What are the most in-demand Kanban skills?

1 Visual Management

Visual management is the ability to create and maintain a clear and effective visual representation of the work and the workflow. Visual management helps teams to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate better, as well as to identify and resolve bottlenecks, dependencies, and risks. Visual management skills include designing and using Kanban boards, charts, and metrics that suit the team's context and goals, as well as applying Kanban practices such as pull systems, WIP limits, and classes of service.

3 Feedback Generation

Feedback generation is the ability to generate and use feedback from various sources to improve the work and the workflow. Feedback generation helps teams to learn, adapt, and innovate faster and more effectively. Feedback generation skills include setting and reviewing feedback loops such as customer feedback, peer feedback, retrospectives, and reviews, as well as applying Kanban practices such as service level agreements, delivery rates, and customer satisfaction metrics to monitor and evaluate performance.

4 Collaboration Enhancement

Collaboration enhancement is the ability to enhance the collaboration among team members and stakeholders to deliver value to customers. Collaboration enhancement helps teams to align their vision, values, and goals, as well as to leverage their collective intelligence and creativity. Collaboration enhancement skills include facilitating and participating in collaborative events such as stand-ups, planning, grooming, and demos, as well as applying Kanban practices such as shared commitment, transparency, and respect to foster a culture of trust and empowerment.

5 Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is the ability to continuously improve the work and the workflow based on feedback and data. Continuous improvement helps teams to achieve higher levels of efficiency, effectiveness, and excellence. Continuous improvement skills include identifying and implementing improvement opportunities such as experiments, hypotheses, and actions, as well as applying Kanban practices such as Kaizen, PDCA, and Gemba to support a mindset of learning and growth.

6 Change Management

Change management is the ability to manage and lead change in the work and the workflow. Change management helps teams to cope with changing customer needs, market conditions, and organizational goals. Change management skills include assessing and influencing the readiness and resistance to change among team members and stakeholders, as well as applying Kanban practices such as evolutionary change, start with what you do now, and agree to pursue improvement to enable a smooth and sustainable transition.