Organizing a STATIK session to Kanbanize Value Streams

In work environments, teams face constant pressure to deliver value quickly while maintaining high quality. This is where Kanban proves invaluable. As a visual management tool, Kanban helps teams optimize workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and create smoother, more predictable processes. It’s not just about managing tasks—Kanban focuses on continuously improving efficiency, increasing transparency, and providing a clearer understanding of team capacity and work progress.

However, introducing such a framework can often feel daunting without a structured approach. This is where STATIK(System Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban) comes into play. Designed to help teams understand their current processes and make informed decisions about how to introduce or improve Kanban, STATIK offers a repeatable and human-centered method to create meaningful improvements in how work gets done.

STATIK is an iterative approach that helps teams understand their existing processes. It’s often described as a repeatable (and human) way to start using Kanban or to improve an existing Kanban implementation. The full form, “System Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban,” can be translated as “A Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban.” Despite Kanban being part of the name, this technique can be applied even if you are using another methodology (e.g., Scrum).

The term “iterative,” as mentioned in the introductory sentence, refers to its repeatable nature. You can periodically review the status to make adjustments accordingly.

STATIK is a powerful tool for exploring all the services a team offers, their workflows, and how well they align with their goals and customer expectations. By employing a systems thinking approach, teams are encouraged to view their processes holistically with the aim of improving the flow of value delivered to customers.

Kanban practices address the “how” of the work, but without a clear “why,” they can feel aimless. STATIK helps discover this “why.” We ask ourselves, “Why should we implement Kanban?” while simultaneously aiming to gain a shared understanding of the processes we will later map to a Kanban board.