Essential Kanban Condensed

by David J. Anderson, Andy Carmichael

Kanban is a method of organizing and managing professional services work. It uses Lean concepts such as limiting work in progress to improve results. A Kanban system is a means of balancing the demand for work to be done with the available capacity to start new work. This book provides a distillation of the "essence" of what it is and how it can be used. This brief overview introduces all the principal concepts and guidelines in Kanban and points you to where you can find out more. Essential Kanban Condensed is a great resource to get started or continue exploring ideas for evolutionary change and improvement in business agility.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Technology, Computers

102 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David is an innovator in management thinking for 21st Century businesses. Author and pioneer of the Kanban Method he has more than 30 years’ experience working in the high-technology industry. David previously worked at IBM, Sprint, Motorola, and Microsoft where he developed the Kanban Method to greatly improving business outcomes on an enterprise-scale.

Originator of the Kanban Method, and co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model, the Fit-for-Purpose Framework, and Enterprise Services Planning. David is a global leader in management training and leadership development for professional services, and intangible goods industries.

He is the author of 7 leading books for modern business with the most renowned being published in 2010 “KANBAN: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business” which is in the top 5 best-selling Agile books of all time.

David also founded Kanban University, which includes over 400 accredited trainers and consultants. In addition, he created multiple global Kanban conferences and is the Chairman of the David J. Anderson School of Management which provides training in 21st-century business practices for enterprise agility, business resilience, and organizational maturity.

The group of companies founded by David is held within Mauvius Group Inc. This group of companies is focused on improving the quality of management, leadership, and decision making for 21st-century businesses.

Reviews

[DerMaddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very concise description of Kanban, what it does, and how to implement it.

[Andrew Ziegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been looking for a quick, easily digestible book about Kanban as good as Scrum for the Rest of Us is about Scrum. If you’re into Agility and are looking for an easy in road for yourself or a team for on demand scheduling mechanisms…this book is excellent.

[TruongSinh Tran-Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-organized and informative, but as the authors already warn, this book is condensed, dry and overwhelming. I cannot say I learn much from this book, but will have to read instead. I don't think this is a good introduction to Kanban as does for Scrum.

[Gemma O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short and to-the-point. However, as someone entirely new to Kanban, I found it too high-level. It is a good introduction to the main points of Kanban, and at the very least it has helped me to figure out what areas I need to explore further. One other book recommended to me was Kanban in Action, so I will likely read this next to get more detail on how Kanban actually works.
For me, this book is more of a refresher for those who are already familiar with Kanban, so would not recommend for a beginner.

[Nathalie Karasek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short and not enough practical for my taste.

[Tim Dellas · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does what it's supposed to do, summarize the minimal concepts, values, systems and metrics of Kanban, giving you a good glimpse of it before leading you to which books you should read next.

What I didn't like about Kanban:
- too many values that seem not sharp enough to be used in real work
- too much jargon that is too technical, too systems-thinking and too far from usable day-to-day speaking, which makes it hard to swallow and teach

What I liked:
- that we have meetings defined. Didn't know about this at all. Of course labelled with something that's too hard to remember, so I'll call them meetings.
- that its VERY adaptive

[Ahmad A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the essence of what Kanban really is with respect to its Values, Principles and Practices. I really liked it. The material goes until page 50 and after that it's followed by a short sections on further study materials, glossary, notes and references. I recommend it to people who want a starting point on Kanban before committing to reading longer, but still more thorough, works such as: "Making Work Visible" or "Kanban in Action".

[David Westerveld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously short and only an "appetite whetter," I feel like this book didn't quite get the balance right. It's hard to summarize a large topic in such a small book, but I think there was too much (for example) going into equations and other details that didn't need to be in a summary volume like this. I may dive into so of the resources mentioned though and there was some helpful stuff in here worth thinking about an perhaps putting into practice in my day to day work.

[Erkka Ryynänen · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion this was too technical for the purpose of getting quickly good understanding how and when to use Kanban. Instead of having long glossary, notes and references as well as explaining in some detail feedback loops, values, agendas and principles, the book would have benefitted from more practical approach and a collection of use cases.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um resumo muito bom do que é o método Kanban, seus valores, princípios e práticas. Apresenta uma seção com métricas muito legal e também um resumo de como implementar o Kanban usando o Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban. É um ótimo guia para introduzir o Kanban para seu time.

[Michael Haupt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent concise overview of Kanban, with a wealth of pointers to resources that go deeper. My recommendation for anyone interested in Kanban would be to start with this and then take deep dives following the pointers.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not nearly as detailed as Anderson's Kanban book, this small offering provides a quick high-level overview of Kanban and the values that drive it. It lacks the compelling, convincing stories of the larger books.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

good little reference on kanban, not ideal for people new but a good little book to point to on topics that are easier to identify than in the blue book. The book is also free and available online for those interested which is a big plus: https://kanbanbooks.com/free-kanban-b...

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, whenever you have previous knowledge, it's a good book for recalling concepts, as they are presented in a summarised, well structured and easy to read way. It is not suitable to be used as an introduction to the Kanban method by itself.

[Vassilena · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a nice quick read to refresh your memory, but you need to be familiar with Kanban already.

[Miguel Ocaña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es lo que promete, versión condensada, mejor si ya conoces algo de Kanban ya que no es para aprender, lo veo mejor como libro de consulta

[Irina Teteruk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laconic and covers all significant moments. The book is ideal for reading in a plane for a couple of hours.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most condensed version of Kanban, not speaking insights of KANBAN. Only shows the glossary and notes of its original 'Blue book'.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent coverage of basic/core Kanban principles, terminology, and guidelines.

[Alvaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short presentation of the system. Enough to understand the basics and discover how can apply for your work. I miss some examples to clarify.

[Philippe Aubrée · Rating 5 out of 5]

Très synthétique, un bon mini-livre qui peut servir de pointeur vers tous les sujets à aborder/apprendre sur Kanban.

[Gary Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essential first introduction to Kanban - where all people interested in Kanban should start. From here you can build out to other things, but start small, and get this first one done.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great initial read that outlines the fundamentals of Kanban.

[Jochen Deferme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good source of information, yet a bit too condensed

[Serge Huybrechts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good starter, but missing depth. Then again, it is condensed to 40-ish pages.

[Inna Ivanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book delivers the essence of the kanban improvement method. It is great for beginners and as an overview and quick summary. Perfect for the beginning or as a reminder.

[Oscar]

principal-dev

[Ingrid Sosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente aportación que funge como guía para la implementación de Kanban. Con un curso como base, éste libro representa lo mejor y los pasos a seguir para una buena implementación del método.

[Gaston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good to understand the values, principles and practices!

[Jack Vinson]

Looking forward to the final version (I read 0.93 draft) and the "full guide" that are to come out in 2016.

It was interesting reading this a few years after Kanban and then using the concepts and ideas in my own work. There is a lot more parallels in Theory of Constraints discussions of "flow" and similar focus on flow within Kanban.