How does kanban compare to test driven development?

The goal of kanban is to increase the value of a production process.

Kanban increases the feedback in production by limiting the amount of work in progress at any one time.

Without the "safety" of inventory, troublesome process steps and connections between steps have nowhere to hide.

With better feedback, the steps can be optimized (or eliminated) and their connections improved.

The result is higher throughput and lower latency and variance.

Kanban works by only producing on the basis of demonstrated need.

While one finished product is being assembled, upstream steps are producing the parts for the next finished product, timed to arrive just as they are about to be used.

When a kanban system is humming, it produces a steady stream of finished products with a short gap between the receipt of an order and its fulfillment.

When it isn’t humming, the source of the discord is likely to be clear.