Managing Projects with Kanban: Pull-Based Planning

Managing projects with kanban: plan scope as options, pull work under WIP limits, and forecast delivery from throughput instead of fixed sprint plans.

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At a Glance

Overview

Managing projects with kanban applies the method's pull system to work that has a goal and an end. Instead of fixing a detailed plan up front and tracking deviations from it, the team breaks the project into items, keeps them as prioritized options, pulls them into progress only as capacity frees up, and forecasts completion from how fast items actually finish. This pull-based project management approach suits projects where scope will be learned along the way. The Kanban method page explains the principles behind it.

Kanban for project management relies on a few concepts from the Kanban Method. Kanban University's guide separates options, the ideas and requests that "may have value," from committed work, and calls the point where the team decides to deliver an item the commitment point (Official Guide to The Kanban Method). It notes that vetting options against capacity often means discarding many of them before delivery, which keeps the team on the most valuable requests. For a project, the options list is the scope you might do; the committed items are the scope in progress.

Kanban project planning also changes how dates are set. The Kanban Guide asks for a service level expectation, a forecast of how long an item should take stated with a probability and based on historical cycle time (The Kanban Guide). For a whole project, the team uses its throughput history to forecast how many items it can finish by a date, or when a given number of items will be done. The forecast updates as the project runs, so stakeholders see a moving estimate grounded in data.

David J. Anderson separates two commitments that projects often merge: committing to do a piece of work and committing to a delivery date. He argues that decoupling them lets teams manage customer expectations better (Anderson, Kanban Cadences). In a project, replenishment decides what to start, and delivery planning decides what to release and when.

This skill fits projects with a small, stable team and scope that can be broken into items that deliver value on their own. Large programs spanning many teams need boards at several levels, such as those in the Flight Levels model.

How It Works

The project starts as a set of options. The team breaks the goal into items small enough to finish in days and that can be tested or delivered independently. They go on the left of the board, ordered by value and risk. Nothing is committed yet, which leaves room to drop or reshape options as the team learns.

Items cross the commitment point through replenishment. At a regular replenishment meeting, the team and the project sponsor choose the next items from the options, limited by open slots under the WIP limits. Pull policies define what an item needs before it may be committed, such as acceptance criteria and resolved dependencies. This keeps the flow into the project steady and matched to capacity.

WIP limits keep the project from spreading effort too thin. Little's Law, proved by John Little, shows that the average number of items in a system equals the arrival rate multiplied by the average time in the system (Little, Little's Law at 50). For a project team with steady throughput, starting more items at once lengthens the time each takes and delays the first useful deliveries.

Forecasting uses the team's own history. Once a few weeks of throughput data exist, the team can estimate a range for how many items will finish per week and project that onto the remaining options. Methods range from a simple range projection to Monte Carlo simulation over past throughput; Daniel Vacanti's Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability covers forecasting with flow metrics. The forecast is a range with a probability, updated every week.

Milestones and deadlines are handled as policy. Items with a real fixed date get a fixed-date class of service, one of the four archetypes Kanban University describes, and are pulled early enough to meet it. Dependencies on other teams are shown on the card and tracked in a blocked state so their cost is visible.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Define the goal and decompose the scope

Write the project goal and the conditions for calling it done. Break the scope into items that can each be finished and checked within days. Aim for items that deliver something usable or testable on their own. Put all of them in the options column, unordered for now.

Step 2: Map the workflow into columns

List the stages every item goes through, from commitment to delivery, and create a column for each, with queue columns where work waits. Mark the commitment point and the delivery point. The kanban board design skill covers this in detail.

Step 3: Set initial WIP limits

Choose limits for the active columns based on the team's size and how work is shared. Agree on what people do when a column is full. Write down how urgent or fixed-date items may be handled.

Step 4: Write pull policies

Define entry and exit criteria for each column, especially the commitment point. Include the checks that matter for the project, such as sign-off by the sponsor or a completed security review. Post them next to the board.

Step 5: Order the options

With the sponsor, order the options by value, risk and dependencies. Put risky items early so problems appear while there is time to respond. Keep the ordering visible and revisit it at each replenishment.

Step 6: Start pulling and record dates

Commit the first items through replenishment and start work. Record the start and finish date of every item from day one. Hold a short daily Kanban meeting at the board and focus on blocked and aging items.

Step 7: Hold replenishment and delivery planning

Meet regularly to choose the next items from the ordered options, limited by open slots. Plan releases separately, deciding which finished items ship together and when. Tell stakeholders what was committed and what was deferred.

Step 8: Forecast from throughput and adjust

After a few weeks, compute throughput per week and forecast when the remaining options will finish, as a range. Share the forecast with the sponsor and decide together whether to cut scope, change priorities or accept the date. Update the forecast every week and review flow in a retrospective.

Best Practices

• Keep scope as options until you commit. Kanban University describes vetting options against capacity and discarding many before delivery, which protects the project from low-value work.
• Split work into small, independent items. Small items flow faster, make throughput more stable and make forecasts more useful.
• Forecast with ranges. A range with a probability is honest about uncertainty and updates as the project runs.
• Separate starting from delivering. Anderson recommends decoupling commitment to do work from commitment to a delivery date.
• Put risky items early. Early items reveal problems while there is still time to change course.
• Keep one board for the project team. Several boards for one small team hide the true amount of work in progress.

Common Mistakes

• Loading every item into progress at once: Starting everything spreads effort and delays all of it. Pull under WIP limits and finish before starting.
• Promising a single date on day one: Early dates are guesses. Give a range once you have throughput data and update it as the project runs.
• Items too large to flow: Items that take weeks block columns and make throughput lumpy. Split them until each can finish within days.
• Hiding dependencies: Items waiting on other teams look like slow work. Mark them blocked and track how long they wait.
• Using the board as a Gantt chart: Assigning every item to a person and date in advance turns pull back into push. Let people pull the next item when they have capacity.

References

• Examples: Worked examples and scenarios
• FAQ: Frequently asked questions
• Parent Method: Kanban

Related Skills

• Designing Kanban Boards
• Setting WIP Limits
• Creating Kanban Pull Policies
• Measuring Kanban Flow Metrics
• Running Kanban Cadences
• Comparing Kanban and Scrum
• Choosing Kanban Software

Sources

• The Official Guide to The Kanban Method (PDF)
• The Kanban Guide
• David J. Anderson: Kanban Cadences
• John D. C. Little: Little's Law as Viewed on Its 50th Anniversary
• Daniel S. Vacanti: Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability
• Flight Levels

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