In the late 1940s, Toyota found a better engineering process from an unlikely source: the supermarket. They noticed that store clerks restocked a grocery item by their store’s inventory, not their vendor’s supply. Only when an item was near sellout did the clerks order more. The grocers’ “just-in-time” delivery process sparked Toyota engineers to rethink their methods and pioneer a new approach—a Kanban system—that would match inventory with demand and achieve higher levels of quality and throughput.

Kanban is Japanese for “visual signal” or “card.” Toyota line-workers used a kanban (i.e., an actual card) to signal steps in their manufacturing process. The system’s highly visual nature allowed teams to communicate more easily on what work needed to be done and when. It also standardized cues and refined processes, which helped to reduce waste and maximize value.

A new application of Kanban emerged for knowledge work as early as 2005, and an inquisitive community formed in 2007 around the leadership of David J. Anderson, Jim Benson, Corey Ladas and others. Their resulting body of knowledge was influenced not only by the Toyota Production System, but also by the work of W. Edwards Deming, Eliyahu Goldratt, Donald Reinertsen, and other thought leaders.

Kanban helps to harness the power of visual information by using sticky notes on a whiteboard to create a “picture” of the work. Seeing how work flows within a team’s process not only communicates the status, but also gives and receives context for the work. Kanban takes information that typically would be communicated via words and turns it into brain candy.

Unlike other methods that force fit change from the get-go, Kanban is about evolution, not revolution. It hinges on the fundamental truth that you can’t get where you want to go without first knowing where you are.

Kanban is gaining traction as a way to smoothly implement Agile and Lean management methods in tech and non-tech companies around the world. Throughout this fresh take on Toyota’s manufacturing process, Kanban’s core elements have remained rooted in the principles below. (Note: There are many ways to define Kanban. Our intent in listing the core elements in this manner is not to introduce a new definition but to distill the common principles.)

1. Visualize Work - By creating a visual model of your work and workflow, you can observe the flow of work moving through your Kanban system. Making the work visible—along with blockers, bottlenecks and queues—instantly leads to increased communication and collaboration.

2. Limit Work in Process - By limiting how much unfinished work is in process, you can reduce the time it takes an item to travel through the Kanban system. You can also avoid problems caused by task switching and reduce the need to constantly reprioritize items.

3. Focus on Flow - By using work-in-process (WIP) limits and developing team-driven policies, you can optimize your Kanban system to improve the smooth flow of work, collect metrics to analyze flow, and even get leading indicators of future problems by analyzing the flow of work.

4. Continuous Improvement - Once your Kanban system is in place, it becomes the cornerstone for a culture of continuous improvement. Teams measure their effectiveness by tracking flow, quality, throughput, lead times, and more. Experiments and analysis can change the system to improve the team’s effectiveness.