Kanban

Kanban is a visual workflow management method originally developed in Japan for manufacturing but now used widely in various business sectors, including data analytics. Picture a large whiteboard with sticky notes arranged in columns, each note representing a task and each column representing a different stage of the work process. That’s a Kanban board, and it helps teams visualize their work, limit the amount of work in process, and maximize efficiency.

In the context of business intelligence, Kanban can organize the flow of data projects from the initial data gathering, through analysis, all the way to reporting. Each task moves from one column to the next, like “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done,” making it easy to see what’s being worked on and what’s coming up next. This visibility helps teams stay on the same page and can highlight bottlenecks where work is piling up, allowing for quick adjustments.

Kanban fits well with agile and lean methodologies, emphasizing continuous improvement and just-in-time production, which means finishing work only as it’s needed. For data teams, this can lead to more responsive and adaptive project management, as they can adjust their priorities based on new data or insights, keeping their work aligned with the company’s current needs.