Agile Project Management with Kanban by Eric Brechner

(or how to stop drowning in tasks and finally start delivering on time)

The main idea of the book:

Kanban isn’t just another Agile buzzword — it’s a practical tool. It helps you see the entire project at a glance, remove chaos, and finally breathe. Especially the day before a release.

“Kanban isn’t a magic bullet. It won’t fix every problem. What it can do is simplify our project management; reduce time lost to meetings, bottlenecks, and rework; better govern our product quality; and make our throughput of customer value smoother, faster, and more predictable.”
— Eric Brechner

What to take away from this book:

Make your work visible

Stop managing tasks in your head or burying them in email. A simple Kanban board with columns like “To Do”, “In Progress”, and “Done” turns the fog into a clear picture. Everyone can see who’s doing what — and where things are stuck.

Don’t try to do everything at once

Limit the number of tasks in progress. WIP (Work In Progress) limits are real magic: fewer parallel tasks → more focus → faster delivery. It may feel strange at first — but you’ll never want to go back.

Personally, I’d go even further — no more than 1–2 active tasks per person. That’s the sweet spot where quality meets sanity.

Improve as you go

One board and a weekly call isn’t enough. Kanban lives when you actively tweak it. Notice what’s slowing you down — and fix it. Brechner reminds you of this throughout the book.

Don’t break what’s already working

You don’t need to tear down everything. Kanban works by layering over your current process. No revolutions — just smooth evolution. The team barely notices the shift, but they’ll feel the difference.

What Brechner offers is practice, not theory:

Set up a board. Physically, or in Trello, or in Jira. Just make sure it’s alive.
Add WIP limits — say, max 4 tasks “In Progress”.
Run quick daily standups — not just for show, but to balance the flow.
Watch for blocked tasks. No movement? Something’s wrong.
Define what “Done” means — and stick to it.

More useful insights from Brechner:

Metrics without madness
Brechner emphasizes tracking flow metrics, but without obsession:

Cycle time (how long a task takes from start to done),
Throughput (how many tasks you complete weekly),
Work in progress (to avoid overload).

These straightforward metrics quickly reveal bottlenecks without complicated dashboards.

Kanban shapes your thinking
Kanban is less about boards and more about mindset. Seeing all tasks visually prompts teams to ask:

Why is this stuck?
Do we really need this?
Can we simplify this step?

Natural improvements follow — without agile dogma.

Roles and interactions in Kanban
Brechner explains that Kanban doesn’t require Scrum Masters or Product Owners. The entire team owns the workflow. He stresses visual discipline: if the board isn’t updated, you’re not really using Kanban.

Personal Kanban for individual productivity
A great insight often overlooked: Brechner uses Kanban personally — for daily planning and focus. A simple personal Kanban (sticky notes or apps) prevents overload and helps finish tasks consistently.

Forecasting with a simple formula
Brechner provides a simple formula based on Little’s Law to estimate task completion:

Duration ≈ Work in System ÷ Throughput

Brechner offers two straightforward yet powerful metrics to help you realistically forecast delivery timelines and manage stakeholder expectations:

Task Completion Rate (TCR) – measures how many tasks your team completes on average within a given time frame (for example, weekly). It’s calculated simply as: TCR = Time period / Number of tasks completed
Task Add Rate (TAR) – shows how many new tasks are added into your backlog during the same period: TAR = Time period / Number of tasks added

If your TCR consistently exceeds your TAR, your team is on track—tasks are steadily being completed, and you’re likely to meet your deadlines comfortably. But if your TAR consistently surpasses your TCR, tasks will pile up, indicating it’s time to adjust workloads or reset expectations.

Tracking these metrics allows you to base your project forecasts on reality, rather than guesswork.

Smooth transition from Waterfall and Scrum
The book covers smooth transitions:

From Waterfall: introduce boards, WIP limits, and clear rules for completion;
From Scrum: reduce rigid sprints, retrospectives, and plannings, replacing them with daily visual control and flexibility.

Dealing with dependencies and tech debt
Brechner is practical about handling dependencies and technical debt:

Track technical debt openly in your backlog,
Clearly prioritize dependencies,
Keep working despite dependencies using dedicated “track columns”.

A clear roadmap for Kanban implementation
The book offers a step-by-step guide:

Prepare your Kanban board,
Train your team,
Set up WIP limits,
Even includes advice on selling Kanban internally with example emails.

Pitfalls and risks when adopting Kanban
Brechner openly addresses common risks when changing processes and how to mitigate them:

Risk	How to reduce it
Initial team chaos	Start Kanban at the beginning of a phase/project
Resistance from individuals	Agree on a two-month trial period
Lack of experience	Provide training and mentorship
Temporary productivity drop	Lower initial expectations
Conflicts with current tools	Assign someone responsible for tool synchronization

He emphasizes: even if there’s an initial dip, productivity typically surpasses the previous level after a few months.

Personal Kanban: productivity without stress
Brechner details how Personal Kanban helps freelancers, students, managers, and busy individuals:

Simple three-column board: Backlog, Doing, Done,
Strict personal WIP limit (e.g., max 3 tasks),
A “Next” column reduces anxiety by clarifying upcoming tasks.

“Personal Kanban keeps your to-do list organized… and offers that satisfying feeling of moving items to the Done column.”

Continuous improvement (Kaizen)
The book outlines embedding Kaizen into your team culture:

Analyze problems using the “5 Whys” or Six Boxes framework,
Every problem is a chance to improve, not panic,
Log improvements alongside regular tasks on your backlog.

Kanban at scale (Microsoft’s experience)
Brechner shares practical experience implementing Kanban at Xbox and other Microsoft teams:

No need to abandon tools like JIRA or TFS,
You can print task cards from tracking systems, if needed,
The main point: teams live on the board, not the tools.

“Any tool must make your life easier and more efficient, or why bother using it?”