As a Kanban coach and trainer, I often get asked about Kanban training: availability, which class to take, why, what about certifications, and so on. With this post, I hope to outline the key answers to such questions, focusing on what’s available right here in Canada.

The Lean Kanban University roadmap for Kanban proficiency consists of three stages:

• the 1-day Team Kanban Practitioner class: team-level Kanban, getting the work organized, localized improvements/benefits, sustainability
• the 2-day Kanban System Design class: service orientation, customer-focused improvements of delivery of products and services
• the 2-day Kanban Management Professional class: organizational feedback loops, scale, evolutionary change and resilience

The LKU awards two certifications:

• TKP for successfully completing the TKP class
• KMP for successfully completing both KSD and KMP classes (total 4 days of training)

Historically, there has been more Kanban training in Western Europe than in North America. And a larger proportion of North American classes were offered privately on client premises. This resulted in limited choices for North Americans wanting to take open, public classes. The situation began to change in 2015 and continues to change in 2016. More trainers offer more public Kanban classes in Canada, USA and Mexico. This includes my firm, Lean A-to-Z, Inc., which holds an independent Lean Kanban franchise.

We will be running a week-long Kanban training program in Toronto on April 4-8. You can take any of the three classes or mix and match them. Here are the registration links:

• Monday: Team Kanban Practitioner
• Tuesday-Wednesday: Kanban System Design
• Thursday-Friday: Kanban Management Professional

We also plan similar events:

• in Montreal in May (registration links: TKP, KSD, KMP, whole program)
• in Ottawa in May (TKP, KSD, KMP, whole program)
• and in Toronto again in the fall (TKP, KSD, KMP, whole program)

The Team Kanban Practitioner and Kanban System Design classes will also be offered in Kitchener-Waterloo in June.

Which class to take?

The Team Kanban Practitioner and Kanban System Design classes have no prerequisites. Choose by the benefit desired in your organization’s context. If you want training for your own career development, choose KSD.

The Kanban Management Professional class is more difficult and has two prerequisites: KSD and several months of experience practicing what you learned there. If in doubt, go for KSD only. However, some participants can cope with the difficulties and complete KSD and KMP back-to-back. Those are typically consultants and managers with diverse experiences.

For participants taking more than one class, TKP+KSD (3 days of training) and KSD+KMP (4 days) are the most sensible combinations. Some participants may find value in taking all five days.

Quality

The Lean Kanban curriculum was developed by a global network of trainers. It continues to evolve as dozens of trainers conduct hundreds of classes to numerous trainees around the world. We maintain frequent correspondence, meet face to face often at conferences and Kanban Leadership Retreats, and thus continue to refine the design of your learning experience.

The instructional design, material, games, exercises, powerful questions, case study choices are all informed by our observations of what people actually do differently in their workplaces and careers after the training. What you will do differently matters to us more than any expert’s notions about how to present a body of knowledge.

Region-specific Advice

My franchise’s training offerings are somewhat skewed towards Central Canada and our American neighbours in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions. Here are some recommendations for those outside these geographical areas.

Western Canada: come to the Lean Kanban University headquarters and training centre in Seattle. Classes of all levels are regularly run there – check their latest schedule. You can also reach out to Calgary-based Dave White, Canada’s first Accredited Kanban Trainer.

French Canadians: availability of Kanban training in French continues to be scarce. Nevertheless, Montreal is home to more KMP certification holders than any other Canadian city. (And Quebec more than any other province.) There is already a Montreal-based French Canadian trainer who is working on his Lean Kanban accreditation. He may soon be able to offer certified Kanban classes in French.

Atlantic Canada: there are currently no class listings in this region. Please reach out to me if you believe there’s a local group that can support a public class or if you’d like to request a private class.

Conclusion

This was a short summary of the current state of Kanban training in Canada. Please consider what Lean Kanban has to offer and our training schedule. I’ll be happy to take any questions.

More detailed discussions of each class will follow in the future posts. The same goes for Enterprise Services Planning – there’s technically a forth stage. (It’s largely for the executives, senior leaders and their improvement consultants. ESP training is offered as a five-day modular program and includes enterprise services, project forecasting and portfolio management.)