Kanban boards offer a way to visually manage your tasks.

Attain shorter time cycle and responsiveness to change, in a heartbeat.

There is a common matter that many companies face and that is completing only a part of their projects on time and in the budget. To prevent these problems, a very good and useful solution is using Kanban boards. By the way, probably many of you know that Kanban method comes from Japan but how many of you know that “Kanban” is the Japanese word for “visual card”?

If you work in services or technology, your work is often times invisible and intangible. That is when a Kanban board is very helpful, making your work visible so you can show it to others and keep everyone on the same page. By using this feature, you will also be able to see the bigger picture, the entire project in a view, but also to have control of your work flow.

The simple fact that the team is able to discuss, define and modify its workflow depending on the issues they face, will lead to a better communication and collaboration within its members.

Kanban Visualize work in progress Tasks workflow Team Collaboration Work efficiency

Advantages

Visualize Work

By creating a visual model of your work and workflow, you can observe the flow of work moving through your Kanban system. Making the work visible—along with blockers, bottlenecks and queues—instantly leads to increased communication and collaboration

Limit Work in Process

By limiting how much unfinished work is in process, you can reduce the time it takes an item to travel through the Kanban system. You can also avoid problems caused by task switching and reduce the need to constantly re-prioritize items.

Focus on Flow

By using work in progress (WIP) limits and developing team-driven policies, you can optimize your Kanban system to improve the flow of work, collect metrics to analyze flow, and even get leading indicators of future problems by analyzing the flow of work.

Continuous Improvement

Once your Kanban system is in place, it becomes the cornerstone for a culture of continuous improvement. Teams measure their effectiveness by tracking flow, quality, lead times and so on. Experiments and analysis can change the system to improve the team’s effectiveness.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the names and the number of columns?

The column names and numbers can be customized for each account, to better cover the needs of your company.

If my project is split in phases, can I choose a view for a certain phase?

Yes, you ca go as deep as phase level, in Kanban. After you select the project, you are also able to choose the phase you are interested in seeing the progress on.

Can I add new tasks anytime?

Yes, you ca to add tasks at any time, and you can also choose what to work on next. In Kanban you can reorder priority at any time, so you do not have to worry about setting your priorities for the whole iteration ahead of time.

How do I measure progress in Kanban?

There are a couple of ways to see how your team is doing but the most obvious and easiest way is to look at the ‘Done’ column on your task board. There you will see how many tasks have been done and what is left.