Kanban Commitment Point: The Truth About Starting Work
The commitment point in Agile development represents a decisive moment when a development team formally accepts responsibility for specific deliverables…
The commitment point is the step in a Kanban workflow where a work item moves from the “options” a team might work on into the delivery system, and the team commits to finishing it (Anderson & Carmichael, 2016). Before that point, ideas can still be reshaped or dropped at little cost. After it, the item counts as work in progress, and the clock on its lead time starts.
Commitment point vs. sprint commitment
The term is often confused with Scrum’s Sprint Planning. In Scrum, the team crafts a Sprint Goal during Sprint Planning, and the Scrum Guide describes the Sprint Goal as the commitment for the Sprint Backlog (Schwaber & Sutherland, 2020). The Kanban commitment point is different: it is a fixed place on the board that every item passes through, not a once-per-sprint agreement.
Why the commitment point matters
- It makes lead time measurable. In the Kanban Method, lead time is measured from the commitment point to delivery, so without a defined point, delivery forecasts are guesswork (Anderson & Carmichael, 2016).
- It protects the team from overload. Items cross the line only when there is capacity within the WIP limits, which keeps work flowing.
- It sets clear expectations. Stakeholders know that anything past the line is being delivered, and anything before it is still an option.
How to define your commitment point
- Map your workflow from first idea to delivery.
- Agree with stakeholders on the step where work is genuinely promised, often a “Ready” or “Selected” column.
- Mark that column on the board and add pull criteria, so the team knows what an item needs before it crosses.
- Measure lead time from that point and review it regularly.
Example
A banking team keeps a list of feature ideas, including fingerprint login. The idea sits upstream while the Product Owner explores it. When the team has capacity and the item meets its pull criteria, it is pulled into the “Selected” column: the commitment point. From then on, the team treats it as a promise, and the time until the feature reaches customers is its lead time.
References
Anderson, D. J., & Carmichael, A. (2016). Essential Kanban condensed. Lean Kanban University Press.
Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The Scrum guide. https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
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