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Kanban

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Kanban is a visual system used in Agile project management as a way to manage work by balancing the volume of work with the team's capacity. Work items are visualized using cards on a kanban board, allowing team members to see the status of every piece of work at any time. The key principle behind …

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CAPM - Kanban Example Questions

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Question 1

Upon joining a new project, you notice that the team often jumps between tasks, impacting productivity. How should you remedy this situation using Kanban?

Correct Answer: Limit Work In Progress (WIP)

The best practice in a Kanban system to tackle the issue of the team often jumping between tasks is to 'Limit Work In Progress (WIP)'. This method is about limiting the number of tasks that are being worked on at any one time. This can increase focus, reduce task-switching overhead, and make blockers and dependencies more immediately obvious. Therefore, this will enhance productivity. As for the other choices, 'Increase the number of tasks assigned' will further worsen the situation, making it even harder to focus and complete tasks. 'Encourage multi-tasking' is also a poor solution as multi-tasking has been proven to be less productive due to task-switching overhead. 'Dissolve the team and create a new one' should only be considered in severe situations and even then, it doesn't directly address the root cause of the issue which is jumping between tasks.

Question 2

As a project manager, you notice one of your teams is not pulling tasks as they should but pushing tasks regardless of the group's capacity. What Kanban principle could correct this issue?

Correct Answer: Implement a pull system

The best response to the scenario provided is 'Implement a pull system'. The issue identified in the question is a characteristic of a push system wherein tasks are being forced onto the team without considering their capacity. The Kanban methodology emphasizes on a pull system which is about the team picking tasks based on its capacity, hence preventing overburdening. This will likely solve the issue. The option 'Increase the team's workload' is incorrect because increasing workload will only exacerbate the problem as the team is already unable to manage their tasks effectively. 'Implement a push system' is also wrong as the problem in the scenario is actually caused by a push system 'Ignore the issue as it will resolve by itself' is not a feasible solution in project management. Issues rarely resolve themselves without intervention or change in processes.

Question 3

You notice that your team’s Kanban board is getting cluttered with sticky notes and small, hard-to-read handwritten information. You're concerned that important details might be overlooked or misunderstood. As a Professional Scrum Master I, what would you do?

Correct Answer: Organize a workshop to collectively review and improve the layout and information density of the Kanban board, ensuring it meets the team's needs.

The correct answer focuses on collaboratively improving the Kanban board's usefulness and readability, which is in line with Scrum and Agile principles of self-organizing teams and continuous improvement. The wrong answers, although related to managing tasks or improving communication, either devolve responsibility away from the team (email chains), create unnecessary bureaucracy (sub-committee), or address the symptom rather than the cause without team engagement (color-coding).

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