Kanban & Lean Principles Flashcards
7 cards from real CAE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Kanban & Lean Principles flashcards as text
In Kanban, what does the term 'throughput' measure?
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.
Which Lean principle focuses on producing only what is needed, when it is needed?
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.
A Kanban board has a column consistently overflowing despite WIP limits. What is the BEST immediate action?
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.
What is the primary purpose of a 'Definition of Done' (DoD) in Kanban?
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.
In Lean, 'Muda' refers to:
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.
Which metric helps a Kanban team predict when future work items will be completed?
Answer: Cycle time percentile
Cycle time percentiles (e.g., 85th percentile) provide probabilistic forecasts for when future work items will be completed.
The Lean concept of 'Gemba' means:
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.