Coaching Kanban Teams: Closing the Maturity Gap

I’m thrilled to be speaking at InnoVAte Virginia 2025, where I’ll be tackling a challenge I’ve seen time and again with clients: how to effectively coach Kanban teams. 

Kanban has come a long way—what was once a fringe methodology is now a widely adopted practice. However, while organizations have embraced Kanban, the maturity of coaching Kanban teams hasn’t caught up to the same level of what we see for Scrum teams. Many Scrum Masters and Agile coaches I’ve worked with find themselves in unfamiliar territory when guiding a Kanban team. Without Scrum’s built-in guardrails, they struggle to define what “good” looks like and how to help a team evolve. 

This talk is meant to help fix that for Scrum Masters, tech managers, or anyone who wants to coach a Kanban team to higher maturity.   

At InnoVAte Virginia 2025, I’ll break down four key maturity levels for Kanban teams and show you how to coach teams at each stage. Whether you're: 

• Starting a Kanban team from scratch 

• Trying to improve your workflow 

• Looking to enhance predictability  

• Aiming to stay at the top of your game 

You’ll leave with an actionable coaching plan to take your Kanban teams to the next level. 

I’d love to see you at InnoVAte Virginia 2025—let me know if you’re planning to attend so that we can connect!