Kanban After 12 Months Of Interrupt-Driven Work
One year after replacing sprints, our platform team kept the limits and lost the theatre. On 19 August 2025, we deleted the remaining two-week sprint from our platform board while seven tickets were still marked “in progress.” Two were waiting on product teams, one was a certificate renewal nobody had planned, and one was a fairly ordinary Terraform change that had somehow acquired four…
After a year of adopting the Kanban method, the platform team found that limiting work in progress and introducing an expedite lane helped expose hidden work. The team moved away from sprint-based planning, which often became disrupted by incidents and deadlines. The Kanban board demonstrated that the team was dealing with unplanned tasks alongside planned work, revealing a ratio that looked bad but was expected.
They set a limit of eight active standard tickets, with one expedite slot. The team also began categorizing work as "fixed date" or "regular," distinguishing between work dictated by external factors and internal priorities. Initially, the board had three columns: Ready, Doing, and Done. However, a second column called 'Blocked' was added soon after, as it became clear that work in the Doing column was often incomplete.
The team started asking different questions, such as what could be completed before taking on new tasks. This shift led to a reduction in daily stand-up time and a focus on finishing work before taking on new tasks. Throughput averaged 14 completed standard tickets every two weeks, although this number varied. The team learned that having more work in progress generally led to longer completion times, assuming the system was stable.
Engineering managers were instructed not to insert work directly into the Doing column but could request expedite items. Blocked tickets now required a reason, the party waiting, and a follow-up date. The team found that blocked work became more visible and created a sense of accountability.
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