A while ago on this list Karl Scotland and I posted our independent thoughts on
what we thought was the minimum requirements for implementing the Kanban
approach. We agreed 100%

1. Visualize the workflow
2. Limit Work-in-progress
3. A capability at configuration management to enable iterationless devlopment /
decoupled cadences

Later Henrik Kniberg published his definition of Kanban that later appeared in
the Scrum and Kanban book

1. Visualize the workflow
2. Limit Work-in-progress
3. Measure and Optimize Flow

While writing my manuscript, I thought harder about this and expanded the list
to include all the common attributes of the successful implementations around
the world that I knew of at the time of writing.

1. Visualize the workflow
2. Limit Work-in-progress
3. Measure and Manage Flow
4. Make Process Policies Explicit
5. Use Models to Suggest Improvement Opportunities

This list of 5 core practices used in organizations with successful Kanban
implementations gives us a definition for how to implement the Kanban Method.

Nowhere on this list is a process definition for managing projects or developing
software.

When we talk about Kanban, we need to keep the basics in mind. Whenever you find
yourself talking about or posting on Kanban, can you show how usage of the term
relates to these basic principles?

Looking back over several of the recent threads on this list, would the thread
of discussion be greatly changed if we reconsidered them in light of the basics
of Kanban?

David
http://djandersonassociates.com/
Author of "Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business"