What Is Kanban?
Kanban is a management method for improving work processes that is getting more and more successfully applied to the world of project management.It advocates for doing just what is needed when it is needed and in just the amount needed. When working like this, companies are able to eliminate waste, unreasonable requirements (also known as scope creep), and inconsistencies in their results. Kanban is also able to make the production process smoother which makes teams more productive.
Kanban calls for transparency so that everyone on a team knows what is being worked on, what they have to work on, and what is left to be done. Because of this, your teammates can do just what is required and no more. For a more in-depth look at what exactly Kanban is, check the linked article from Kanbanize. Kanbanize is a leading Kanban platform, giving you clear visibility and control over your projects with their automated software.
Kanban and Project Management
One of the best ways to use Kanban to do project management is with a Kanban board. This can be a simple board that shows what is in the queue, what is being worked on, and what is completed. The board could also be customized to show the names of the team members beside the tasks they are currently working on or that they should work on in the future.
The board can also be customized so that the different tasks can be moved to their respective columns when their status changes, like when they are picked up or completed. Your teammates should also get an alert when a task is assigned to them so that there is no time wasted between assigning a task and letting a team member know they are responsible for it.
The biggest strength of this approach is that because everything is visual, it is easy to understand and navigate even to those who may be new to the company.
The Benefits of Using the Kanban Approach
When teams use Kanban for project management, everyone knows what they should be doing at any one time. This allows the teammates to focus on their tasks which makes them more efficient.
Kanban allows the collection of all information related to a task in one place. Teammates can see everything they need to know about a project in one glance. Kanban allows for the division of work into smaller tasks. Because of this, work can be completed faster, as many more people would be working on a single project.
The process of using Kanban for project management can be improved over time as a company learns how their employees work best. It can also be adjusted for the types of projects a company normally handles. Finally, Kanban can be used in different situations and arrangements.
Kanban Limits Multitasking for Higher Productivity
A lot of people think that when they multitask, they are being more productive. This is wrong. The Kanban project management principle states that employees should work on a single task at a time. This allows them to focus their efforts on one thing, and they can produce higher-quality work this way.
Multitasking opens up the possibility that your mind will wander as you hop between different tasks, and this can be detrimental to the end product. The best thing to do would be to work on just one job and pass it along to another teammate and then you can pick up another task. This chain continues until a project is complete.
Kanban Can Be Improved on Over Time
One of the best things about using the Kanban process is that there is always room to switch things up or improve on them. When trying to get your team to peak performance, start by identifying any holes in the way they work. It could be that they are multitasking or working on different parts of different projects at any one time.
Once you have identified these holes, it is time to plug them. Start by introducing small changes to the way your team works and ramp things up as you identify more areas that need improving. If you keep repeating this process, you will get your team to where you want it in a very short time.
Project management does not have to be complicated. If you run an SEO agency where are a lot of things to handle and projects to complete, your team could always benefit from using the Kanban approach.