What is a Kanban Board?

A Kanban Board is a visual signboard, showing the work to be done, the work in progress, and the work done. It’s a visual representation of personal, team, or department’s value stream, that has been mapped out on a whiteboard, a wall, or in dedicated Kanban software.

Although the Kanban method originated as a measure of stock management in the Toyota Production System manufacturing, the goal of Kanban applied to knowledge work remains the same, as it was for manufacturing: to visualize work, limit work in progress, optimize flow and find improvement opportunities.