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Kanban

What is Kanban?<br>

Kanban is an agile methodology that originated in the Toyota production system in Japan during the 1940s.

The word “kanban” in Japanese means “visual card” or “signal”, and this methodology is based on the use of cards or boards to visualize the workflow and manage the tasks of a project efficiently.

Its main objective is to improve productivity by limiting the amount of work in process (WIP) and allowing for a continuous and smooth delivery of tasks.

Unlike other agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban doesn’t establish specific roles or fixed work cycles.

Instead, it focuses on visualizing workflow and identifying and removing bottlenecks to improve team efficiency.

Fundamental principles of Kanban

Kanban is based on a number of principles and practices that guide its implementation.

These principles are key to understanding how this methodology can transform project management in marketing:

Visualization of the work:

The first step in Kanban is to create a visual board where all the tasks are represented.

These tasks are divided into columns that reflect their current status, such as “To Do”, “In Progress” and “Completed”.

This visualization allows all team members to see at a glance what they are working on, which facilitates coordination and communication.

Work-in-process (WIP) limitation:

One of the most important aspects of Kanban is the limitation of the number of tasks that can be in process simultaneously.

This prevents teams from being overloaded with too many tasks and ensures that each task is completed before the next one is started.

By limiting WIP (Work In Progress), cycle time is reduced and the quality of work is improved.

Flow Management:

Kanban focuses on managing the flow of work on a continuous basis.

This involves constantly reviewing how tasks are progressing across the board and making adjustments when bottlenecks or blockages are identified.

The goal is to achieve a continuous and predictable workflow, resulting in faster and more reliable delivery of projects.

Continuous improvement:

The Kanban methodology fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

Teams should regularly review their workflow, identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to optimize their performance.

This constant improvement mindset is crucial to stay competitive in an ever-changing marketing environment.

Kanban in marketing: how can it benefit your team?

Adopting Kanban in marketing can have a significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of teams.

By enabling more visibility of work, better flow management and a focus on continuous improvement, Kanban can help marketing teams deliver higher quality projects in less time.

For example, in a marketing team managing multiple campaigns simultaneously, using Kanban can help organize tasks related to each campaign.

And thus ensure that each one progresses smoothly.

In addition, by limiting work in progress, teams can avoid the negative effects of multi-tasking, which often leads to errors and delays.

Another advantage of Kanban is its flexibility.

Unlike other agile methodologies that require detailed planning at the beginning of each sprint, Kanban allows the addition of new tasks and priorities at any time.

This is especially useful in marketing, where customer or market needs can change rapidly, and teams must be able to adapt without missing a beat.

Implementing Kanban in a Marketing Team

Implementing Kanban in a marketing team doesn’t require a radical transformation.

This makes it ideal for teams looking to improve their efficiency without significant disruption to their current processes.

Below we look at the basic steps for implementing Kanban in a marketing environment:

Create the Kanban board:

The first step is to design the Kanban board, which can be physical (e.g., a whiteboard with post-its) or digital (using tools such as Trello, Asana or Jira).

The basic columns are usually “To Do”, “In Process” and “Completed”, but more columns can be added according to the team’s needs, such as “Review” or “Customer Approval”.

Define WIP limits:

It is important to set clear limits for the number of tasks that can be in each “In Process” column.

These limits should be discussed and agreed upon by the entire team, and can be adjusted over time as the team becomes more familiar with the workflow.

Assign tasks and review the flow:

Once the dashboard is set up, you can assign tasks to team members and begin to analyze the workflow.

Regular reviews are critical to identify potential roadblocks or bottlenecks and make adjustments as needed.

Encourage continuous improvement:

Kanban implementation is not a one-time process.

Teams need to commit to continuous review and improvement of their workflow.

This can be done by holding retrospective meetings to discuss what worked well and what could be improved.

Kanban and email marketing

While Kanban is a widely used methodology in project management in general, it can also be particularly useful in the email marketing arena.

Email marketing campaigns often involve multiple tasks, such as creating content, segmenting lists, scheduling mailings and analyzing results.

Kanban can help organize and manage these tasks more efficiently.

For example, an email marketing team could use a Kanban board to plan and execute an email campaign.

Tasks could be divided into columns such as “Content Writing,” “Template Design,” “List Segmentation,” “A/B Testing,” and “Mailing Scheduling.”

By limiting the tasks in progress in each column, the team can ensure that each task is completed thoroughly before moving on to the next one, resulting in a higher quality and more effective campaign.

In addition, visualizing the work on a Kanban board allows the entire team to see the progress of the campaign in real time, facilitating collaboration and coordination between different team members.

This is especially useful in complex campaigns involving multiple departments or stakeholders.

Conclusion

In summary, Kanban is an agile methodology that offers a flexible and effective way to manage projects, especially in marketing.

Its focus on work visualization, work-in-process limitation, flow management and continuous improvement can help marketing teams improve their productivity and efficiency.

In addition, its application in specific areas such as email marketing demonstrates its versatility and usefulness in a variety of contexts.