Candidate handbook
CKMS candidate handbook
Certified Kanban Management Specialist
Everything that applies to the CKMS certification exam: what it covers, how the exam works, how it is scored and where to study.
Blueprint version 1, published on August 25, 2026. Study guide, edition 2026.1.
What the certification attests
For those who answer for the delivery flow of a team: system design, work-in-progress limits, metrics of predictability, cadences and rollout.
You work inside a flow
Development, operations, support or shared services. You feel the effect of excess work in progress every day and lose time for not telling a blocker apart from a wait.
You answer for the flow
Delivery manager, tech lead or coordinator of a board that crosses more than one area. You have to decide limits, policies and classes of service, and what to do when the limit is broken for a legitimate reason.
You decide about the demand
Portfolio, product or service level agreement. You need to know what to ask before accepting a date, and what separates a forecast based on history from an estimate based on optimism.
Prerequisite
None. You can take the certification exam directly.
Certification exam format
- Questions
- 50
- Duration
- 60 min
- Pass mark
- 70%
- Languages
- English, Portuguese, Spanish
The pass mark is fixed: you pass with 70% correct answers, with no curve and no comparison with other candidates.
Domains and weights
Questions are drawn for every certification exam, always in this proportion. The weights are the same the exam engine uses.
| Domain | Questions | Weight | Where to study |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Fundamentals and principles What the method is and what it is not: an evolutionary approach rather than a restructuring, a pull system as opposed to a push one, and why the work flow is managed rather than the people. Also the situations in which it is not the right instrument. | 6 | 12% | Guide CKMS, chapter 4, Foundations and principles |
2. Visualisation and system design The board as a representation of the real flow, not the wished-for one: stages, waiting queues kept apart from working stages, written criteria for moving between them and visible blockers. When the board has stopped describing the operation. | 7 | 14% | Guide CKMS, chapter 5, Visualisation and system design |
3. Flow and work limits Why to limit work in progress, where to place the limit and what to do when it is reached. A bottleneck recognised by accumulation rather than by complaint, the cost of multitasking, and the item that ages before it turns into an emergency. | 8 | 16% | Guide CKMS, chapter 6, Flow and work limits |
4. Metrics and predictability Choosing the metric by the question to answer: cycle time, lead time, throughput and the relation between them. Reading bands that widen in a cumulative flow diagram, and forecasting from the historical distribution with the confidence level stated. | 8 | 16% | Guide CKMS, chapter 7, Metrics and predictability |
5. Classes of service and prioritisation Different treatment for different demands: classifying by the cost-of-delay profile rather than by the pressure of whoever asks, reserving capacity per class, and recognising the erosion that overuse of the expedite class produces. | 7 | 14% | Guide CKMS, chapter 8, Classes of service and prioritisation |
6. Cadences and roles Each meeting by the decision it produces, not by the agenda inherited from another method. The daily meeting run by the flow rather than by the person, the service delivery review with data on the table, and the cadence the organisation does not need to hold. | 7 | 14% | Guide CKMS, chapter 9, Cadences and roles |
7. Adoption and evolutionary change How the method comes in: surfacing dissatisfaction and the nature of demand before designing the system, starting from what the organisation already does, choosing the next step by the observed bottleneck, and recognising resistance produced by the rollout itself. | 7 | 14% | Guide CKMS, chapter 10, Rollout and evolutionary improvement |
Certification exam rules
- Format
- Online certification exam, in your browser, with no scheduling and no exam centre. Questions describe work situations and ask for a decision. Some ask for more than one option, and the screen tells you how many.
- Time
- The clock runs on the server and starts when you open the certification exam. It does not pause: reloading the page, switching devices or closing the browser does not give time back. When time runs out, the exam is submitted with what you have answered.
- Navigation
- You can go back, change answers and flag questions for review. Before you finish, a screen shows what is answered, flagged and blank.
- Scoring
- Your score is compared with the pass mark, with no curve. A blank question counts as wrong, and multiple-answer questions get no partial credit.
- Result
- Immediate, with your score for each domain. It is kept in your account and does not appear on the certificate or the public profile.
- Voucher
- Each voucher is worth one attempt and is used when the certification exam is opened. A voucher bought on the site never expires. Whoever types the code takes the exam, so treat the code like a ticket.
- New attempt
- There is no waiting period and no limit. Each attempt uses a voucher, and questions are drawn again. If you do not pass, you get a 50% coupon for the same certification, valid for 90 days.
- Refund
- Within 14 days of purchase, if the voucher has not been used, through the same payment method.
- Technical problem
- Come back through the same address: the certification exam resumes with the same questions and the answers already saved. If a platform failure compromises your exam, a new attempt is released at no cost.
- Credential
- Issued when you pass, with a public verification code. It never expires and has no renewal or annual fee.
- Revocation
- A credential can be revoked for fraud, disclosure of questions, false identity, misleading use or administrative error. The code remains searchable and shows the revocation.
- Integrity
- The certification exam is individual and closed book, including artificial intelligence assistants. There is no camera, microphone or screen recording. Signals such as time per question and loss of window focus lead to human review, and no signal fails anyone on its own.
- Accessibility
- The certification exam screen works with keyboard and screen reader. Extended time of 25% or 50% is requested at checkout or in the account, in Certification exams, before using the voucher. For another adjustment, write to [email protected].
Where to study
The official guide indicates 40 to 50 hours of study, in paths of 8 or 4 weeks (appendix D of the guide).
Short on time? Study by weight: the domains below are in the order of how much they count in the certification exam.
- Flow and work limits (16%)
- Metrics and predictability (16%)
- Visualisation and system design (14%)
- Classes of service and prioritisation (14%)
- Cadences and roles (14%)
- Adoption and evolutionary change (14%)
- Fundamentals and principles (12%)