CAE Kanban & Lean Principles 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Kanban, what does the term 'throughput' measure?
- The number of items completed per unit of time (Correct answer)
- The average time an item spends in the system
- The maximum number of items allowed in a stage
- The percentage of time workers are busy
Correct answer: The number of items completed per unit of time
Throughput measures how many work items are completed per unit of time, indicating the team's delivery rate.
Question 2: Which Lean principle focuses on producing only what is needed, when it is needed?
- Jidoka
- Just-in-Time (JIT) (Correct answer)
- Kaizen
- Poka-yoke
Correct answer: Just-in-Time (JIT)
Just-in-Time (JIT) is the Lean principle of producing exactly what is needed at the exact moment it is needed.
Question 3: A Kanban board has a column consistently overflowing despite WIP limits. What is the BEST immediate action?
- Increase the WIP limit for that column
- Stop pulling new work and swarm to clear the bottleneck (Correct answer)
- Remove the WIP limit temporarily
- Add more team members to the project immediately
Correct answer: Stop pulling new work and swarm to clear the bottleneck
When a bottleneck is detected, the team should stop pulling new work and focus collectively on clearing the blocked column.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a 'Definition of Done' (DoD) in Kanban?
- To set WIP limits for each stage
- To establish shared criteria for when a work item can exit the system (Correct answer)
- To define the maximum cycle time allowed
- To assign ownership of work items
Correct answer: To establish shared criteria for when a work item can exit the system
The Definition of Done establishes explicit, shared criteria that a work item must meet before it is considered complete.
Question 5: In Lean, 'Muda' refers to:
- Continuous improvement activities
- Any activity that consumes resources without adding value (Correct answer)
- The standard work documentation process
- Variation in process output
Correct answer: Any activity that consumes resources without adding value
Muda is a Japanese term for waste — any activity that consumes resources or time without creating value for the customer.
Question 6: Which metric helps a Kanban team predict when future work items will be completed?
- Velocity
- Cycle time percentile (Correct answer)
- Sprint burndown
- Story points
Correct answer: Cycle time percentile
Cycle time percentiles (e.g., 85th percentile) provide probabilistic forecasts for when future work items will be completed.
Question 7: The Lean concept of 'Gemba' means:
- The weekly planning meeting for the team
- Going to the actual place where work happens to understand it (Correct answer)
- The visual management board used by the team
- The root cause analysis technique
Correct answer: Going to the actual place where work happens to understand it
Gemba means 'the real place' — the practice of managers and leaders going to where work is done to observe and understand it directly.
CAE Kanban & Lean Principles 2
In Kanban, what does the term 'throughput' measure?