Operation Review in Kanban

While many are familiar with Kanban boards, fewer are acquainted with meetings centered around the management of pulled flow, such as the Operation Review. Indeed, the concept of flow management demands a certain level of organization around it.

In Kanban, we refer to these meetings as Kanban cadences, and there are seven of them. Other cadences that have been explained include Replenishment Meeting and Standup Meeting.

Operation Review: An Overview

The Operation Review is a meeting designed to provide an overview of the results of each Kanban team and the organization as a whole. This event can be seen as a cadence for Kanban at the organizational level, with the primary goal being to achieve complete transparency throughout the organization.

Format of the Kanban Cadence

To begin, this Kanban cadence is implemented monthly and lasts for a duration of 2 hours. The participants in this meeting include:

• Service Delivery representatives from each Kanban team
• Service Request Managers from each Kanban team
• Top management
• Middle managers
• Senior Business Owners or key users

During this meeting, participants start by sharing relevant information for the teams. They collaborate on:

1. Results of the service delivery review (another Kanban cadence) for each Kanban team.
2. Performance results of the company provided during the strategy review (another Kanban cadence).
3. Any organization-level change initiatives arising from the risk review (another Kanban cadence).

Once this comprehensive sharing is done, all participants collectively examine the demands of the Kanban teams to determine how to address them. This is also the Kanban cadence that addresses:

• Potential dependencies between certain Kanban teams and their effects.
• Potentially underutilized capacities.

Participants in this Kanban cadence must report the results of this meeting to the service delivery review, strategy review, and risk review meetings.

Conclusion: Operation Review

If you were not aware, now you know that there are recommended ceremonies in Kanban. The management of pulled flow requires a high level of organization.

In conclusion, do not hesitate to implement Kanban cadences if you aim to engage in advanced Kanban practices. Of course, we will soon explore the other Kanban cadences.