Kanban Boards
🟥 Kanban boards in Leadtime provide a visual representation of tasks to organize the workflow efficiently.
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About Kanban Boards
Kanban boards provide a visual representation of tasks and projects that divide a team's workflow into different phases. By grouping tasks into phases such as "New", "In Progress", "Feedback" or "Completed", the progress of each project can be tracked. These boards originate from lean management and are designed to maximize efficiency and identify bottlenecks in the process.
In Leadtime, you can display task lists as a Kanban board. This helps you to see tasks at a glance and manage them by simply moving them between phases.
General workflow
Kanban boards allow a workflow in which waiting times are systematically minimized.
In the following example, a customer has submitted several tasks via the ticket system. As a central part of the workflow, the account manager receives these requests and prepares them so that the developer can process the individual tasks without interruption.
Step 1
Here, the collaboration between the parties is organized on the basis of different batches, each corresponding to a processing status:
- The customer submits new tasks, accepts completed tasks, and is available for queries.
- The account manager receives tasks submitted by the customer and prepares them so that the developer can proceed with implementation. They also test tasks marked as completed by the developer and answer queries if necessary.
- The developer implements the tasks and is occasionally available for technical queries from the customer advisor.
This is what the situation looks like at the beginning of the process:
Customer | Account manager | Developer |
The customer creates the new task F. | The account manager is preparing task D for the developer. | The developer is working on task A. |
Let us now examine how these stacks develop over time:
Step 2
Customer | Account manager | Developer |
The customer waits. | The account manager works on task D until it is ready for implementation. Finally, he passes D to the developer's stack. | At the same time, the developer has a query while working on ticket A. He therefore passes ticket A back to the account manager with the status "Feedback". He then immediately starts on the next task in his stack - namely B. |
Step 3
Customer | Account manager | Developer |
The customer waits. | Before the account manager continues with the next task E in the inbox, he answers the developer's question about task A. | In the meantime, the developer has completed task B. He hands it back to the account manager for testing. As he has received an answer to task A in the meantime, he can now continue working here. |
Step 4
Customer | Account manager | Developer |
The account manager has tested task B and returned it to the customer for approval. | In the meantime, the developer has returned task A to the account manager for testing. He now continues his work here. | The developer starts with C, the next task in his stack. |
This workflow is highly efficient: task completion is parallelized; waiting times are completely avoided and the amount of work in progress ("WIP") is minimized.
Implementation with Leadtime
Change view:
- To convert a task list into a Kanban board, navigate to an existing task list.
- Click on the gear icon and select the option to change the list view to a Kanban board.
Grouping the tasks:
- The default grouping is by status (e.g. "New", "In Progress", "Feedback", "Completed").
- Alternatively, you can group by type (feature, bug, idea) or by assigned person.
Drag-and-drop function:
- You can use drag-and-drop to move tasks between phases. For example, you can move a ticket from "In progress" to "Feedback" when it is finished.
- The changes are automatically updated in the ticket and the new status is immediately visible.
Customization of Kanban cards:
You can use the gear icon to configure the fields displayed on the cards. By default, you will see information such as
- Ticket ID
- Project title
- Project summary
- Priority
- Type
- These fields can be shown or hidden as required.
Prioritize tasks:
You can sort tasks vertically within a column to prioritize them. More important tasks can be moved to the top so that they can be processed first.
Save view:
Once you have created a Kanban view, you can save it as a new view and make it accessible either for personal use or for the entire team.
Advantages of the Kanban view:
- Clarity: instead of endless lists, you get a visual representation of the work flow.
- Flexibility: Tasks can be easily moved and prioritized using drag-and-drop.
- Transparency: You can see at a glance where each task is in the process, which makes collaboration easier.
- Workflow control: Clear phases allow you to see which tickets are stuck in which phase and take action.
Conclusion:
Kanban boards in Leadtime are a powerful alternative to simple list views. They help you to maintain an overview and react flexibly to changes in the course of the project. Especially in agile environments, Kanban boards help to increase efficiency and ensure a transparent way of working.
For larger teams, Leadtime comes with various other extremely powerful planning tools.