The 30-second takeaway: A board shows where work is. Kanban also needs rules about capacity, movement and improvement. Moving sticky notes alone is only the starting point.
01 / See the story
The invoice everyone thought was being handled
Meet Maya, an operations team lead. Her team processes supplier invoices. This is an illustrative scenario, not a reported case study.
SCENE 01
Everyone is busy
Maya sees invoices in email, spreadsheets and chat. Nobody can tell her which one needs attention.
SCENE 02
The wait becomes visible
The team maps Ready → Checking → Approval → Done. One invoice is waiting for sign-off.
SCENE 03
Stop adding to the queue
Approval is full. The team keeps the checked invoice visible and helps resolve the sign-off before starting more.
SCENE 04
Review and improve
Maya and the approver agree a review time. They track the wait to see whether their experiment helps.
The change: Instead of asking “Who can start another invoice?”, Maya asks “What is stopping this invoice from finishing?”
02 / Try it yourself
Approval is full. What happens next?
Checking: maximum 2 invoicesApproval: maximum 1 invoice
INV-103 is checked, but Approval has no room. Try the buttons to see what can move next.
Illustrative limits, not recommended staffing ratios.
Ready
INV-104Not started
Checking · limit 2
INV-102Checking details
INV-103Checked; waiting to move
Approval · limit 1
INV-101Awaiting sign-off
Done
Both active stages are full. First create room downstream.
Start = entry into Checking. Finish = approval completed. Invoices waiting between those points still count as work in progress.
03 / Understand the rules
Six habits behind a useful board
Make work visible
Show the real stages and the items moving through them.
Limit work in progress
Agree how much unfinished work the system can hold.
Manage flow
Look for waiting, blocked items and slow handoffs.
Write down the rules
Agree when work starts, moves and counts as done.
Review together
Use regular conversations to inspect the work and delivery.
Improve through experiments
Try a small change, observe its effect and adapt.
Four measures to watch
Work in progress
Started items that are not finished.
Initially, three invoices between Checking and Done.
Throughput
Items finished per period.
Invoices approved this week.
Cycle time
Elapsed time from start to finish.
Checking started Monday; approved Thursday: three elapsed days at the same time of day.
Work item age
Elapsed time since an unfinished item started.
An invoice still awaiting approval two days after checking began.
Define consistent measurement boundaries. Cycle time here excludes the wait in Ready; request-to-completion time would include it.
04 / Use it at work
Start with one real queue
Pick a service. Try invoice queries, support tickets or onboarding requests.
Map the actual handoffs. Include approval and waiting where they happen.
Agree the boundaries. In our example, start means Checking begins; done means approval is complete.
Set a trial capacity limit. Agree it with the team and make exceptions visible.
Review the oldest work. Ask who can help remove its next obstacle.
Inspect the results. Compare waiting and completion patterns before deciding what to change.
Maya’s board agreement
Ready: required invoice documents are available.
Checking: validate the amount, purchase order and supplier details.
Approval: checks complete; authorised approver accepts the invoice.
Done: sign-off recorded. Payment itself is outside this example’s scope.
Blocked invoices stay visible and count towards their stage limit.
Urgent work requires an explicit team decision; urgency does not create capacity.
Where this helps your career: In an interview or team review, explain a specific handoff, the rule you introduced and the evidence you tracked. “We exposed approval delays” says more than “We used a Kanban board.”
Where else could you use the same idea?
IT operations
Incidents awaiting investigation.
HR operations
Onboarding tasks awaiting checks.
Logistics
Delivery exceptions awaiting resolution.
Choose stages that match your service.
05 / Avoid the traps
What Kanban will not solve by itself
“Once we have a board, we are doing Kanban.”
The board supports visibility. Capacity rules, active management and review make it useful as a working system.
“A WIP limit will stop our backlog growing.”
It can constrain started work, but incoming requests can still pile up. If demand persistently exceeds completion capacity, investigate demand, staffing, rework or service scope.
“Blocked work should leave the board.”
Keep it visible. In Maya’s example, an invoice awaiting sign-off still uses capacity. Removing it would make the queue appear healthier than it is.
“We need a new tool or a complete reorganisation.”
Start with the existing workflow. A whiteboard or shared digital board can support an initial experiment. The rules and review matter more than the tool.
06 / Check your understanding
What should Maya do first?
Approval is at its limit. Another invoice is ready to start. Which action best fits this example?
Your one-sentence recap
Kanban makes work visible and uses capacity rules and feedback to improve how it moves from start to finish.
Keep learning
Next useful concepts: bottlenecks, work in progress, lead time and continuous improvement.
