This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. York Rössler, a systems thinker, consultant, trainer and educator who has spent years helping teams build Kanban systems that actually work, not just in theory but in real business environments. What makes York’s approach stand out is his mix of academic depth and hands-on experience. He is currently putting all of that into a book about designing Kanban systems from the ground up.
We talked about his journey into Kanban, the gaps he has seen in existing methods, and how his own Fit Framework for Individualized Tailoring helps companies design systems that fit them perfectly.
York’s first encounter with Kanban was not love at first sight. But over time, as he began to witness the outcomes it could deliver, everything changed. “I discovered the power and what it can do, what great outcomes it produces. And I totally fell in love with Kanban.”
Kanban Designed Around You
When asked about his role, York likes to call himself a “bespoke tailor.” He explains it with a story: imagine buying a luxury suit that doesn’t fit. Instead of tailoring it, the shop assistant tells you the problem is your body, not the suit.
“That’s exactly what happens in companies all the time,” he said.
Some approaches treat the system as fixed and expect companies to change themselves to fit it. York takes the opposite view: “What we do is take what already works for you (your routines, your processes, your approach!) and build the system around that.”
For York, Kanban is a way to bring out the best in each organization by building on its own strengths and ways of working.
Finding the Right Balance
Two moments pushed York to develop his Fit method. The first was tough feedback from a client who felt left alone after a workshop. The second was the sheer risk of running large workshops. “If that workshop does not work well, and you are not having a proper Kanban system at the end, you have basically burned 40, 50-person days of value without having a good result.”
To reduce that risk, he designed a more structured approach. Not too little guidance, not too much, just the right balance. That’s how his 10-step method came to life, adding design patterns, forms, and checklists on top of STATIK to make it stronger and more reliable.
The Fit Method
York walked me through his 10-step sequence, highlighting why each step matters. Just to give you a sneak peek:
- Improvement opportunities: “I do not like to call it sources of dissatisfaction as in STATIC because it comes along as a negative connotation.” Instead, he starts by uncovering stakeholder pain points, making sure the system is shaped around real opportunities.
- Demand and capacity: He helps teams identify work items, separate them from process steps, and analyze them qualitatively and quantitatively.
- Modeling workflow: One technique he uses is modeling backwards from the end to the start, which he finds easier for teams.
- Meeting structure: York insists this is vital. “A Kanban board is basically just a dead artifact if people don’t gather in front of it and talk.”
- Policies: Workshops end with a checklist of commonly used rules to ensure nothing is missed.
By layering in checklists, forms, and design patterns, York makes sure teams leave workshops with a working system in place.
When asked if this method replaces STATIC, York was clear: “It is totally a refinement. I would not claim that this is something totally new.” Instead, he sees it as a way to add more guidance, consistency, and timing to the existing structure.
The method works both for teams starting fresh and for those already running Kanban but struggling to make it effective.
Results That Speak for Themselves
York’s method was shaped in real workshops, not theory. Over the years, it has supported teams across industries and company sizes. One of his favorite examples comes from working with large cosmetics brands like Chanel and Dior.
”They began small, using Kanban only for quality checks in product development with a team of four or five. Today, the entire design and development process for new cosmetic products runs on it, involving close to 200 people and multiple interconnected Kanban systems. And every single one of them was built using this approach.”
York is now capturing his method in a book that’s coming out very soon!
In the meantime, you can get in touch with him directly through egeria-consulting.com, where he offers training and tailored Kanban system design.
At the heart of York’s message is a simple truth: you don’t need to change who you are to make Kanban work. The system should adapt to you, not the other way around.
I hope this conversation sparks new ideas about how to design systems that truly work for your teams. See you next week, same time and place, with more managerial insights. Bye for now.
