It is a subject that bothers me far more than it should, but when I was first exposed to the term kanban I naturally look it up and go "what on earth does any of this have to do with software?"
The term refers to a method to attach the logistical back pressure mechanism to the logistical items in question, basically distributing it to solve the problems of large central control. However the logistics of software development is very different, Software is mostly research and development with close to zero manufacturing and parts logistics. You would have to model each software feature as a one off custom item with a long lead time. and that is not what the kanban system is good at. Why do you need back pressure control when each item is a one-off?
So software developers came up with a system that works well for them, but instead of giving it it's own name they reused the name from a manufacturing system. thus leading to endless confusion.
The term refers to a method to attach the logistical back pressure mechanism to the logistical items in question, basically distributing it to solve the problems of large central control. However the logistics of software development is very different, Software is mostly research and development with close to zero manufacturing and parts logistics. You would have to model each software feature as a one off custom item with a long lead time. and that is not what the kanban system is good at. Why do you need back pressure control when each item is a one-off?
So software developers came up with a system that works well for them, but instead of giving it it's own name they reused the name from a manufacturing system. thus leading to endless confusion.