Kanban is a Japanese word used to represent a work queue management method. It takes inspiration from the Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing. It has become popular in the software industry with the adoption of Agile methodologies.

The kanban board is a tool to visualize the work queue. The board is organized in columns representing the stages of the work process. Work items are represented by cards placed on the appropriate column of the board. New work items start from the leftmost column and travel through the board until they reach the rightmost column, representing completed work.

The simplicity and visual impact of kanban boards make them excellent to support simple business processes. A basic example of a kanban board can have three columns, as shown in the following image: To Do, Doing, and Done.

It can, of course, be extended to whatever specific process steps we may need:

Photo credits: "A Scrum board suggesting to use kanban" by Jeff.lasovski. Courtesy...