KLR 2026: Lead Different Retreat
September 9–11, 2026 · Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
Three days of conversation, challenge, and connection.
For the second year in a row, we joined Kanban University in Bilbao to co-host the Kanban Leadership Retreat (KLR). From September 9, members of the global Kanban community gathered under this year's theme – Lead Different – for three days of conversation, challenge, and connection.
As always with KLR, there was no agenda – the people in the room built it themselves, on the first evening, pitching the topics they most wanted to dig into together. What came out of that process was, once again, a real-time snapshot of where the Kanban community's attention is right now.
The historic 19th-century building that hosted this year's retreat, in Portugalete, Greater Bilbao.
Where the Conversation Went
Building the agenda, one sticky note at a time.
Two threads ran through a lot of this year's sessions.
- Upstream Kanban was a major theme – conversations that looked past delivery to the work that happens before commitment: how teams make better decisions earlier, improve discovery, manage demand, and build better flow before anything reaches a delivery system.
- AI was the other. Attendees explored where AI is already reshaping how people work, what that means for managers and knowledge workers, and how Kanban can help organizations navigate a landscape that's shifting fast.
And a good chunk of the retreat turned inward, toward Kanban University itself – where training needs to go next, how to make it more practical, and how to help people move from learning Kanban to actually applying it. Those conversations left us with a real list of things to work on in the months ahead.
One result is already public: a new Kanban University course, Portfolio & Project Manager, born directly out of these conversations – and now available as part of our Kanban+ Total Immersion training.
A Different Kanban+ This Year
Speaking of Kanban+ – we had our own big news this year. Where last year's KLR attendees knew us mainly as a self-paced online learning platform, this year we came back bigger: we've grown into a full enterprise transformation tool suite, now spanning four applications – Essentials, FlowBoards, FlowMetrics, and Evolve.
That shift is already showing up in how we deliver training. We now power Total Immersion, where the same David Anderson-taught curriculum moves off the slides and onto a live FlowBoard from day one – you work the material in a real environment instead of watching it explained. Same depth, same trainer, taught the way it's meant to be used.
Learning Was Only Part of It
KLR has never been just conference-room time, and this year kept that going. On Thursday afternoon, the group split off to explore the coast – some took a scenic coastal walk, while the more ambitious climbed Serantes. The retreat closed together on the water, with an evening boat cruise along the Nervión as the sun went down behind the Puente Colgante (the Vizcaya Bridge), conversations from the session boards spilling over into the open air.
Good food was, as ever, non-negotiable – the group made steady progress through the local pintxos between sessions and excursions.
What's Next
The whole KLR 2026 crew, together at the Puente Colgante Boutique Hotel.
KLR 2026 wrapped with fresh ideas, stronger connections, and a genuine list of things to take forward – for the Kanban community and for Kanban University itself. Dates for KLR 2027 will be announced soon, and we hope to see you among the participants.
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Great conversations, right on schedule.
Explore. Challenge. Connect. Lead Different.
