Kanban
A workflow management method that visualizes work on a board with columns representing stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress, In Review, Testing, Done), using work-in-progress limits to optimize flow and prevent bottlenecks.
Kanban focuses on continuous flow rather than fixed-length iterations. Work items move across the board from left to right as they progress through stages. The key principle is limiting work-in-progress (WIP): each column has a maximum number of items allowed at any time. When a column is at its WIP limit, upstream work must wait, making bottlenecks visible and encouraging the team to resolve them.
For QA teams, Kanban makes testing throughput visible. If items pile up in the 'Testing' column while the 'In Progress' column is empty, it signals that the team needs to help clear the testing bottleneck rather than starting new work.
Why It Matters for QA Teams
Kanban makes the QA testing queue visible to the entire team. WIP limits prevent developers from flooding the testing column with more work than QA can handle, promoting sustainable quality.
Example
A Kanban board has columns: Backlog, Development (WIP: 4), Code Review (WIP: 2), QA Testing (WIP: 3), and Done. When three items are in QA Testing and a developer finishes a fourth, they cannot push it to QA. Instead, they help review or test existing items, preventing a testing bottleneck and encouraging shared ownership of quality.