KMP key terms

A method for visualizing knowledge work, limiting work in progress, and managing flow so that service delivery becomes predictable and improvement is driven by evidence rather than by pushing more work at people.

The complete set of practices, policies, boards, and roles an organization uses to manage work as a flow of items through defined stages, from a point of commitment to a point of delivery.

A visual model of the workflow showing columns for stages, cards for work items, and explicit policies and limits, used to make queues, blockers, and flow visible to everyone doing and requesting the work.

The visual token representing one unit of work on a board. A card carries the information the team agreed is needed to decide, track, and discuss that item, such as type, class of service, and age.

A vertical area on a board representing a stage of the workflow, such as analysis, development, or verification. Columns show where work currently sits and where queues accumulate between stages.

A category of work that follows its own path and policies, for example feature, defect, or technical debt. Types are distinguished because they carry different risks, sizes, and service expectations.

A policy-based label that determines how an item is prioritized and treated relative to others, such as expedited, fixed date, standard, or intangible, so that urgency is handled explicitly rather than informally.

Work given priority over all other items because delay carries severe cost. Expedited items usually bypass queues under a defined policy, and their volume is limited so normal flow is not destroyed.

A cap on how many items may occupy a stage or workflow state at one time. The limit exposes bottlenecks, encourages finishing before starting, and shortens the time items spend in the system.

A way of scheduling work in which a downstream stage signals capacity and upstream work is drawn forward only when that capacity exists, rather than being pushed in regardless of readiness.

An explicit, shared description of how work moves through the system, including stages, entry and exit criteria, policies, limits, and the point at which work is considered started and finished.

The point in the workflow where the organization commits to delivering an item and the customer can reasonably expect it. It typically marks the start of the lead time measurement.

The point at which work is considered finished and available to the customer or user. It anchors the end of lead time and should be defined by policy rather than by opinion.

The elapsed time from the commitment point to the delivery point, measuring how long a customer waits for an item once the organization has committed to providing it.

The elapsed time from when work actually starts on an item to when it is finished. Teams use it to understand flow efficiency and to forecast how long similar items will take.

The number of work items completed per unit of time, such as per week. It is a core flow metric used with cycle time to forecast delivery and to judge the effect of process changes.

A relationship stating that average work in progress equals throughput multiplied by average cycle time. It lets teams predict how reducing WIP or raising throughput changes the time work spends in the system.

The proportion of an item's total elapsed time that is spent in active work rather than waiting. Low flow efficiency signals queues and handoffs that dominate the delivery timeline.

A buildup of items waiting for the next stage's capacity. Queues hide problems, increase lead time, and are the main target of WIP limits and pull-based policies.

The stage or constraint that limits the overall throughput of the workflow. Improving anything other than the bottleneck usually adds queues rather than delivered value.

The sequence of activities required to move a work item from a request to delivered value, including both value-adding steps and the waits and handoffs between them.

A collaborative exercise that draws the current flow of work, including stages, queues, handoffs, and delays, to expose waste and identify where to apply limits or process changes.

A condition preventing an item from progressing. Blockers are made visible on the board, tracked, and analyzed over time, since their frequency and duration reveal systemic flow problems.

An organizational or systemic obstacle that slows work repeatedly, such as missing environments or unclear requirements. Unlike a single blocked item, an impediment is a recurring cause worth removing permanently.

Work in progress: items that have entered the workflow but are not yet delivered. The amount of WIP is the primary lever for controlling lead time and predictability in a Kanban system.

A stated probability that an item of a given type will be delivered within a specified time, derived from historical cycle-time data, so customers and teams share realistic expectations.

A set of recurring meetings at different organizational levels, from team replenishment to strategy review, that provide the rhythm for managing flow, feedback, and improvement across the system.

A recurring session where the team reviews available capacity and selects the next items to pull into the system, keeping the input queue at a healthy, limited size.

A periodic meeting between the service team and its customers to review delivered work, flow metrics, and service expectations, and to agree on adjustments to policies and priorities.

A meeting where managers of different services examine the overall system, balance demand against capability, and address cross-team dependencies and capacity issues.

A cadence for identifying and addressing risks to flow and delivery, including blockers, dependencies, and sources of delay, so that they are managed before they become crises.

Quantitative measures of how work moves through the system, including throughput, cycle time, lead time, work in progress, and flow efficiency, used to guide improvement decisions.

A chart plotting the number of items in each workflow state over time. Band widths reveal WIP growth, queue buildup, and changes in throughput, making flow problems visible at a glance.

A run chart with statistical limits drawn from historical cycle-time data, used to distinguish normal variation from special-cause signals and to forecast likely delivery times.

Continuous, incremental improvement driven by the people doing the work. In Kanban it is supported by explicit policies, feedback cadences, and experiments that are evaluated with flow data.

A short, focused workshop in which a team analyzes a specific problem area and implements improvements quickly, often using value stream mapping and flow data as input.

A management approach holding that a system's output is limited by its constraint, so improvement effort should focus on identifying, exploiting, and elevating that constraint before optimizing elsewhere.

The amount of work a system can deliver in a period given its people, skills, and constraints. Replenishment and planning decisions depend on a realistic assessment of available capacity.

The stream of incoming requests for work. Understanding its volume, type mix, and variability lets a team shape policies and capacity rather than simply reacting to whatever arrives.

A deliberate change to policies, workflow, or capability intended to raise flow or quality, ideally framed as a hypothesis and validated against metrics before being adopted permanently.