Written by the AgileFever editorial team. Facts checked on November 12, 2026 against the official pages of the organizations named in this post. AgileFever sells training for some of the topics covered here, and we say so wherever it applies. STATIK steps and purpose are from Kanban University and David J. Anderson’s published material. Kanban definitions are from the Kanban Guide. Course facts are from AgileFever’s product page.
A STATIK workshop for teams gives a delivery manager, service owner or L&D lead a way to get a team designing its own Kanban system in a single sitting, instead of copying someone else’s board. This post covers what each step decides, what the session produces, a timed agenda you can adapt, the pre-work, who to invite and what to do in the 30 days afterwards. If you are still deciding who in the company to train first, read Corporate Kanban training: which teams to train first.
What STATIK is and what it is for
STATIK stands for Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban. Kanban University calls it "a repeatable and humane way to get started with Kanban" and describes it as a way to understand a service as a whole rather than by analysing its parts alone. The Kanban Guide, version 2025.5 (updated May 1, 2025), defines Kanban as a strategy for optimizing the flow of value through a process. STATIK is the route into that: it takes the work your team really does and turns it into a Definition of Workflow and a board.
The guide sets a minimum for that definition: work items, start and finish points, states in between, a method for controlling WIP, explicit policies, and a service level expectation. A STATIK session is where a team decides each of those for itself. The Guide does not describe STATIK, so the steps come from Anderson’s published list. Sources differ on the count: Kanban University’s page speaks of six basic steps, while Anderson’s list and AgileFever’s course use eight. The eight-step list is easier to run in a room, so this post uses it.
The eight STATIK steps: what the team decides and what it produces
The steps are iterative. Later steps often uncover facts that send the team back to an earlier one, so expect to loop. The artefact column is our suggestion for what to leave the room with.
| Step | What the team decides | Artefact to produce (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Understand what makes the service fit for purpose | Who the customers are and what they need from the service: speed, predictability, quality, cost | A one-paragraph service definition and 3 to 5 fitness criteria |
| 2. Understand sources of dissatisfaction | What hurts for customers and for the people doing the work, ranked by how often it happens | A ranked list of dissatisfactions, each with an example item |
| 3. Analyse demand | What types of work arrive, how many per week, how urgent, from whom | Demand table: work item types, weekly count, urgency |
| 4. Analyse capability | How long work takes today and how reliably it is delivered | Cycle time data from past items and a first service level expectation |
| 5. Model the workflow | The states work passes through, where it waits and who touches it | A workflow map from request to delivery, with start and finish points |
| 6. Discover classes of service | Which kinds of work get different treatment and why (for example urgent, fixed date, standard) | A list of classes, each with an entry rule and a handling policy |
| 7. Design the Kanban system | Board columns, card content, WIP control, pull rules, explicit policies, cadences | A board sketch, WIP limits per state and a written policy sheet |
| 8. Socialize the design and facilitate implementation | Who must agree before launch, what the trial period is, who reviews it | A launch plan with a start date, a review date and named owners |
Step names follow Anderson’s published eight-step list (David J. Anderson School of Management). Purpose and the six-step description are from Kanban University, read on November 12, 2026.
What a STATIK workshop for teams delivers: outputs checklist
At the end of the session the team should hold concrete things, not just new vocabulary. Use this as the acceptance test for any STATIK workshop for teams, whether you run it yourself or buy it.
- First board design: columns that match real states, with start and finish points marked.
- WIP limits for each state, with a stated starting number and a date to review it.
- Policies written for every state: what must be true before a card moves in and out.
- Classes of service, each with an entry rule and a rule for what happens when two classes compete.
- Card design: the fields a person needs in order to decide what to pull next.
- Metrics: which of cycle time, throughput, work item age and WIP the team will track, and the first service level expectation, such as "85% of items finished in eight days or less".
- A launch plan with dates.
The Kanban Guide defines the measures: cycle time is the elapsed time from when an item starts to when it finishes, throughput is the number of items finished per unit of time, and work item age is the time since an unfinished item started. For ways to report them, see Kanban reports. For limits, see how to set WIP limits.
An illustrative half-day agenda
Kanban University describes its course as one day, and some providers run it as two half days. This agenda is our illustration for a team that has done the pre-work, with one service in scope. It is not a description of how any provider runs the course.
| Start | Minutes | Session | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 15 | Opening and pre-work read-out | Goal, ground rules, each person reads out one dissatisfaction note |
| 0:15 | 30 | Fit for purpose and dissatisfaction (steps 1, 2) | Service definition; ranked pain list |
| 0:45 | 25 | Demand (step 3) | Demand table from the recent work items |
| 1:10 | 25 | Capability (step 4) | Cycle times plotted; first service level expectation |
| 1:35 | 10 | Break | |
| 1:45 | 40 | Model the workflow (step 5) | Workflow map with waiting points marked |
| 2:25 | 25 | Classes of service (step 6) | Classes and entry rules |
| 2:50 | 50 | Design the Kanban system (step 7) | Board, WIP limits, policies, metrics |
| 3:40 | 20 | Socialize and plan launch (step 8) | Launch plan, owners, review dates |
Illustrative example. Timings are our suggestion and total 240 minutes including one 10-minute break.
Where a 4-hour session spends its time. The break is left out, so the bars total 230 minutes.
Illustrative example, not measured data. Most of the time goes to the workflow model and the system design because those steps need every person in the room to agree.
If the team has not done the pre-work, or the service is complicated, split the agenda into two half days and keep a day or two between them. People often remember a missing detail overnight.
Prerequisites and pre-work for the team
Kanban University lists no prerequisite for its STATIK Workshop, and AgileFever’s product page says no previous Kanban training or experience is required. The workshop still goes faster with a small amount of preparation. Ask each participant, or one nominated person, to bring the following.
| Pre-work | What to bring | Used in step |
|---|---|---|
| Recent work items | 20 to 30 finished items with start and finish dates, type and requester, pulled from your tracker or inbox | 3, 4 |
| Rough workflow | A sketch of how a typical item moves from request to delivery, drawn from memory, mistakes included | 5 |
| Dissatisfaction notes | Three things that frustrate customers and three that frustrate the team, each with one real example | 2 |
| Customer view | Who receives the work and one sentence each on what they expect | 1 |
Do not clean the data first. Messy dates and missing fields are findings too, and they tell the team what the board must capture from now on.
Who should attend and how big the group should be
Invite the people who do the work, the person who decides what enters the workflow, and one person who represents customers or requesters. Red Tangerine’s course page recommends service team members, people responsible for service delivery and improvement, and affected stakeholders. That matches the logic of step 8: a design that the people who must live with it never saw will not stick.
| Role | Why they attend | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Team members who do the work | They know where items wait and what the real states are | Include every skill that touches an item |
| Team lead or service owner | Owns the design after the session | Brings authority on WIP and policies |
| Delivery manager or sponsor | Decides what happens when urgent work meets a WIP limit | Attend steps 6 to 8 at minimum |
| Customer or requester representative | Tests whether the fitness criteria are right | Step 1, step 2 and step 8 |
| Facilitator | Keeps the steps moving and stops design before the facts are in | Ideally not the team lead |
Group size for a STATIK workshop for teams is our rule of thumb, not a Kanban University figure: 6 to 12 people for one service. Below six, the workflow model misses perspectives. Above twelve, split into table groups and the design step takes much longer. AgileFever’s corporate training page says live cohorts are capped at 20 people, which is a limit for our cohorts, not advice on the right size for one team.
Remote or on-site STATIK workshop for teams
Both work. AgileFever’s corporate page states that it delivers live, instructor-led sessions virtually or on-site, in US and India time zones. The practical differences are about the workflow model and the board design.
| On-site | Remote | |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow map | Wall and sticky notes; everyone can reach the map | Shared online board; set up the template before the day |
| Participation | Quiet people are easier to see and draw in | Use a round where each person speaks, and keep cameras on for steps 5 to 7 |
| Time | One long day is common | Two half days with a gap are easier on attention |
Practical notes from the editorial team, not provider policy.
The AgileFever STATIK Workshop, as listed
We sell this course, so weigh this section with that in mind. Our STATIK Workshop is listed at 1 day, as listed on November 12, 2026. The listed price is $600 in US dollars and ₹10,999 in rupees. We add 18% GST at checkout for buyers in India, and the rupee price is before GST. The live schedule runs 8:00 to 16:00 in the US schedule and 5:30 PM to 1:30 AM IST in the India schedule, on Thursdays. Listed batches are on December 3 and December 10, 2026, and continue into 2027.
Additional discounts are available. Contact us to know more.
The product page states that there is no exam and that no previous Kanban experience is needed. It lists learning objectives that include designing tickets, applying board patterns and addressing sources of dissatisfaction. It also states that the workshop does not replace the Kanban System Design course. For a whole team, our corporate training page at agilefever.com/corporate-training/ describes private cohorts and says labs and examples are adapted to your tools and domain. Ask for a private quote if you want the session built on your team’s own work items.
A 30-day follow-up plan
A STATIK workshop for teams produces a design, not a result. Most of the value arrives in the weeks after, when the board meets real work.
Move current work onto the board, mark start and finish dates on every card and post the policy sheet next to it. Record the starting WIP count.
Walk the board right to left. Check each blocked or aging item against the service level expectation and name one action for it.
Note every time a limit is hit or broken and who decided. Change a limit only at the review, and write down why.
Compare cycle time, throughput and work item age with the capability data from step 4. Look at the oldest items first.
Repeat the steps that the evidence challenges, usually 3, 6 or 7. Reissue the policy sheet and set the next review date.
Two supporting guides help here: our Kanban board template for the layout and Kanban training for IT operations if the service is a support or operations queue.
Mistakes that waste a STATIK session
- Designing the board before the facts. Teams jump to columns in the first hour. Hold the board until steps 1 to 5 are done.
- Copying another team’s board. The point of the method is to fit the board to your own demand and workflow.
- Leaving the sponsor out. WIP limits and classes of service need someone who can say no to a request.
Our older guide, STATIK: A Systems Thinking Approach to Kanban, gives background on the method. Where its step list differs from this one, follow this post, which matches Kanban University and Anderson.
Is it worth running? A decision rule
Run a STATIK workshop for teams when a team has recurring work, a visible pain and a manager willing to back the design. Do not run one for a team whose work is a single project with a fixed scope, or when half the team is about to move. In both cases the data the steps depend on will not exist or will not last.
Kanban University lists newcomers, Agile and Lean practitioners and Kanban System Design alumni as the audience. Read the Kanban University STATIK Workshop page for its official description.
Questions people ask
What is a STATIK workshop?
A STATIK workshop is a hands-on session where a team works through the Systems Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban for one service. It ends with a customised Kanban system: board design, WIP limits, policies and classes of service. Kanban University describes its version as a one-day workshop with no exam.
What are the steps of STATIK?
Anderson’s list has eight: understand what makes the service fit for purpose, understand sources of dissatisfaction, analyse demand, analyse capability, model the workflow, discover classes of service, design the Kanban system, and socialize the design and facilitate implementation. Kanban University’s page describes six basic steps, so counts vary.
How long does a STATIK workshop take?
Kanban University describes its course as one day. Some providers run it as two half days. With pre-work done and one service in scope, the core design can fit in about four hours, as the illustrative agenda here shows. Plan more time for a complex service.
How many people should attend?
For one service, 6 to 12 people is our rule of thumb: people who do the work, the service owner, a sponsor and a customer representative. Kanban University gives no figure. AgileFever caps its own live cohorts at 20 people, which is a class limit, not team guidance.
What should the team prepare?
Bring 20 to 30 finished work items with start and finish dates, a rough sketch of the workflow, and each person’s notes on what frustrates customers and the team. No prior Kanban knowledge is required. Messy data is fine; gaps in it are useful findings.
Does AgileFever’s STATIK Workshop replace Kanban System Design?
No. The product page states the workshop does not replace the Kanban System Design course and is not an alternative to it. It is a one-day workshop with no exam, listed at $600 or ₹10,999 as of November 12, 2026, with 18% GST added for buyers in India.
