Kanban is an emerging set of management practices for software development teams that was derived from Lean Manufacturing, the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints.  Kanban has recently become popular with many project teams because of its ease of implementation, use of visual controls, ability to accommodate a wide variety of organizational design patterns, integration of stakeholders and relentless focus on the continuous delivery of value.  Many development teams have found success with Kanban when more mainstream agile practices did not yield acceptable outcomes.  
Organizations that are interested in adopting or improving agile methods should evaluate the underlying principles behind Kanban and how the principles can work together with more traditional agile methodologies.  While there are meaningful differences between agile and Kanban, many teams will find that blending the two approaches can create tremendous value for their organization.  
This paper explores the common tools, practices and philosophies of Kanban and examines how an agile team can leverage Kanban to create a more effective product delivery organization.