About Kanban Board Simulator

Simulate kanban board workflows with columns, card movement, and WIP limits. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Diagrams & Workflows collection.

Use Cases

• Model a software development kanban workflow to understand how WIP limits affect throughput.
• Simulate a support ticket board with SLA-based prioritization and escalation lanes.
• Practice kanban board design before rolling out a new workflow to a team.
• Demonstrate Little's Law (Throughput = WIP / Cycle Time) interactively with a simulated board.

Tips

• Set WIP (work-in-progress) limits per column to surface bottlenecks — if a column consistently hits its limit, that's where your workflow is constrained.
• Use swim lanes to separate work by team, priority, or type within the same board without creating a separate board.
• Track cycle time (time a card spends in progress) alongside WIP to identify which card types take disproportionate effort.

Fun Facts

• Kanban originated in Toyota's production system in the 1940s, developed by Taiichi Ohno. The word means 'visual card' or 'signboard' in Japanese — physical cards were used to signal production authorization.
• Software kanban was first introduced by David Anderson in 2007 at Corbis (a Microsoft subsidiary), adapting the physical manufacturing method for knowledge work and software development.
• Research published in 2019 found that teams using explicit WIP limits resolve bottlenecks 34% faster than teams with unlimited WIP, because constraint visibility forces prioritization decisions.

FAQ

What's a WIP limit and why does it matter?

A WIP limit caps the number of cards allowed in a column at one time. Hitting the limit forces the team to finish existing work before starting new work — preventing the accumulation of half-done tasks.

How is kanban different from scrum?

Scrum uses fixed-length sprints and role definitions (Scrum Master, Product Owner). Kanban is continuous flow with no sprints — work enters and exits based on capacity, not sprint planning cycles.

Does it support cycle time tracking?

Yes — cards show the time spent in each column. Aggregate cycle time statistics (P50, P90) are shown per card type to identify outliers and predict future delivery times.