The Kanban Method is David Anderson's formulation of an evolutionary change management approach for knowledge work services. It is not a project management methodology and not a repackaging of Toyota's kanban production scheduling system — it is a specific framework that uses a kanban board and WIP limits as mechanisms to surface and resolve organizational problems incrementally, without requiring wholesale process replacement.
What the Method Is and Is Not
The name creates persistent confusion. taiichi-ohno's kanban system at Toyota was a physical signal card used to regulate inventory and production pull in a manufacturing context. Anderson's Kanban Method appropriates the pull-system logic and visual card mechanics but applies them to knowledge work — software development, IT operations, creative services — where work is non-repeatable, invisible, and deeply variable. The source inspiration is acknowledged; the method is original.
The Kanban Method explicitly does not prescribe:
This distinguishes it sharply from Scrum, which Anderson positioned as the alternative. Scrum requires a specific role set, ceremony calendar, and iteration rhythm before it can be "done." The Kanban Method says: start with what you do now.
The Three Core Principles
The mature formulation (from kanban-book and subsequent teaching) rests on three foundational principles:
1. Start with what you do now. Do not disrupt existing processes, roles, or responsibilities. Overlay the method on the current system. 2. Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change. The organization commits to gradual improvement rather than revolutionary transformation. 3. Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities, and titles. Existing arrangements represent accumulated organizational knowledge and political settlement; they should be evolved, not discarded.
These principles make adoption politically low-risk, which Anderson identified as critical for consulting engagements. Scrum's disruptive model required organizational buy-in that was often unavailable. The evolutionary approach built on what existed.
The Six Core Practices
The method's operational content is expressed in six practices, developed cumulatively through Anderson's consulting and writing:
1. visualize-workflow — make work and its states visible on a board 2. wip-limits — constrain concurrent work to improve flow and expose bottlenecks 3. manage-flow — optimize for smooth flow of work through the system 4. make-policies-explicit — document and share the rules governing work 5. implement-feedback-loops — establish regular cadences for review and adaptation 6. improve-collaboratively — use models and the scientific method to evolve the system
The practices build on each other. Visualization makes WIP visible; WIP limits make flow manageable; explicit policies make the system legible to everyone; feedback loops create improvement opportunities; collaborative improvement closes the cycle.
Intellectual Sources
Anderson is explicit about his sources. The method draws from:
Anderson's original contribution is the synthesis: applying these manufacturing and quality management ideas to knowledge work through the specific mechanism of WIP-limited visual workflow, packaged as an evolutionary overlay rather than a disruptive replacement.
Origins at Corbis
The method crystallized during the corbis-kanban-experiment (January 2007), where Anderson was managing software teams. A team member suggested a whiteboard card wall to make work visible; dragos-dumitriu and rick-garber were early implementers. The concept of classes-of-service emerged when Drew McLean (VP) asked for an expedite capability. The core practices were being practiced before they were fully theorized; kanban-book (2010) provided the retrospective systematization.
The Method as Change Management
Anderson consistently described the Kanban Method not as a software development methodology but as a change management approach. The board and WIP limits are diagnostic instruments as much as operational tools: they make dysfunction visible so it can be addressed. The evolutionary philosophy means change happens at the organization's own pace, responding to the signals the system provides — rather than to an external transformation timeline.
This framing influenced how the method was positioned relative to Lean and Agile: in kanban-alternative-path-to-agility, Anderson argued that Kanban provides a pragmatic path to agility that avoids the organizational disruption and adoption failure common in Scrum implementations.