Kanban cadences are the regular meetings or feedback loops used in Kanban to manage flow, improve delivery, and remove blockers. Kanban does not require fixed sprints like Scrum. Instead, work flows continuously, and cadences help the team inspect and improve that flow.
Your slides describe Kanban using visual workflow, pull system, continuous flow, WIP limits, and continuous improvement.
| Kanban cadence | Purpose | What the action looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Kanban Meeting | Check flow, blockers, and WIP limits. | Team looks at the board, usually from right to left: Done → Review → In Progress → To Do. They ask: What is blocked? What can move forward? Are WIP limits exceeded? |
| Replenishment Meeting | Decide what work should enter the system next. | Team/Product Owner reviews the backlog and selects ready, high-priority items to move into “Ready” or “To Do.” |
| Delivery Planning Meeting | Decide when completed work will be released or delivered. | Team checks finished items and plans release timing, packaging, handoff, or customer delivery. |
| Service Delivery Review | Review how well the team is delivering value. | Team checks lead time, cycle time, throughput, quality, and customer satisfaction. |
| Operations Review | Review performance across teams/services. | Managers or multiple teams look at system-level issues, bottlenecks, capacity, and coordination problems. |
| Risk Review | Identify and manage delivery risks. | Team reviews blocked items, aging work, dependencies, recurring defects, or items stuck too long. |
| Strategy Review | Align Kanban work with business goals. | Leadership or product stakeholders check whether the work being delivered still supports organizational priorities. |
| Retrospective / Improvement Meeting | Improve the process. | Team discusses what to improve: WIP limits, policies, bottlenecks, handoffs, quality checks, or workflow design. |
A simple explanation:
In Scrum, the team uses sprint events. In Kanban, the team uses cadences. These cadences are regular checkpoints that help the team manage continuous flow.
For students, you can say:
Kanban cadences are not about starting and ending a sprint. They are about keeping work moving smoothly through the board.
Example:
A team has many items stuck in Review. During the Daily Kanban Meeting, they notice the Review column is full. During the Service Delivery Review, they see cycle time is increasing. During the Retrospective, they decide to reduce new work and assign more people to help with reviews. That is how Kanban cadences support continuous improvement.
