Kanban Cadences: How to Run Effective Replenishment and Delivery Meetings

Blog Author

Siddharth

Published

6 May, 2025

Kanban Cadences: How to Run Effective Replenishment and Delivery Meetings

Kanban is not just about visualizing work on a board — it’s also about introducing regular rhythms, or cadences, that help teams manage flow, make decisions, and improve continuously. Two of the most important cadences are the Replenishment Meeting and the Delivery Planning Meeting.

These meetings ensure that the system stays balanced: work is neither overstuffed nor underutilized, and customers receive the value they expect at a predictable pace. Let’s break down how to run these meetings effectively and why they matter so much to a Kanban system.

What Are Kanban Cadences?

Kanban cadences are regularly scheduled meetings or reviews that help maintain alignment, manage work, and keep improvements moving. Unlike Agile frameworks that prescribe fixed sprints, Kanban uses cadences to synchronize activities across various levels without enforcing timeboxes.

Some key Kanban cadences include:

Replenishment (Commitment) Meetings
Delivery Planning Meetings
Service Delivery Reviews
Operations Reviews
Risk Reviews

In this post, we focus on the Replenishment and Delivery Planning cadences, which are at the heart of daily Kanban operations.

If you’re working toward a Kanban certification or exploring formal Kanban learning, understanding these cadences is a crucial skill. You can build a deeper foundation through structured learning such as the Kanban System Design certification, often referred to as KMP 1 certification.

Replenishment Meeting: Keeping the Right Work in the System

The Replenishment Meeting is where the team decides what work should enter the system. It ensures that the backlog or upstream queue is filled with the most valuable work, but without overloading the system.

Purpose of the Replenishment Meeting

Select work items ready for the next stage
Respect WIP (Work In Progress) limits
Prioritize based on value, risk, urgency, or customer need
Align stakeholders on upcoming work

This meeting is not about planning tasks in detail — it’s about deciding which work to commit to next.

Best Practices

✅ Hold the meeting at a fixed cadence — often weekly, but adjust based on your flow.
✅ Invite the right people — usually product owners, service delivery managers, and key team members.
✅ Keep it short — 30-60 minutes is usually enough.
✅ Review capacity carefully — don’t exceed system limits just to satisfy stakeholder pressure.
✅ Ensure clarity on work definitions — only pull in items that meet the team’s “ready” criteria.

Example: A software development team with a Kanban system might review customer feature requests every Monday and decide which ones to pull into development, ensuring developers have the right amount of prioritized work.

For teams preparing for the KMP 1 certification, mastering replenishment decisions helps reinforce the principles of pull systems and flow control.

Delivery Planning Meeting: Coordinating and Managing Commitments

Once work is progressing, you need a cadence to coordinate delivery — this is where the Delivery Planning Meeting comes in.

Purpose of the Delivery Planning Meeting

Forecast delivery dates for upcoming items or batches
Align with stakeholders on what’s shipping and when
Manage dependencies, risks, and customer expectations
Adjust delivery commitments based on system flow

This meeting focuses on when the team will deliver and how to prepare for it, whether delivering continuously or on a set schedule.

Best Practices

✅ Base forecasts on actual data — use lead time metrics and throughput data to improve predictability.
✅ Review blockers and risks — address anything that could threaten delivery.
✅ Engage stakeholders — keep them informed, but avoid making promises the system cannot keep.
✅ Keep improving predictability — use delivery reviews and metrics to refine planning.

Example: A Kanban team delivering software features holds a biweekly delivery meeting to review what’s completed, what can be delivered to the customer, and what needs additional work or testing.

If you’re aiming for a Kanban system design certification, these delivery-focused skills are essential for aligning team work with customer outcomes.

Aligning Both Cadences for Flow Efficiency

Replenishment and Delivery Planning work best when they are aligned but distinct. Replenishment ensures the team has the right work; Delivery Planning ensures the team gets that work to the customer efficiently.

When combined effectively:

The system remains balanced (no overload, no starvation).
Stakeholders have transparency into work and delivery timelines.
Teams can manage risks early by adjusting priorities or schedules.
Continuous improvement becomes part of the workflow, as teams reflect on both incoming and outgoing work.

These cadences also connect closely to other Kanban reviews, such as the Service Delivery Review, which examines performance, and the Risk Review, which addresses uncertainties.

For deeper exploration, David J. Anderson’s Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business offers a strong foundation on how Kanban cadences fit into overall system design (source).

Common Challenges in Kanban Cadences

Even experienced teams face challenges when running these meetings.

Challenge	How to Address It
Overfilling the system	Stick to WIP limits, even under stakeholder pressure.
Poor prioritization	Use agreed-upon prioritization criteria, not just loudest voice.
Delivery delays	Use data (lead time, throughput) to improve planning accuracy.
Unclear work readiness	Define clear entry/exit criteria for each workflow stage.
Meeting fatigue	Keep cadences efficient; don’t turn them into status meetings.

Why Cadences Matter for Kanban Maturity

Implementing cadences well is a sign of Kanban system maturity. Teams move from reactive work management to proactive flow control. They stop fighting fires and start delivering consistently, building trust with stakeholders.

If you’re preparing for or considering a Kanban certification, understanding cadences is part of building robust Kanban practices. Kanban System Design certification programs help professionals learn how to tailor these cadences to their unique team and service context.

Key Takeaways

✅ Replenishment Meetings decide what to work on.
✅ Delivery Planning Meetings decide when and how to deliver.
✅ Use actual data to drive decisions and improve over time.
✅ Keep cadences distinct, regular, and efficient.
✅ Cadences reflect the maturity of the Kanban system and improve customer satisfaction.