The global home of the Kanban Method.
For more than a decade, Kanban University has helped people and organisations make work visible, improve flow, and evolve services with confidence.
Kanban University certification built around real work.
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 its founding members continue to shape the community today as Fellows, Accredited Kanban Consultants, and Trainers.
Our global network coaches and trains teams, organisations, and professionals worldwide. The curriculum is rooted in Discovering Kanban: The Evolutionary path to Enterprise Agility by David J Anderson and designed for managing knowledge work.
Better ways to work begin with better questions.
The Kanban Method is designed specifically for knowledge work. Its practices help teams optimise workflow, improve service delivery, and make sustainable evolutionary change.
01 / Simplicity
Power in simplicity.
Simple ideas can have a dramatic effect when they cascade across complex enterprises made up of interdependent creative and professional services.
- Visualising that which is invisible
- Limiting work in progress
- Service orientation and transparency
- A common language from request to delivery
- Qualitative business-risk assessment
- Empirical forecasting with proven probabilistic techniques
- Measures aligned with customer expectations and fitness for purpose
- Low-risk, low-cost evolutionary change
02 / Pragmatic
Observed. Useful. Ready for Monday.
Kanban University does not teach an idea unless it has been observed in actual practice and provides real business benefits.
- Pragmatic: something you can implement next Monday with existing resources and budgets.
- Actionable: clear guidance for what to do, how to do it, and how to interpret your own results.
- Evidence-based: real case studies, real data, real examples, and field-proven practices.
- Safe to try: improvements framed to avoid unnecessary political risk and protect commitments, governance, and compliance.
03 / Evolutionary
Evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Kanban University starts with what you do now, then improves it through safe-to-try evolutionary means.
- Respect the existing business, processes, capabilities, and social groups.
- No reorganisation is required to begin improving.
- No one needs a new job title, role, or set of responsibilities.
- Build change at a pace people and services can absorb.
04 / Fit for purpose
Continually fit for purpose.
Fitness for purpose is always in the eyes of the customer. Kanban University helps organisations meet and exceed those expectations by improving the measures and service capabilities that matter to them.
- Link process improvement to customer expectations.
- Sense the market and respond with appropriate products, services, and delivery capabilities.
- Treat success as a continual practice, not a one-time destination.
05 / Understanding
Understand the system before changing it.
Better decisions start with a more honest view of customers, capability, uncertainty, and risk.
- Customers, their needs, expectations, and the risks they manage.
- Actual results, capability, and performance data.
- Uncertainty, variability, and non-deterministic problems.
- Risk as an essential part of business that can be managed intelligently.
- The difference between non-deterministic and chaotic.
Ten things to know about Kanban.
A concise starting point for understanding the intent behind the method, whether you are exploring Kanban for the first time or returning to first principles.
- 01
Every Kanban System is unique.
- 02
Kanban is about focus and flow.
- 03
Kanban is about evolutionary change, not revolutionary change.
- 04
Kanban is committed to agility.
- 05
Kanban is grounded in reality.
- 06
Kanban is a living system.
- 07
Kanban is a risk management method.
- 08
Kanban balances demand with capability.
- 09
Kanban is not only for software development or IT.
- 10
Kanban works at scale.
Start with what you do now.
Find a learning path for the work in front of you.