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The key differences between the Kanban system and traditional project management methods lie in their approach to workflow and productivity. The Kanban system, invented by Taiichi Ohno for Toyota, uses visual cues (sign cards on a signboard) to indicate the stage of a task and prompt the next actions in a process workflow. It is designed to produce only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing waste. Traditional project management methods, on the other hand, often involve detailed upfront planning and a linear approach to task completion, which may not be as flexible or responsive to changes in demand or capacity.
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Need a simple but effective workflow to manage projects? Use our Kanban Board Spreadsheet to visually track and organize a project's most important ta...
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Ohno's Kanban system uses signs cards on a signboard to visually show what stage a task is in, and prompt viewers on which actions to take next in a process workflow. In Ohno's own words, the system was designed, "to produce only what is needed, when it is needed and in the amount needed." Ohno invented this system at the behest of Toyota CEO Kiichiro Toyoda, who wanted Toyota to compete with the productivity of American car companies in under three years. However, the company was in such rough shape they couldn't even hire any new employees. They didn't have the equipment Americans had, and couldn't hire new people, so they had to develop an internal system to increase their productivity.
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If you are in the business of project management, an agile approach is the way to go. Use our Kanban presentation to motivate your team for collaboration, optimize project delivery speed and improve responses to fast-paced market trends.
Productivity a problem? Use our To Do List Spreadsheet collection for a series of to-do lists and dashboards to manage projects across weekly, monthly, or subtask views. Manage personal to-dos by type, status, and due date. Track progress across individual tasks with a status to-do list. Since the most important element of any to-do list is to prioritize tasks, the Priority list divides to-dos by their importance. To track daily task accomplishments, use the daily log that accumulates progress toward daily, weekly, or monthly frequency goals.
Need to fix a broken sales team? Manage lead funnels and visualize sales pipelines with a kanban board visualization and sales dashboard to track top KPIs. The pipelines are fully customizable to any sales workflow specifications, and this sheet can be used by sales teams, individual reps, or sales managers who collect and track everyone's data all in one place. When everyone has visibility into an up-to-date sales funnel, estimated revenues are more accurate, managers can better plan ahead, and reps can better manage their funnels to win more deals.
Have you ever wondered if effort or time is being wasted on outdated processes? Are you struggling to balance production demand with clunky workflows that slow down your team? Our Process Optimization framework includes the top tools every business needs to optimize its workflows.
Need a fast way to increase productivity? Our Kanban presentation collection provides customizable resource slides to simplify project management. It includes slides for Kanban templates, Features backlogs, work-in-progress limits, lead times, Kanban graphs, plus many more.
Taiichi Ohno, the inventor of the Toyota Production System and author of the book by the same name, offers readers lessons in thinking. Readers will learn more about the thought processes than the actual production steps, but that is the point. By learning how to think and analyze, readers will be able to design more efficient processes specific to their product or service.
Need to track bugs and new features to implement? Use our Issue Tracker to plan, assign, manage, report, and track the progress of multiple issues. An issue list compiles all open tasks, which are then visualized via kanban, dashboard, and Gantt chart views. Issue types are color-coded and fully customizable to track the most important recurring issue areas. These issues could be new features to develop, bugs to be resolved, recurring tasks or user experience overhauls.
Need to complete projects on time, every time? Use our Project Plan spreadsheet to triage tasks, define risks, and manage timelines with kanban or agile visualizations. Define the scope of a project with a project charter and list important team members with a stakeholder register.