the "To Do" column to the "Done" column, including any waiting time. It is an important metric for measuring the efficiency of the workflow.

Answer-18: Kanban offers benefits such as improved workflow visibility, reduced cycle times, better collaboration, more efficient use of resources, and the ability to adapt to changing priorities.

Answer-19: In Kanban, tasks are typically prioritized based on business value, customer urgency, or dependencies. The Product Owner or team lead can manage this by arranging tasks accordingly on the board.

Answer-20: A Kanban board typically consists of columns (e.g., "To Do," "In Progress," "Done"), Kanban cards representing tasks, and WIP limits for each column to manage work flow.

Answer-21: Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement. In Kanban, it involves making small, incremental changes to improve processes, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance team performance over time.

Answer-22: Kanban handles changes by allowing teams to pull new work into the system as capacity becomes available, adapting to changes in requirements without disrupting the workflow.

Answer-23: The "Ready" column is used to store tasks that are fully defined and prioritized, waiting for the team to start working on them. It ensures that no tasks are pulled into the process until they are ready.

Answer-24: Kanban identifies bottlenecks by visualizing workflow, and limiting WIP helps prevent overloading any stage of the process. Teams can then address the causes of delays and improve flow.

Answer-25: The "Kanban Method" is the approach for managing and improving work processes based on Kanban principles, while "Kanban Software" refers to tools (e.g., Trello, Jira) that facilitate Kanban practices with digital boards and metrics.

Answer-26: Kanban?s limitations include the lack of a defined iteration cycle (unlike Scrum) and a potential for unbalanced workloads if WIP limits are not properly set. It also requires continuous monitoring and process management.

Answer-27: The "Pull System" in Kanban means work items are only pulled into the next process stage when there is available capacity, preventing overloading and ensuring efficient flow.

Answer-28: WIP Limit (Work In Progress Limit) restricts the number of tasks that can be worked on at any given time in a process stage. It ensures focus, prevents overloading, and maintains a steady flow of work.

Answer-29: A Kanban Metrics Dashboard is a visual tool that displays key performance indicators (KPIs) such as throughput, cycle time, lead time, and WIP to help teams monitor and optimize their workflow.

Answer-30: Progress in Kanban is tracked using visual boards (physical or digital), cumulative flow diagrams, cycle time metrics, and throughput, providing real-time insights into work completion and bottlenecks.

Answer-31: Work Item Types in Kanban define the different categories of tasks in the workflow (e.g., bugs, features, user stories). They help teams categorize and manage various work items more effectively.

Answer-32: Kanban promotes continuous improvement by encouraging teams to analyze flow data, identify inefficiencies, and implement small adjustments regularly to enhance overall process performance.

Answer-33: A Kanban Master facilitates the Kanban process, helping the team visualize workflow, manage WIP, remove bottlenecks, and drive continuous improvement. It is similar to the Scrum Master's role in Scrum.

Answer-34: "Flow" in Kanban refers to the movement of work items through the process. The goal is to create a smooth, consistent flow of work by minimizing delays, reducing bottlenecks, and optimizing cycle time.

Answer-35: Teams improve Kanban workflows by regularly analyzing performance metrics (e.g., cycle time, throughput), identifying inefficiencies, and making incremental changes to optimize the process.

Answer-36: A Service Level Expectation (SLE) in Kanban is a target or benchmark for how long it should take to complete certain work items or tasks, helping to manage expectations and improve consistency.

Answer-37: Kanban helps with capacity management by limiting WIP at each stage of the process, ensuring that teams are not overwhelmed and that work progresses smoothly without bottlenecks.

Answer-38: Flow disruptions in Kanban are managed by identifying bottlenecks, adjusting WIP limits, rebalancing workloads, and removing obstacles to ensure smooth and continuous flow of tasks.

Answer-39: Kanban supports change management by providing a flexible, visual workflow where tasks can be reprioritized and adjusted easily, making it easier to adapt to changing requirements.

Answer-40: Daily standups in Kanban are brief meetings where the team discusses progress, addresses any blockers, and ensures alignment on tasks, promoting team communication and problem-solving.

Answer-41: Kanban prevents overburdening by enforcing WIP limits, ensuring that the team can only handle a manageable number of tasks at once, which helps reduce stress and improve productivity.

Answer-42: Kanban improves productivity by visualizing work, limiting WIP, focusing on flow efficiency, and reducing time spent on uncompleted tasks, resulting in faster delivery of value.

Answer-43: Lead Time Distribution is a statistical view of the time taken for each work item in the system to be completed. Analyzing this distribution helps teams identify delays and improve overall process speed.

Answer-44: Kanban helps manage large-scale projects by breaking them into smaller tasks, visualizing workflows, limiting WIP, and continuously improving processes to ensure smooth, efficient project delivery.

Answer-45: Kanban handles dependencies by clearly visualizing tasks that rely on others and managing their flow through the board to ensure that dependent tasks do not block the entire process.

Answer-46: Kanban fosters a culture of collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement, as it encourages teams to openly discuss bottlenecks, share insights, and take ownership of workflow optimization.

Answer-47: Kanban helps scale Agile by providing a flexible, flow-based approach to managing multiple teams and workflows, enabling coordination across teams while maintaining efficiency and transparency.

Answer-48: The Product Owner in Kanban manages the backlog, prioritizes work, and ensures the team is working on tasks that deliver maximum value to the customer, while aligning with business goals.

Answer-49: Kanban can be integrated with other Agile methodologies like Scrum by using it to visualize workflows and manage work items in a continuous flow, even while using Scrum's time-boxed iterations.