How is kanban used by product managers?
Last updated: May 2024
Product leaders manage a large amount of critical work at once. You are responsible for planning what the product team will deliver and the timeline for implementation. With so much in motion at the same time, it is useful to have a high-level view of the status of work items — so you can identify delays or blockers and keep everything on track.
Many product managers use the kanban method to visualize the flow of product features by status ("Not started," "In progress," "Completed"). Kanban supports agile methods through the continuous delivery of high-value features. As team capacity allows, new features are pulled from the backlog and added to in-progress work.
While the main focus of the kanban method is working more efficiently, kanban also complements goal-first product management. You set the product strategy upfront that determines how you prioritize features. Then, kanban helps you incrementally complete each feature. Even if you do not plan to formally adopt the kanban method, you might find that you can apply some of the principles behind it to get work done.
If you are looking to get started with kanban, this article includes helpful guidance and links for implementation no matter which tools you use. If you choose to use Aha! software, you can select among several tools that are purpose-built for product and engineering teams. Aha! Whiteboards comes with a lightweight kanban board template — ideal for getting started quickly. Aha! Roadmaps is a complete product management solution — set product strategy, prioritize features on a workflow board, and share visual plans. Lastly, the kanban board in Aha! Develop is geared towards engineering teams.
Get started with the kanban board template in Aha! software. Sign up for a free trial.
Jump ahead to learn more:
What is kanban?
The word "kanban" means "signboard" in Japanese. Kanban was developed in the 1940s by Taiichi Ohno, an engineer at Toyota. To compete with the American car market, Toyota wanted to overhaul its manufacturing processes, improve efficiency, and minimize waste.
Ohno introduced kanban cards — paper cards that represented finished products and production materials. Once a product was sold or a material was used, the kanban card would move back to the production line, indicating to the team that there was new demand for that product or material. In time the kanban method evolved to support supply chains beyond car manufacturing as well as modern project management work. The biggest evolution of kanban occurred in the early 2000s when the method was adopted by IT and software development teams.
How does kanban work?
Kanban teams use a physical or digital kanban board to represent a team or organization’s workflow. Each step in the workflow is represented by a vertical lane or column. Column labels can be as simple as “Not started," "Some progress," and "Achieved,” or you can choose terminology that is unique to a specific workflow.
Work items are represented by sticky notes (on a physical board) or digital cards (on a digital board). Cards are moved from left to right across the board to show how each work item is progressing within the workflow.
The kanban board below was created in Aha! Develop:
The kanban method advises pursuing incremental improvement over time, following three basic principles:
1. Visualize the flow of work
High-level visualization enables you to identify bottlenecks, surface process issues, and collaborate to keep work moving or reprioritize as needed.
2. Limit work in progress (WIP)
Teams are encouraged to work on a limited amount of features at once. Limiting WiP allows the team to be rigorous about prioritization, favoring the completion of high-value items.
3. Continuously improve
Closely track workflow, quality, lead time, and other metrics to identify processes that can be refined.
Here is another example in Aha! Develop:
Kanban principles can help teams keep tabs on important work items, status, and cross-dependencies. Ideally, everyone is aligned on the work and actively striving to deliver value.
Kanban in product management
Product managers need to be highly disciplined and organized to keep track of all product work — while also communicating the big picture to stakeholders and cross-functional teams. There are a few ways kanban can help you achieve this.
The first is on the product planning side. If you are planning features and timing prior to sending work over to the engineering team, you can use elements of kanban to define current and upcoming priorities.
Second, engineers can utilize kanban too. In this sense, the kanban workflow would accommodate planning as well as development work. The product manager would prepare features and requirements in a "Ready for development" (or similar) column of a kanban board, while engineers would choose cards to pull into their workflows.
The third way kanban can be used in product management is even more comprehensive. For example, if your product team follows the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®), you might choose to adopt kanban across the organization. Other teams, such as operations and customer support, can use kanban to pull important work into their workflows and continuously improve processes. In this way, product managers and other project managers can begin to view and navigate work-in-progress across the entire organization.
Most product teams today rely on product management software. You can set strategy, build plans, and manage work in the same tool — saving time and improving consistency across projects and work items. Physical kanban boards are challenging to maintain and can quickly become outdated, which defeats the intention of building a fast-moving pipeline of work.
Aha! Roadmaps and Aha! Develop each provide a kanban-style view of features — so you can visualize workflows and update progress. Of course, you do not have to strictly follow the kanban method to be successful. Incorporate the elements that make sense for your team and keep your focus on creating value for your customers and your business.
