Using Kanban Boards for Task Management

Some of y'all really love your Blocked column on your kanban boards. If something is working well for your team, it doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks about it, obviously. I mean, unless I'm on your team. But since we're sharing, I don't like having a column for Blocked items. 1) "Blocked" is not a stage of transformation all work items go through (I hope!!!). It is a state a work item can experience in any stage. 2) Moving an item into Blocked loses the context in which the item was Blocked. I don't know if it was Blocked while we were trying to flesh out the requirements of the item, while we were coding it, during deployment, etc. Yes, you can add notes to the card, but I lose the visual reference that's so helpful when the team is planning their day as well as the useful metric of how many items were Blocked for how long in a particular stage. 3) If you pull flow metrics from your system or generate Cumulative Flow Diagrams, having an item zip in and out of a Blocked column really screws that up. It also screws up cycle time calculations per stage. 4) We generally want to prioritize Blocked items that are closer to delivery than newer items. It's hard to see that in a Blocked column. 5) It looks hilarious when the very next stage after "Doing" is "Blocked." Talk about pessimism! Here's what I like to do instead: - Make "Blocked" a label or a flag or a status or something we can use to designate that an item is blocked without moving it anywhere - Make sure blocked items are visually indicated - special icon, card turns red, etc. - If you really want to elevate visual attention to Blocked items, create a swim lane at the top of your board and move your Blocked items there, leaving them in the same column. Hopefully you don't have blocked items often enough that this would be useful, but it's an unmissible visual indicator. Ultimately, what you want is to have blocked items always in your team's face, a way to have data on frequency and impact of blockers so you can improve, and you want the flow data of your system to be accurate. I think all those goals are better served without a Blocked column.

Kanban: We Should Be "Done" With "In-Progress" One of the best ways to use Kanban is by visualizing meaningful work states on your board. Thoughtfully designed boards can transform how teams deliver value, spot inefficiencies, and improve collaboration. Unfortunately, many teams miss these opportunities by relying on vague, catch-all columns like “In-Progress.” Let’s talk about why “In-Progress” is practically useless, and how breaking it into clearer work states is a smarter strategy. Why “In-Progress” Fails The term “In-Progress” might seem harmless, but it’s so broad that it adds little value. “In-Progress” doesn’t explain what’s actually happening. Is a task being coded, reviewed, or tested? Without specifics, delays and inefficiencies stay hidden. A generic column hides bottlenecks. For example, slow code reviews go unnoticed when everything sits under “In-Progress.” Vague statuses make it harder to know who should act next. Confusion leads to reduced accountability, delays, and misaligned expectations. Without data showing where tasks spend the most time, teams can’t identify trends or resolve inefficiencies. The Case for Clarity Replacing “In-Progress” with specific work states turns a Kanban board into a powerful tool for managing flow and driving improvement. For example, a software development team might use: Backlog: Items awaiting prioritization. Ready for Development: Work ready to start. In Development: Developers are actively working. Ready for Code Review: Development is complete, awaiting review. In Code Review: Review process underway. Ready for Testing: Code is ready for QA. In Testing: QA is actively testing. Ready for Deployment: Testing is complete, awaiting release. Done: Work is completed. Each state reflects a clear step in the workflow (not necessarily a handoff). This improves visibility, accountability, and makes bottlenecks easier to spot. Your team’s context might call for different states, but the goal stays the same: clarity. Spotting Bottlenecks Granular states make delays visible. If tasks sit too long in “Ready for Code Review,” reviewers may be overloaded or not prioritizing reviews. A backlog in “Ready for Deployment” could mean release processes need work. Tasks stuck “In Testing” might point to unclear requirements or a stretched QA team. Tracking time-in-state reveals where delays occur, helping teams reallocate resources or refine processes. Collaboration Benefits Meaningful work states improve collaboration. When a task moves to “Ready for Testing,” testers know it’s their turn to act. This reduces idle time and makes transitions smoother. Be Done With “In-Progress” Create columns for key steps in your workflow. Don’t overcomplicate things. Aim for enough granularity to reveal bottlenecks without overwhelming your team with administrivia. Set clear entry and exit criteria for each column. Kanban isn’t just about making work visible; it’s about making the right work visible.

Traditional on-site manager: “But I can’t see people working. I can’t walk the floor.” Modern remote manager: “Watch the flow of work, not the workers.” What do you do when you can’t see people working? The answer is NOT: ❌ More meetings ❌ More quick calls ❌ Activity trackers ❌ Office Simulators ❌ Endless status updates All you need is a way to watch the flow of work instead of the workers. That’s where a good digital Kanban board comes in, enabling you to: ✅ See who’s working on what instead of having to ask ✅ See what’s blocked without having to wait for a meeting ✅ Automatically handle capacity instead of complicated allocation planning ✅ See bottlenecks in real time instead of waiting for employees to tell you they’re overwhelmed  ✅ View at a glance status of all work in progress instead of mind-numbing status update meetings To get started: 1️⃣ Map your process’s distinct value add (and knowledge discovery) steps from Idea to Done 2️⃣ Create digital cards representing the tangible deliverables 3️⃣ Team members pull prioritized cards through the flow When you can’t watch the workers, watch the flow of work instead. Any questions? ♻️ Repost to help stop RTOs

Looking for a more innovative way to stay on top of your projects? Here’s a productivity hack to help you manage your workload and get a clear view of what’s coming next: 👉 Create a Personal Kanban Board with Strategic Columns (and WIP Limits). Here’s how to set it up for maximum oversight: 1. Set Up Columns Like These:   - "Backlog" for upcoming projects and ideas.   - "Prioritized" for tasks you're ready to tackle next.   - "In Progress" to track active projects.   - "Review" for projects needing approval or feedback.   - "Completed" to celebrate wins and capture lessons learned. 2. Add WIP Limits: Keep your workload manageable and focused without overcommitting. 3. Maintain Oversight: Visualizing tasks across these stages helps track projects, identify bottlenecks, and manage incoming requests without feeling overwhelmed. Bonus: Building your Kanban board is a skill in itself. As you refine it, you’ll discover the nuances—from setting the right WIP limits to designing columns that suit your workflow. It’s not just about managing tasks but mastering the process. Make your Kanban board a central tool for oversight, not just task tracking. Your projects—and productivity—will thank you. What's your experience with Kanban boards? Share your thoughts below! Like this post if you're ready to take control of your workflow, and follow me for more productivity tips! 🚀

Stop overcomplicating your statuses in ClickUp. This is one of the most common mistakes we see teams make inside ClickUp. You want to create cool Board views, so you start creating different statuses for different services, clients, teams, etc. For example, web development has different statuses, SEO has different statuses, and your design team has different statuses. Why this fails... ⚙️ Statuses start to become the source of truth for where a project is at. ➝ This will lead to things slipping through the cracks, tasks remaining open for too long, and unless each status definition is documented, there will be some confusion across the team. ⚙️ Dashboards and views are impossible to make. ➝ Go create a dashboard and try to filter and break up something by status. You'll have thousands of options, and it'll be a nightmare. ⚙️ "Task closing anxiety" ➝ Your team loses the ability to confidently close tasks. ➝ Different teams try to work with your team but get lost in the workflow because of the number of statuses they're supposed to use. ✅ Here's how to avoid this mistake Create a more organized workspace by... 1️⃣ Building a status template ➝ Build a status structure that will be used consistently across your workspace, save it as a template, and deploy it everywhere else. 2️⃣ Using statuses sparingly ➝ Statuses should not become your source of truth for progress. And if you need a cool board view, feel free to use a custom field instead. 3️⃣ Building your current statuses into subtasks ➝ Instead of "Review draft #1" as a status, make that a subtask and assign it to someone to complete. ➝ Pass work through subtasks, NOT statuses and automations ---------- ✋ What have you done to simplify statuses?

Kanban is indeed a more adaptable process compared to Scrum. It allows for rapid change and shifting circumstances, which is valuable for managing changing priorities, personnel changes, and unexpected delays in completing tasks. Kanban focuses on getting a story from start to finish as quickly as possible, prioritizing throughput over resource utilization. It also has fewer ceremonies than Scrum, requiring only demos and retrospectives. Measurement in Kanban is based on cycle time, providing real-time data for optimization. Overall, Kanban's emphasis on adaptability and efficiency makes it a lighter-weight and more resilient process compared to Scrum. #EngineeringManagement #AgileMethodologies

That moment when your refrigerator becomes a Kanban board... While preparing to sell my house, I found myself staring at a sea of sticky notes organized in classic "Not Started," "In Progress," "Review," and "Done" columns. What started as a simple to-do list evolved into a stark visual representation of two universal truths: 1. We consistently overestimate how much we can accomplish in a given timeframe. 2. Things change. We find changes as we do the work, things that do not work, and new work emerging.  "Not Started" continued to expand, "Work In Progress" got a bit out of control, and initially, the "Done" column looked embarrassingly sparse. Sound familiar? This physical manifestation of work in progress highlighted three critical lessons that apply equally to home renovations and knowledge work: → Visualizing ALL your work exposes the madness of multitasking → Limiting work in progress isn't just Agile jargon—it's a sensible way to move forward → The psychological boost of moving items to "Done" is powerful motivation Initially, we had too many items in progress because they were more complex than simple. The simple answer was slowing down and forcing myself to stop starting new tasks and instead focus on finishing what was already in progress. The pace of completion accelerated dramatically. The challenge was that many of these tasks required additional materials, research, or help. It felt like I was slowing down because the "core task" was not being worked on. Of course, it was being worked on, but it felt like things were slowing down because I was not working directly on the task.   It's a reminder that even when we intellectually understand principles like "stop starting, start finishing," seeing is believing. What's your favorite technique for limiting work in progress and focusing on completion? #KanbanInRealLife #FocusToFinish #ProductivityHacks #AgileEveryday

Few teams utilize the power of Work-In-Process limits. Despite being a core element of Kanban and recommended by many Scrum advocates, WIP limits are seldom in place when we start working with new teams. WIP limits are to workflows what exercise is to health. Just as regular exercise is crucial for health, implementing WIP limits is the simplest yet most effective step an organization can take to improve its operational health and productivity. Enforcing WIP limits is akin to applying a fundamental health regimen to an organization, crucial for streamlining processes, enhancing focus, and ensuring long-term success. WIP limits enable teams to concentrate on fewer tasks, enhancing speed and quality. By limiting the number of concurrent tasks, teams can prioritize effectively, reducing inefficiencies and improving the quality and speed of their output. Smaller work batches and fewer hand-offs under WIP limits lead to less rework, with errors being caught earlier in the process, thereby enhancing the overall quality of output. WIP limits encourage teamwork and smooth workflow progression. These limits foster a culture of collaboration, urging team members to work together closely to remove blockers and ensure steady workflow progress. With tasks completed more swiftly, teams receive faster feedback, enabling them to iterate and adapt more effectively, aligning closely with business goals.    WIP limits contribute to a healthier work environment by fostering continuous learning, optimizing workflow, and reducing stress and burnout among team members. Leaders in technology organizations should champion the adoption of WIP limits throughout the organization to avoid the pitfalls of slow deliveries, reduced quality, customer dissatisfaction, and diminished business performance. #startups #scale #growth #leadership #product