Kanban for Validated Learning

Kanban is a lean manufacturing technique that can be adapted for use in startups. It is a way to manage the flow of work and ensure that the team is focused on the right things.

In a traditional Kanban system, there are a series of buckets that represent the different stages of the production process. As work flows from one stage to the next, the buckets fill up. Once a bucket is full, it cannot accept any more work until some of the work in that bucket is completed.

In a startup, the Kanban system can be adapted to manage the flow of user stories. The user stories can be in one of four states:

1. Product backlog: The user stories that have not yet been started.
2. Actively being built: The user stories that are currently being worked on.
3. Done: The user stories that are feature-complete from a technical point of view.
4. Validated: The user stories that have been validated through a process of validated learning.

The Kanban rule permits only so many stories in each of the four states. This helps to ensure that the team is focused on validating its learning, not just on building features.

A user story is not considered complete until it has been validated. This means that the team needs to know whether the story was a good idea in the first place. This validation usually comes in the form of a split test showing a change in customer behavior, but it could also include customer interviews or surveys.

By using a Kanban system, a startup can ensure that it is focused on the right things. It can also help to improve the team's productivity by measuring it in terms of validated learning, not just in terms of the production of new features.