[tanylak]

Originally Kanban was designed to visually track inventory. It is useful in that context because you could easily spot the items that need refilling.

I've been doing project management for a over a decade now and from my experience, and interviewing people, reading, I realized that people work best in lists. Top to bottom, most important tasks at the top, least important at the bottom. It helps us focus and get more done.

So that's the primary idea behind it.

[eyelidlessness]

Thanks for the response. I’m more confused than when I started.

You’re saying Kanban was designed to track inventory. I think that’s true but not completely accurate. It was designed to track work and inventory together.

> people work best in lists. Top to bottom, most important tasks at the top, least important at the bottom. It helps us focus and get more done.

I’m so confused! This is exactly what Kanban is supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be anything more than that, or less.

Where did the bad PM Jira you?

[tanylak]

Kanban is most often used for tracking inventory, so you can technically use it to track your tasks with it. It kinda gives you a big picture view. And one of the reasons why Kanban is effective in the inventory process is because it provides you a visual signal to replenish you inventory.

As a process for tracking work, it is lacking for a number of reasons. There is too much information on the board at any one time. It is too open, meaning, you can create as many columns as you need, which leads to unnecessary complexity.

Finally, the Kanban system works well for moving physical items (completed items) from one station to next. It is not used for changing states of items. We use it to change state on incomplete tasks (i.e from Blocked to Todo to Inprogress), which not what Kanban is for.