How to Improve Complex and Creative Knowledge Work in 21st Century Organizations with Kanban

G Abella, S Arvizu Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal 2019

How can teams better produce complex and creative knowledge work in today’s competitive and fast-moving business environment? How can team coaches and organizational design practitioners equip teams to consistently produce high value for their stakeholders, given the social and technical factors associated with sophisticated knowledge work production? As researchers and team performance coaches, we see an urgent need to offer interventions that account for the demand placed on teams, the cognitive load and capacity of teams, and the emergent and unpredictable nature of knowledge work. In this position paper, we build upon existing team performance research by introducing the Kanban Method to improve the system of work. We outline the Agendas, Principles, and Practices of Kanban, as well as share resources for practitioners to learn more, so that we can all help teams reliably and consistently accomplish goals in today’s business environment.