The Kanban team members

I have previously written about how the Kanban methodology is based on the lean methodology.

Now I would like to talk about the Kanban team members and their responsibilities.

The Agile methodology was initially created to help develop and implement software applications faster and more efficiently. Though this methodology is being used in other industries today, it might be too rigid for some organizations.

It was based on the need for a more flexible methodology that incorporates the principles of the Agile methodology, that led to the creation of the Kanban methodology.

The Kanban methodology is a visual system used in managing work as it moves through a process. The process that is used helps support the creation a faster and more efficient solution.

The Kanban team is composed of a group of cross-functional team members that work together to produce a working solution.

The team is usually composed of stakeholders from both the technical and business units in the organization.

The team should be made up of knowledgeable people who have the necessary competencies, both technical (e.g. programming, designing, testing) and business (e.g. domain knowledge, decision making ability).

The Kanban team helps organize their work with the help of a Kanban board. This is an example of a kanban board :

The Kanban board is used to organize work. The board is used because of it numerous advantages which include the following :

1. Work Visibility: the kanban board is used to show what every team member is working. When the user stories are written they are put in the backlog lane and then they are moved to active lane when the team is ready to work on them. The work to be performed is timeboxed into 2 weeks timeframes that are called sprints.
2. Work Prioritization: the user stories are prioritized and assigned to the team members based on some predetermined factors. The kanban board helps improve efficiency because It shows at a glance what each team member is working on and prevents the assignment of too much work in a given sprint.
3. Quality Control: the quality assurance lane is used to ensure that the performed work fulfills the stated acceptance criteria and is error free.
4. Continuous Improvement : the basic principles of kanban is based on continuous improvement. The kanban board helps the team adapt and grow as they get more information and the solution evolves. This can lead to the creation of more user stories and thereby more work; but it is better to improve the solution as it evolves rather than ignore the additional information and increase the solution’s risks.
5. Demo: the demo lane is used to show the team the work that was performed on the user story. It helps the team share a common understanding of the performed work and why it was done.
6. Forecasting and planning: the kanban board helps with forecasting and planning because the team can use their past experience to forecast and plan for future work.

Now that we have reviewed the advantages of using the kanban board, let us take a look at the kanban team members and their responsibilities.

1. The Product Owner : the product owner is usually a subject matter expert, who is knowledgeable on the business domain. Some of the responsibilities of the product owner include the following :
   • Acts as the customer.
   • Owns and manages the user story backlog.
   • Defines and accepts new requirements.
   • Prioritizes the user stories.
2. The Team Member : the team member is any member of the kanban team who is assigned work. Some of the responsibilities of the team member include the following :
   • Creates user stories.
   • Clarifies user stories.
   • Implements the user stories.
   • User story estimation.
   • Demonstrates the user stories.
3. The Scrum Master : the scrum master is a kanban team member who is responsible for supporting the team members, the team activities and the kanban board. Some of the responsibilities of the scrum master include the following :
   • Facilitates the scrum events.
   • Ensures that the team follows the Agile principles and practices.
   • Ensures that the team does not over-commit and underdeliver.
   • Maintains and reviews the kanban board metrics.
   • Removes obstacles and barriers to the team’s success.
   • Acts as a liaison to the other stakeholders to prevent them from directly talking to the kanban team members.
   • Ensures that the Product Owner has enough information to perform the user story prioritization.