Using a Kanban board per developer [closed]

Question

I have been trying to get our software department to adopt some kind development process methodolgy. We only have 9 developers, and about as many projects. Currently, we can only be described as chaotic. Or perhaps 'crisis driven development' as I've seen another SO user call it.

Using Kanban seems like a it could be a good fit for us. So I've discussed it with everyone else, everyone thought it sounded good. But when we discussed how the board(s) should be arranged, everyone wanted to do one board per person.

Now, I've never tried Kanban, or any methodology really, but it feels like having each person managed on their own board would negate the benefits a Kanban process is supposed to provide. This notion makes me sad, and want to say 'ho-hum let's scrap this whole idea.'

Do you think implementing a Kanban board per developer can be worthwhile?

Answer 1

If you must have a multitude of boards, wouldn't it be better to have a board per project rather than a board per developer ? Maybe in time some natural groupings of projects (and therefore consolidation of boards) will emerge, maybe not.

One purpose of the boards is to serve as "information radiators". A large number of project boards progressing at a snail's pace broadcasts the message "we are seriously overloaded" and/or "someone needs to set some priorities". A large number of per-developer boards just radiates the message "we don't do teamwork around here".

Answer 2

Kanban is actually as system for restricting flow through a system, which is why we have WIP (Work In Progress) limits on kanban boards, and as a person can do only one job at once I don't think this could work.

Having one board per developer really doesn't give any advantages (And I'd argue it's not really kanban). One board per project is a better idea.

Then if another developer joins in for some tasks you can still see the overall progress of the project.