The Kanban Maturity Model (KMM) is a framework developed by Anderson and teodora-bozheva, published in kanban-maturity-model (2018), that maps organizational maturity levels to appropriate Kanban practices. It extends the kanban-method from its origins as a team-level change approach into a model for enterprise-scale organizational development.
The Maturity Levels
The KMM defines seven maturity levels (0–6), each described in terms of the Kanban practices that are in place, the organizational behaviors they produce, and the typical dissatisfactions that indicate readiness to move to the next level:
The KMM's Relationship to Capability Maturity Models
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) tradition in software engineering — originating at the SEI at Carnegie Mellon — provided the conceptual template: a staged progression through defined levels, each with observable characteristics and improvement imperatives. The KMM adapts this structure to workflow management rather than software process capability.
Anderson and Bozheva were careful to position the KMM not as a certification target but as a diagnostic and planning tool: it helps organizations understand where they are and what the next level of practice looks like, without creating a compliance mindset.
Bozheva's Contribution
teodora-bozheva is a co-author of the kanban-maturity-model book and a primary collaborator on KMM development. Her background in organizational development and her practice in European enterprise contexts shaped the model's attention to management behaviors and organizational culture, not just workflow mechanics. The KMM is notably more attentive to management practice and organizational dynamics than earlier Kanban writings, which were primarily team-level focused.
Enterprise Kanban Context
The KMM represents the culmination of a trajectory in Anderson's work: from team-level practice at Corbis (2007) through community development and methodology codification (2010-2015) to enterprise-scale application. The higher maturity levels (ML3-ML6) describe organizational states that require coordination across teams, portfolio-level flow management, and executive engagement — all beyond the scope of the original kanban-book.
The implement-feedback-loops cadences (particularly Operations Review and Strategy Review) are specifically designed for the organizational levels the KMM's higher stages describe. The KMM gives those cadences a developmental context: they are not just practices to implement, but indicators of organizational maturity.
The KMM and Evolutionary Change
The KMM is itself an expression of the evolutionary-change philosophy applied at the macro level. Organizations don't jump from ML0 to ML4; they progress through stages at the pace their context allows. The model acknowledges that different contexts have different appropriate ceiling levels — not every organization needs or can achieve ML6 — and that premature attempts to install high-maturity practices in low-maturity organizations typically fail.