# Kanban

**[Kanban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban)** is a workflow management method using a board with columns representing work stages and cards representing individual items. Work flows continuously through columns with work-in-progress limits at each stage.

Teams struggle with unpredictable incoming work, context switching overhead, and hidden bottlenecks when work piles up in certain stages. Sprint-based methods like [[swe:agile]] assume predictable batches, but operational and support work often has variable demand that does not fit a fixed cadence.

Kanban makes work visible on a board and enforces limits at each stage. When a column hits its limit, no new work can start there, forcing the team to finish what is blocking progress before pulling more in. This exposes bottlenecks immediately and prevents the team from overloading any single stage.

Here a board with work-in-progress limits shows how the Review stage hits its limit, blocking new items from entering until existing ones are complete.

```
Backlog    | Todo (WIP: 3) | In Progress (WIP: 2) | Review (WIP: 2) | Done
-----------|---------------|----------------------|-----------------|---------
[ Task 1 ] | [ Task A ]     | [ Task X ]           | [ Task P ]      | [✓ Task Q]
[ Task 2 ] | [ Task B ]     | [ Task Y ]           | [ Task R ]      | [✓ Task S]
[ Task 3 ] | (limit reached)| (1 free slot)        | (limit reached) |
[ Task 4 ] | ↑              |                      | ↑               |
           | blocked: must clear Review column before pulling more
```