What Is Kanban Delivery Planning?
Just as the Kanban methodology focuses on feedback loops and in-depth analysis to enhance internal workflows, Kanban cadences or Kanban meetings help improve the organization's effectiveness.
Introduced in 2015 by David J. Anderson, Kanban cadences help companies of all sizes adopt a consistent workflow improvement framework. They are divided into three different categories based on their nature and function:
- Doing the right things
- Doing things better
- Getting things done
Kanban meetings are periodic sessions where team members get together for short daily check-ins or deeper problem-solving sessions. Kanban delivery planning is one of the seven types of Kanban meetings or Kanban cadences.
But what exactly is Kanban delivery planning? Kanban delivery planning is one of the seven Kanban meetings that drive efficient service delivery with continuous improvements. It is a 'Getting things done' type of Kanban meeting, typically conducted for 1-2 hours for each delivery.
How does Kanban delivery planning work?
Let’s take a closer look at the key steps that take place in a delivery planning meeting:
- Review the tasks completed
- Decide the items to be moved for delivery
- Identify any items that need to be reviewed again and move them to the risk review process
To make these decisions, the team assesses the inputs from the daily Kanban meetings, including consideration of risk and hand-off accounts.
The end goal of Kanban delivery planning is to keep the work-in-progress moving smoothly while identifying the items to be delivered.
Benefits of Kanban delivery planning
What are the benefits of Kanban delivery planning? These are the potential advantages for your team:
- Enhances client satisfaction with efficient and high-quality delivery
- Helps improve internal communication between project teams
- Fosters quicker problem solving, thereby reducing potential project obstacles
- Speeds up business agility and allows the project to adapt to changes faster
- Enables teams to deliver per their committed timelines by properly coordinating strategic initiatives with cross-functional team members
Who participates in Kanban delivery planning meetings?
While the service delivery manager facilitates the meeting, there are many key project stakeholders present such as:
- Team members associated with accepting or receiving the delivery task
- Project managers
- Team members involved in the logistics or delivery of the final task
- Technical specialists who possess the risk assessment ability and have the required technical knowledge about the product
Why are Kanban delivery planning meetings conducted?
Most of the Kanban meetings are held in accordance with a pre-defined schedule. Still, there are certain events that can trigger these meetings. For example, if a milestone review is conducted fortnightly, it can also be triggered by a serious issue identified at the beginning of the milestone.
The team often has certain tasks that go straight to delivery while others move ahead to the 'Completed' column.
In the Kanban delivery planning meeting, teams may have an agenda to review the activities that have been completed and the ones that are due for delivery.
