Kanban Board
The Kanban Board is the most visible artifact of the Kanban methodology. Kanban is a methodology that allows you to progressively improve processes, reducing delivery time and improving workflow. Teams can apply Kanban to any process or methodology.
The Scrum framework calls the Kanban board, Scrum Board.
The scrum board is one of the most widely used agile techniques. The board organizes the work in progress, representing work elements on cards, post-its, or electronic cards. Teams can organize these elements into lists that represent the process of developing or producing the product or service. There are several ways to organize lists. One of the most common ways is to define three lists: “Not started”, “In progress” and “Done”.
The board also improves productivity. Defining a maximum limit of work in progress protects the team™s productivity from the accumulation of work in each phase of the process.
Finally, a board is a multidisciplinary tool. Agile teams can use it in multiple contexts, for example:
- Software development,
- Organizing commercial teams,
- Managing personal tasks,
- Organizing events,
- Analyzing processes,
- and more…
Advantages of the Kanban Board
The most common advantages of the board are, for example:
- Increases productivity because the work that the team is developing is within their capability.
- Help find bottlenecks that are constraining the project, because it can easily show if activities stay a long time in a step.
- Creates a sense of belonging within the team because each element can see all work and the part of his work within the all.
- Helps to report progress because if the kanban board is updated on a board on the wall, or in a file of the project, everyone can easily see how the project is doing.
In summary, the Kanban Board can be used in many cases bringing many advantages to the ones that use them.