Kanban Basics

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Upstream and Downstream

Kanban lingo

• Upstream is where work is born, sorted, and prepared. In agile context this is comparable to backlog. It's all the things that you could potentially do, in no particular order, not sorted — yet. Things ideally move from left to right in a kanban, in the upstream board you are pushing them up-hill. Towards the tipping point.
• Tipping point The tipping point is when an item is prioritized, and made workable and you are pushing it into the downstream board
• Downstream is all the stuff that is in your near-future focus, stuff that must be done within the next couple of days. In the downstream board things flow downhill — easy, frictionless.
• Minimize work in progress in the downstream board we actively strive to minimize the amount of work in progress, it's carefully balanced to the actual ressources available through a pull system.
• kanban means "signal" in a kanban board, some of the columns are defined as kanbans, You can say that thy are supposed to be empty, so when they are not it's a signal. "Blockers" is an example of a kanban

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Upstream and downstream in the same board. This is an adaption to usage in GitHub, it's simply easier to model it like this.

The tipping point is between Is Workable and To Do.

Kanbans needs immediate focus

Backlog Half baked ideas, memos, wishes, note to self. Anything goes in this column. No rules!

Is Workable Last stop in the upstream board before the tipping point to the downstream board. Issues here must qualify to downstream.

• Unambiguous description
• Desired outcome is known (ask: "What are you hoping to achieve")

To Do Welcome to the downstream board, issues here are in scope and should be worked in the nearest foreseeable future (2-5 days, cycle time is ticking ⏳)

In Progress issues here are actively being worked by someone (assign someone to the issue) This column has a WIP limit

Done Archive regularly, ritually reflect-on.-action

Kanbans

Make workable Issues has priority, they need to enter the downstream board, but they don't qualify yet - hurry!

Blocked Issues has been started, but for some reason they are now blocked and can not move forward - Somebody pulled the andon

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🔺 Triangle of Lean Manufacturing Excellence

True operational excellence is not achieved with a single tool…
It is built through the integration of multiple systems working together. 🚀

🔹 TQM – Total Quality Management
📈 Focus on quality culture, customer satisfaction & continuous improvement.

🔹 TPM – Total Productive Maintenance
⚙️ Maximize equipment effectiveness through preventive & autonomous maintenance.

🔹 JIT – Just In Time
⏱️ Produce only what is needed, when it is needed, in the required quantity.

🔹 LEAN Manufacturing System
📉 Eliminate waste, improve flow & create value for the customer.

🔹 PM – Preventive Maintenance
🛠️ Prevent breakdowns before they occur and improve machine reliability.

🔹 IE – Industrial Engineering
🏭 Optimize manpower, methods, layout & productivity.

🔹 VE – Value Engineering
💡 Improve product value by reducing unnecessary cost without affecting quality.

🔹 5S – Workplace Management System
✨ Sort • Set in Order • Shine • Standardize • Sustain

🎯 When these systems work together:

✅ Quality improves
✅ Downtime reduces
✅ Productivity increases
✅ Waste decreases
✅ Delivery performance improves
✅ Customer satisfaction grows

💬 Lean manufacturing is not about working harder.
It is about building smarter systems that continuously improve every day. 🔄

Small improvements + disciplined systems = World-class manufacturing 🌍🏭

[lakruzz]