# Kanban
**Kanban** is a workflow management method that visualises work in progress and limits the amount of work allowed at each stage. The name comes from the Japanese word for "signboard"; the method originated in Toyota's manufacturing system in the 1940s and was adapted for software by David Anderson around 2007.

The core tool is the kanban board: a set of columns representing stages of work (typically something like Backlog, In Progress, Review, Done), with cards representing individual work items. Each card moves left to right as work progresses.

The central constraint is the **work-in-progress (WIP) limit**: each column has a maximum number of cards allowed. If "In Progress" has a WIP limit of 3 and all three slots are full, no new work can start until something moves to the next stage. This forces the team to finish work before starting new work, which reduces context switching and exposes bottlenecks: if cards pile up in front of a blocked Review column, the problem is visible.

Kanban differs from [[agile]] sprint-based methods (like Scrum) in that it has no fixed-length iteration. Work flows continuously; items are pulled whenever capacity exists. There are no sprints, no sprint planning ceremonies, and no sprint retrospectives as formal events — though many teams add a regular cadence anyway.

The method is often used for operations and support work where incoming work is unpredictable in volume and the sprint model does not fit well. It is also used alongside [[ci-cd]] pipelines, where the board tracks deployment stages as well as development stages.