Kanban Is Not a Board — It’s a Sense of Purpose That Moves the Team

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Let’s talk about crisis moments.
Because the way teams act under pressure often reveals what Agile truly means — not just as a framework, but as a mindset.

There’s one story I always come back to.
It’s from 1972, when Southwest Airlines had… $143 left in their bank account.
That’s not a typo. $143 — and a fleet of four planes, one of which they had to sell just to survive.

The problem?
With only three planes left, they couldn’t maintain their schedule.
Standard turnaround time between flights was at least 25 minutes.
At that rate, they were losing both money and market share.

The Crazy Idea That Changed Everything

Then came Bill Franklin, Southwest’s COO at the time, with a wild proposal:

“We’re going to do 10-minute turns.
If you can’t do a 10-minute turn, you’re going to get fired.”

He was inspired by Formula 1 pit crews — how a team could refuel, replace tires, and send a car back onto the track in seconds.

Southwest decided to bring that mindset into aviation.

Here’s what happened:

• Pilots helped load luggage.

• Flight attendants cleaned the cabin.

• Technicians worked in parallel, not sequentially.

• Everyone took ownership — there was no “that’s not my job.”

The Results

• Turnaround time dropped by half.

• Each plane could complete one extra flight per day.

• Revenue grew without buying new aircraft.

• The company returned to profitability and began to scale.

Why It Worked

It wasn’t just about speed.
It was about purpose.

Their mission was to make flying affordable and frequent.
Their principle was teamwork without silos.
Their action was removing anything that didn’t serve the mission.

When a team understands its “why”, it stops working just faster — it starts working smarter, together.

In crises, what saves you is rarely resources — it’s meaning.
Money, people, time — all can be used more effectively when the team shares one clear purpose.

Sometimes, the breakthrough doesn’t come from “buying more,” but from rethinking how you use what you already have.

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What This Has to Do with Kanban

This story is one of the clearest real-world examples of Kanban in action.
And honestly, it’s one of the hardest things to explain when teaching Kanban.

Many teams ask: “How is Kanban different from Scrum? Or from Waterfall?”

But the truth is — Kanban isn’t about boards, cards, or swimlanes.
It’s about meaning.
It’s about creating a system of continuous improvement that reflects your team’s shared sense of purpose.

Kanban is also the hardest Agile framework — not technically, but psychologically.
Because it demands maturity, self-awareness, and discipline.

Teams that haven’t yet found their “why” struggle to see its power.
To truly “get” Kanban, you first need to build culture.
And culture takes time.

Everyone wants quick wins and instant results — the “magic pill” of process change.
But process is just a mirror.
It reflects what your culture is capable of.

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In the End

Kanban is not a tool — it’s a philosophy.
It works when meaning drives motion.
Because at its core, Kanban isn’t about managing tasks.
It’s about aligning people around purpose — so the whole team moves forward together.

[Manish Nadar]

Loved the story telling format. Very easy to understand!

[Vlad Zhigulin]

Thanks @Manish Nadar !

I’m trying to post at least once a week for the community — your feedback means a lot to me! 🙏

[Manish Nadar]

Sure. Keep going 💪