Calculating work item age is an essential part of running and optimising a workflow using Kanban practices. Contrary to popular belief you can benefit from Kanban measures and workflow optimisation regardless of what other processes you may have implemented (e.g. Scrum or DSDM or even a scaling framework). For the purpose of this article I would assume that you understand the ideas of Kanban for knowledge work and that you will know why tracking work item age is essential.. 

Do I start my day with a coffee or just a large glass of water? Should I stick to black coffee or go for a flat-white? I love flat-white but who needs the milk, right? You can easily imagine your life as a series of decisions that you have to make all day, every day. Even when it doesn’t seem like it....