5 min read • Guide 523 of 877
How to Use Kanban for IT Operations
IT operations teams face constant interruptions from incidents, user requests, and maintenance tasks. GitScrum's Kanban boards with WIP limits, swimlanes for work types, and SLA tracking help ops teams manage flow, maintain service levels, and avoid the chaos of unmanaged work queues.
IT Operations Work Types
| Work Type | Priority | Flow Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| P1 Incidents | Immediate | Expedite lane |
| P2 Incidents | Same day | High priority |
| Service requests | Normal | Standard flow |
| Maintenance | Planned | Scheduled |
| Improvements | Low | When capacity allows |
IT Operations Kanban Board
IT OPERATIONS BOARD STRUCTURE
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EXPEDITE (P1 Incidents) - No WIP Limit │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ [INC-234] Production database unresponsive │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────────┐
│ Backlog │ Ready │ Working │ Review │ Deploy │ Done │
│ (no WIP)│ (WIP: 3) │ (WIP: 4) │ (WIP: 2) │ (WIP: 2) │ (no WIP) │
├─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼─────────────┤
│ [REQ] │ [INC] │ [INC] │ [CHG] │ [CHG] │ [INC] ✓ │
│ [REQ] │ [REQ] │ [CHG] │ │ │ [REQ] ✓ │
│ [CHG] │ │ [REQ] │ │ │ [CHG] ✓ │
│ [CHG] │ │ │ │ │ │
│ [IMP] │ │ │ │ │ │
└─────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────────┘
SWIMLANES BY WORK TYPE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🔴 Incidents (P2-P3) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 📋 Service Requests │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🔧 Changes & Maintenance │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 📈 Improvements │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Work Item Types
WORK ITEM DEFINITIONS
INCIDENT (INC):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Unplanned service disruption │
│ Goal: Restore service ASAP │
│ │
│ Fields: │
│ ├── Priority (P1-P4) │
│ ├── Affected service │
│ ├── Impact (users affected) │
│ ├── Start time │
│ └── Resolution time │
│ │
│ SLAs: │
│ P1: Response <15 min, Resolve <4 hours │
│ P2: Response <1 hour, Resolve <8 hours │
│ P3: Response <4 hours, Resolve <24 hours │
│ P4: Response <1 day, Resolve <1 week │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SERVICE REQUEST (REQ):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Standard user request │
│ Goal: Fulfill per SLA │
│ │
│ Fields: │
│ ├── Request type │
│ ├── Requester │
│ ├── Due date │
│ └── Approval status │
│ │
│ Examples: Access request, new account, │
│ software install, hardware request │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CHANGE (CHG):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Planned infrastructure modification │
│ Goal: Implement safely │
│ │
│ Fields: │
│ ├── Change type (standard/normal/emergency) │
│ ├── Risk level │
│ ├── Rollback plan │
│ ├── Change window │
│ └── CAB approval │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
IMPROVEMENT (IMP):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Proactive enhancement │
│ Goal: Improve operations │
│ │
│ Examples: Automation, monitoring, │
│ documentation, process improvement │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Capacity Planning
OPS TEAM CAPACITY MODEL
TEAM: 5 engineers
CAPACITY ALLOCATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Incident response: 1-2 engineers (20-40%) │
│ (rotates daily) │
│ │
│ Planned work: 3-4 engineers (60-80%) │
│ ├── Service requests │
│ ├── Changes │
│ └── Improvements │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
WIP LIMITS RATIONALE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ready: 3 │
│ └── Half day's worth of prepared work │
│ │
│ Working: 4 │
│ └── Less than team size (5) for focus │
│ │
│ Review: 2 │
│ └── Minimize approval bottleneck │
│ │
│ Deploy: 2 │
│ └── Control change velocity │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Flow Metrics
IT OPS METRICS DASHBOARD
FLOW METRICS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Cycle Time (avg days): │
│ Incidents P2: 0.5 days Target: <1 ✓ │
│ Requests: 3.2 days Target: <5 ✓ │
│ Changes: 5.1 days Target: <7 ✓ │
│ Improvements: 12 days Target: <14 ✓ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
THROUGHPUT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ This Week: │
│ Incidents resolved: 8 │
│ Requests fulfilled: 15 │
│ Changes deployed: 6 │
│ Improvements done: 2 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SERVICE LEVELS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SLA Compliance: │
│ P1 Incidents: 100% (2/2 met) ✓ │
│ P2 Incidents: 95% (19/20 met) ✓ │
│ Service Requests: 92% (46/50 met) ⚠ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Best Practices
- Use expedite lane for true emergencies only
- Set WIP limits based on team size
- Track cycle time by work type
- Reserve incident capacity daily
- Visualize all work including improvements
- Review blocked items in standups
- Measure SLA compliance continuously
- Conduct regular retrospectives for flow improvement
Anti-Patterns
✗ No WIP limits (everything in progress)
✗ Expedite lane for all incidents
✗ Hidden work not on board
✗ No time for improvements
✗ Ignoring blocked items
✗ No metrics on flow