Kanban is the Agile way of saying “Phase Gate”
November 12th, 2009
So that we can easily find ways to constantly improve while collaborating effectively and sustainably, I like kanban as a tool which shows what constrains transforming concepts into cash. I believe it allows us to see the whole system and our part in what to do to help in the transformation of the system into a better one and our ideas in to innovation. It seems to me there would be greater benefits for all involved.
For software a kanban tool must be highly visible, with a policy to strictly limit work in progress and a policy to only accept work when there’s capacity. To be effective, it requires consensus on these policies from the people involved.
Kanban is a Lean way of saying, “I trust and respect you”.
Hi Aaron,
“Phase Gate” is not a swear word, an expletive to be permanently removed from our vocabulary. We seemed to have forgotten that many teams delivered software successfully for years under the guise of waterfall including the use of “phase gates”. Many of these teams had an “agile” outlook and delivered despite the limitations of the management process used.
I see one of the strengths of Kanban as the fact that it lowers the barrier to adoption of a more incremental and dare I say iterative approach to software development for traditional waterfall shops. Incremental development and limiting work in progress is a great step forward for some teams. For some teams full blown Agile is too big a step to be taken in one bound. Kanban allows such teams to bridge the gap whilst making their workflow more visible to management.
The problem as I see it is buzz words. Kanban can be Agile and it can be waterfall. The label is not the thing. What counts is how its practiced.
As for your tag line:
“Kanban is a Lean way of saying, “I trust and respect you”.
It reminds me of some of the worst consultant speak I heard back in the 90’s were Japanese Quality Circles and “Lean thinking” were being touted as the elixir of life
Well it’s 2010 and western business annihilation at the hands of the Japanese hasn’t happened 
The Kanban community would do itself a great service if it got real, dropped the labels and focused on helping teams improve. Whether that be by adopting mini-waterfalls, becoming more agile, adopting lean/system thinking or whatever works.
It seems to me that Kanban is agnostic to all these things. It’s just a tool. Kanban with phase gates, why not? For some that may be just the thing! Just don’t call it Agile
Paul.
Hi Paul, I really appreciate your comment and agree that it’s just a tool and that the tag line is completely cheesy. This was a quote overheard by someone in the home office and my flippant response. Thanks for reading and taking the time to write! -Aaron