7 Kanban Cadences: A Guide to Efficient Workflow Management

Kanban methodology is one of the popular agile methodologies which emphasizes continuous improvement, visualization of workflows, and limiting work in progress (WIP) for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the team's work. For improving your team's knowledge of Kanban and Agile, you can recommend your team to go for courses such as the Kanban course online. 

Cadences are one of the key aspects of Kanban-based agile methodology. It means conducting regular meetings for helping teams in managing work and optimizing performance. In this article, we look into the 7 cadences of kanban, what they are, and how we can use them for improving our team's information flow and efficiency. We are also going to look at how we can use them for managing different aspects of a team's work. 

What is Kanban Cadences?

Kanban cadences are a group of meetings that are designed for helping teams manage work effectively. These cadences help create a rhythm in the team's work, which helps us to improve visibility, communication, and collaboration. 

Kanban methodology emphasizes using cadences as such tradition provides teams work with regular communication, feedback, and continuous improvement. Through these cadences, agile teams can align their work with goals and objectives, thereby progressing toward targeted outcomes. 

The function of the Kanban cadences can be divided into three overlapping groups: 

• Getting things done 
• Doing the right things 
• Doing things better 

The Seven Cadences of Kanban

There are 7 Kanban cadences that are commonly used for managing the work regularly, designed for helping teams address different aspects of their work and ensure effective work towards their goals. The 7 Kanban cadences are as below: 

1. Risk Review

An essential part of the Kanban methodology is conducting the risk review cadence. It allows teams to identify potential risks and take steps to mitigate the risks in a proactive manner. As we know that risks can come in various forms, which can be technical, organizational, or environmental, and they impact a team's ability to deliver on their goals. 

During the risk review meeting, the team members should gather with the goal of identifying and assessing potential risks which can impact the project's success. The risk review cadence involves a comprehensive assessment of all factors which can lead to risk, including dependencies, stakeholders, and external factors. The team then evaluates the severity of each risk and develops a plan to mitigate it during this meeting. 

2. Strategy Review Meeting

Similar to the risk review meeting, the strategy review meeting is an important cadence emphasized by the literature on Kanban meeting cadence for ensuring that a team's work is aligned with the organization's strategic goals and objectives. During this meeting, the strategic goals of the organization are reviewed, and the progress is reviewed by the team members in the direction of achieving them. This approach helps the team ensure that their work is focused on delivering value and that they are aligned with the broader organizational goals. 

During the strategy review meeting, team members evaluate their progress toward their strategic goals and identify any obstacles that may be hindering their progress. They also assess the effectiveness of their current strategies and identify areas where improvements can be made. By conducting regular strategy review meetings, teams can ensure that they are staying on track toward their strategic goals and making progress toward achieving them. 

The strategy review meeting is also an opportunity for team members to identify how their work contributes to the organization's goals and discuss how adjustments can be made to their work for better alignment with the broader strategic objectives. This helps in ensuring that the team's work is meaningful and highly contributing. 

3. Daily Stand-up

Another essential part of Kanban cadence meetings is the daily stand-up. It is used to ensure that the team works efficiently and collaborates towards achieving the goals of the project. It is typically a short meeting of 15-30 minutes, depending on the team size, which takes place at the same time and place daily. In this meeting, team members share updates about their work and discuss any challenges they are facing during their work through the day. 

During the daily stand-up, each team member should be ready with answers to the below three questions in general: 

• What did they accomplish yesterday? 
• What are they planning to work on today? 
• Are there any issues that they are facing which prevent their progress? 

With answers to these questions, the team and its participants can get a clear picture of what everyone else on the team is working on and in identifying potential roadblocks to be addressed. 

The daily stand-up promotes transparency and accountability within the team. Additionally, the daily stand-up helps in identifying any potential issues early, allowing the team to take corrective action before they become bigger problems that could impact project delivery. 

4. Service Delivery Review 

During the service delivery review, the team members review their team’s delivery metrics, such as lead time, cycle time, and throughput. Tracking such metrics helps the team in understanding their performance and identifying areas for improvement. The service delivery review includes bottlenecks related to the discussion, which may be affecting the team's performance, and also the formulation of a plan to address them. 

This review is an excellent opportunity for the team to reflect on their performance and identify areas for improvement. By analyzing their delivery metrics, they can identify any trends or patterns that may be affecting their performance. For example, if the team notices that their lead time is increasing, the reasons for that can be investigated till the root cause and steps are taken to address the cause. 

Another important aspect of maintaining the runway cadence Kanban is that the service delivery review is important in ensuring that the team meets their SLAs and delivers value to their customers. The team should review their SLAs and ensure that their commitments are met. If the SLAs are not met, the root cause should be identified, and necessary steps are to be taken to address it. 

5. Operations Review Meeting

The operations review meeting is another essential cadence in the Kanban cadence plan, which enables teams to monitor their operational performance in a continual manner. This type of meeting focuses on reviewing the workflows, processes, and operational metrics of the team for identifying the areas that require optimization. 

During the operations review meeting, the operational metrics are analyzed by the team. The operational metrics include the number of defects, rework required, and the time spent on non-value-add activities. This analysis helps the team in identifying any inefficiencies that are present in their workflows and processes and enables them to take corrective action. The meeting also allows the team to discuss any new operational challenges that have arisen and come up with solutions. 

Another benefit of the operations review meeting is that it encourages the team to think about how they can improve their overall efficiency and effectiveness in a continued approach. It provides a platform for the team to share their ideas and feedback on how they can optimize their workflows and processes. This approach ensures that the team strives without a break to enhance their performance, leading to increased productivity and customer satisfaction. 

6. Replenishment Meeting

The replenishment meeting is another prime cadence in the 7 Kanban cadence meetings. It allows the project teams to review their backlog and ensure that the teams are aligned with their priorities and objectives. This replenishment meeting enables the team in evaluating the completed and decide on the next set of focus tasks. 

During the replenishment meeting, the backlog items that have been completed are discussed by the team and the current state of work in progress is reviewed. New work items are also identified by the team, which may have been identified since the last meeting, and they are prioritized based on value to the business. This prioritization ensures that the team is focused on delivering the most important tasks first. 

The replenishment meeting is an opportunity to reflect on the progress toward the team’s goals and objectives. The project team reviews its performance metrics, such as lead time and cycle time, and assesses whether it is making progress toward achieving the targets. The meeting also allows the team in adjusting the team member’s priorities and objectives based on any new information from the last meeting. 

The replenishment meeting ensures that the team is working on the most important tasks and that they are making progress toward the goals. By a regular review of backlogs and priorities, the team can stay focused on delivering value to customers and the business. 

7. Delivery Planning

The delivery planning cadence is the last type of critical meeting in the Kanban process. It helps the team in planning and prioritizing their work for the upcoming period. This cadence occurs at the end of a sprint (in scrum methodology) or iteration (in SAFe methodology) and serves as a gateway to the next one. 

During the delivery planning meeting, the team reviews the prioritized backlog items from the previous replenishment meeting and discusses the ways to deliver them in an efficient and effective manner. The team considers their bandwidth and analyses any constraints that may affect their ability to deliver the work, such as dependencies, resource availability, or unforeseen issues. 

The team then identifies the work items to be focussed on during the next sprint or iteration and assigns them to the appropriate team members based on expertise. They also estimate the effort required to complete each item through different methods such as story points, use case points etc, and ensure that the work is evenly distributed across the team. 

One of the benefits of the delivery planning cadence is that it ensures that the team is aligned on their priorities and has a clear plan for delivering their work. By regularly reviewing their backlog and planning their work, the team can stay on track and avoid any last-minute surprises that may derail their progress. 

It also enables the team to continuously improve their improvement area identification process with various new approaches. By regularly reflecting on their performance and experimenting with new ideas, the team can continuously optimize their workflow and also deliver more value for their customers. 

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How to Improve Your Information Flow with Kanban Cadences?

For implementing Kanban cadences effectively, having a thorough understanding of the methodology and its principles is key. KnowledgeHut offers various online courses on Kanban, and provides Agile certificates, to help individuals and teams improve their understanding and learn techniques for implementation of these Kanban methodologies. The courses cover the fundamentals of Kanban, its principles, practices, and tools, along with insights on how to optimize workflow, manage WIP, and use cadences for improving team performance. By enrolling in these courses, you can gain the knowledge and skills necessary to implement Kanban effectively and improve your team’s information flow. 

Once you gain the necessary knowledge and skills, you can use the following tips to use Kanban cadences for improving your information flow: 

• Ensure Regular Cadences: Following kanban cadences regularly for each meeting and ensuring that they are conducted during the same time and day every week, helps in creating a rhythm for the team members, making it easier for them to plan and prioritize their work. 
• Use Visual Aids: Using Kanban boards to track progress and providing visibility into the team's work helps in creating transparency and ensures that everyone is on the same page. 
• Encourage Open Communication: Encouraging open communication during the meetings and ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to speak helps us ensure that everyone is heard. It helps get clarity in communication by getting an idea that issues and concerns are addressed promptly. 
• Set Clear Objectives: Setting clear objectives for each cadence is important to ensure that everyone is aware of the purpose of the meeting. This helps in ensuring that the meeting is focused and productive and also that everyone is working towards the same goals. 
• Identify and Address Issues: It is recommended to identify any issues or concerns that are raised during the meetings and develop strategies to address them. This approach helps us to ensure that issues are not overlooked and also that they are addressed promptly. 

Utilizing Kanban Cadences?

Kanban cadences are a crucial part of the Kanban methodology, and utilizing them can significantly enhance team performance. The seven Kanban cadences - risk review, strategy review meeting, daily stand-up, service delivery review, operations review meeting, replenishment meeting, and delivery planning - provide a framework for managing different aspects of a team's work, ultimately leading to improved efficiency, effectiveness, and value delivery to customers. 

If you are interested in learning more about Kanban and how it can benefit you and your team, consider taking an online Kanban course or agile certificate program with KnowledgeHut. Their online courses can help you develop a deep understanding of Kanban principles, practices, and techniques and equip you with the skills necessary to implement Kanban in your work. With KnowledgeHut’s Kanban course online and agile certificate online programs, you can enhance your professional skills and take your career to the next level