7.5Implementing Kanban for QA

Step 1: Design Your Board

Start with a simple board and add columns as needed:

Basic:     To Do → In Progress → Done
Better:    To Do → In Progress → In Review → Testing → Done
Best:      Backlog → Ready → In Dev → Code Review → QA Testing → Staging → Done

Step 2: Set WIP Limits

Start with generous limits and tighten over time:

Column	Starting WIP	Mature WIP
In Progress	Team size	Team size / 2
In Review	3	2
Testing	4	2-3

Step 3: Measure Lead Time

Track how long items take from start to finish. Look for:

• Items that get stuck in "Testing" (bottleneck)
• Items that bounce between "In Progress" and "Testing" (quality issues)
• Items with very long lead times (complexity or blocking issues)

Step 4: Optimize Flow

• If Testing is the bottleneck, add more automation or have developers help with testing
• If Code Review is the bottleneck, pair-program instead of async review
• If items bounce back from Testing, invest in better requirements (three amigos)