What is the Kanban Maturity Model?
The Kanban Maturity Model (KMM) is a framework designed to help organizations assess and improve their Kanban practices. It provides a structured approach to evolving from basic Kanban implementations to highly optimized systems that foster efficiency, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
KMM is organized into six levels of maturity, each representing a stage in the journey of Kanban adoption:
- Level 1: Initial - Organizations start with basic visual management and workflow visualization.
- Level 2: Managed - Focus shifts towards better management of flow, including Work In Progress (WIP) limits and more defined processes.
- Level 3: Defining - Teams begin to understand and define their systems, applying metrics for performance improvement.
- Level 4: Scaling - Adoption spreads across teams and departments, enabling broader collaboration and more complex workflows.
- Level 5: Optimizing - Continuous improvement practices are deeply embedded, driving innovation and adaptive capacities.
- Level 6: Innovating - At this level, organizations exhibit agility and resilience, continuously adapting and optimizing based on changing conditions.
By leveraging the Kanban Maturity Model, organizations can identify areas for enhancement, implement best practices, and drive their agile development efforts forward, ultimately resulting in improved software development efficiency and quality.