How can you prioritize work items based on value and urgency in Kanban classes of service?

1 What are Kanban classes of service?

Kanban classes of service are categories of work items that have different priority levels and delivery expectations. They enable you to align your work with your business goals, customer needs, and risk management. These classes of service are not fixed or predefined, but rather depend on the specific context and situation. Common examples are Standard, Fixed Date, Expedite, and Intangible. Standard work items follow the normal process and have a predictable delivery time; they make up the majority of work and have moderate value and urgency. Fixed date tasks have a specific deadline or due date that cannot be missed; they have high urgency but not necessarily high value and may require special attention or coordination for timely delivery. Expedite tasks have very high value and urgency, needing to be delivered as soon as possible; they are usually rare and exceptional, potentially disrupting the normal process and requiring extra resources or collaboration to resolve quickly. Intangible tasks have low value and urgency but may have a long-term benefit or potential; they are usually low priority and can be deferred or postponed, including research, experimentation, or improvement initiatives.

2 How to assign Kanban classes of service?

To assign Kanban classes of service, you need to evaluate each work item based on its value and urgency, as well as the impact of delaying or delivering it. Value is the benefit or outcome that the work item provides to the customer or the business. Urgency is the time sensitivity or pressure that the work item faces. You can use different criteria or metrics to measure value and urgency, such as revenue, customer satisfaction, quality, compliance, risk, or opportunity. You can also use tools or techniques such as value stream mapping, cost of delay, or weighted shortest job first to help you prioritize your work items.

Once you have determined the value and urgency of each work item, you can assign it to one of the Kanban classes of service based on its relative priority and delivery expectation. You can use different colors, labels, or symbols to indicate the class of service on your Kanban board. For example, you can use red for expedite, yellow for fixed date, green for standard, and blue for intangible.

3 How to manage Kanban classes of service?

Managing Kanban classes of service means balancing the demand and capacity of your system, and ensuring that each class of service receives the appropriate treatment and attention. You can use different policies and rules to manage your Kanban classes of service, such as limiting the number of work items in each class of service and in each stage of the process to control work in progress and reduce cycle time. Setting service level agreements or expectations for each class of service helps communicate delivery time and quality standards, as well as monitor performance and reliability. You can also allocate resources or buffers for each class of service to handle variability and uncertainty, and respond to changes or emergencies. It's important to review and revise your Kanban classes of service regularly, so you can adapt to changing needs and priorities, and optimize value delivery.

4 How to benefit from Kanban classes of service?

Using Kanban classes of service can help you improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, enhance team collaboration and alignment, increase efficiency and productivity, reduce risk and uncertainty, and learn and improve continuously. You can achieve these benefits by delivering value faster and more consistently, focusing on the most important and urgent work items, reducing waste and delays, managing work items based on their value and urgency, anticipating and resolving issues, measuring and analyzing performance, and applying lessons and insights.

5 How to get started with Kanban classes of service?

If you want to get started with Kanban classes of service, there are several steps you can take. Begin by defining your value proposition and customer segments, understanding what value you deliver to whom and how they perceive and expect it. Next, map your value stream and process to identify the steps involved in delivering value. Then analyze the work items based on their value and urgency, and assign them to Kanban classes of service. Manage these classes of service by applying policies and rules to control, monitor, and improve the flow of work items. Finally, review and revise your Kanban classes of service to adapt to changing needs and optimize your value delivery.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?