What Is Kanban for Software Development?

What Is Kanban for Software Development?

According to the State of Kanban Report, almost 50% of companies use Kanban for their software development processes. Software development is also the key work area where organizations are seeking to expand their Kanban practice.

To improve your IT team’s performance, consider three basic principles that lie at the core of the Kanban methodology.

Visualize workflows and progress

By visualizing work tasks and giving a complete overview of all processes, Kanban helps teams quickly identify potential workflow and process disruptions. 

As a result, collaborating with internal and external teams becomes faster.

Reduces lead times

The time taken to perform a specific activity from start to end is known as lead time. Once you start using Kanban, you’ll notice how it effortlessly reduces lead times.

Although Kanban lets you measure lead times, it also allows teams to identify and resolve potential bottlenecks.

Control WIP

At its core, Kanban recommends a system that’s always in a state of flow. Work in progress is good, but too much can introduce a detrimental level of complexity.

By limiting work-in-progress, Kanban allows teams to outline limits for a person, work task, or stage.

How does Kanban work in software development?

Kanban is a lean methodology that creates customer value by focusing on creating a consistent stream of work. It aims to improve software development processes by visualizing and clearly outlining the development pipeline.

Kanban can be used in software development teams that are:

• Working on new development and regular support issues
• Specifically engaged in managing internal support issues
• Core teams primarily employed in new development only

Wondering how to set up Kanban boards for software development?

Teams can outline their work tasks on a Kanban board and make the project status and progress easily accessible to all key stakeholders.

Here is a simple Kanban board that works for teams of all sizes:

1. Backlog – The backlog includes a list of features, bugs, fixes, etc. to be worked on. 
2.  In Progress – In-progress activities include tasks that are in progress and are actively being worked on.
3. Done – The done column includes a list of activities that have been completed.