ABOUT KANBAN UNIVERSITY
Founded in 2010 by David J Anderson and a group of dedicated Kanban enthusiasts, Kanban University is the global home of the Kanban Method. Many of our founding members continue to shape the Kanban community today as Fellows, Accredited Kanban Consultants and Trainers.
Over the past decade, our vibrant community has grown to include more than 375 Accredited Kanban Trainers and 100 Accredited Kanban Consultants. Together, they coach and train organisations, teams, and professionals worldwide in the Kanban Method. To date, over 120,000 students have earned Kanban University certifications, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to drive meaningful change.
The Kanban University curriculum is rooted in Discovering Kanban: The Evolutionary path to Enterprise Agility by David J Anderson. Originally inspired by Lean Manufacturing principles, the Kanban Method is designed specifically for managing knowledge work—helping organisations optimise workflows, improve service delivery, and enable sustainable, evolutionary change.
About the Kanban Method
POWER IN SIMPLICITY
We believe that some simple ideas can have a dramatic effect when cascaded across complex enterprises comprising many interdependent creative and professional services. Ideas such as:
- Visualizing that which is invisible
- Limiting work-in-progress
- Service-orientation
- Transparency
- Use of common language from request to delivery
- Simple qualitative business risk assessment
- Use of empirical forecasting using proven probabilistic mathematical techniques
- Aligning key performance metrics with customer expectations and fitness for purpose
- Driving change in a low risk, low cost, evolutionary manner
PRAGMATIC
We don’t teach it unless it has been observed in actual practice and providing real business benefits.
- Pragmatic: “something you can take away and implement next Monday” – cheap, fast, politically acceptable, possible with existing resources and within existing budgets.
- Actionable: we tell you what to do and how to do it. We show you how to interpret your own results and make your own decisions. No metaphors, no allegories, no abstract impractical examples. Immersive simulation games that teach real world problems and actionable solutions.
- Evidence-based: real case studies, real data, real examples, field-proven.
- Safe-to-try: framed as to avoid significant political risk, or endanger customer commitments, governance policies or regulatory compliance.
EVOLUTIONARY, NOT REVOLUTIONARY
“Start with what you do now” and improve upon it! We respect the existing business, its processes, and its capabilities. We seek to improve through safe-to-try evolutionary means. No reorganizations. No one gets a new job title, new role or responsibilities. We respect the identity of the organization, its employees, and their social groups.
CONTINUALLY FIT FOR PURPOSE
Fit for purpose service delivery that meets and exceeds customer expectations. A recognition that fitness for purpose is always in the eyes of the customer. Driving process improvement using key performance indicators that are directly related to customer expectations. Learning how to sense the market and respond with appropriate products, services and service delivery capabilities. Recognizing that success comes from a focus on being continually fit for purpose.
UNDERSTANDING
- Understanding customers and their needs, expectations and the risks they manage.
- Understanding real results and real capability and performance data.
- Understanding uncertainty, variability and non-deterministic problems.
- Understanding risk.
- Respecting that risk is an essential part of business and it can be managed intelligently.
- Recognizing that non-deterministic doesn’t mean chaotic.
- Understanding that non-deterministic problems can be managed and controlled using quantitative and qualitative techniques.
10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT KANBAN
- Every Kanban System is unique
- Kanban is about focus and flow
- Kanban is about evolutionary change – not revolutionary
- Kanban is committed to agility
- Kanban is grounded in reality
- Kanban is a living system
- Kanban is a risk management method
- Kanban balances demand with capability
- Kanban isn’t only for software development or IT
- Kanban works at scale
